Nebraska parted ways with Scott Frost on Sunday – and that marks the end of an era.
At least it should. Frost, who was the quarterback of the Huskers' 1997 national championship team, was the last link to the Tom Osborne era. It didn't work out. Frost was 16-31 after taking over Nebraska in 2018, and a 5-22 record in one-score games was the most cited statistic of that tenure.
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Huskers athletic director Trev Alberts also is a link to that Osborne era, but it's become clear now more than ever that's an age gone by. Nebraska fans can't say, "We should have never fired Frank Solich in the first place." Everybody knows that by now.
Alberts has to move the program forward – and to do that there will be an uncomfortable realization.
Nebraska cannot let its own pride get in the way if it has to find a coach from a school it used to dominate in the 1990s. All those Big 12 schools the Huskers used to pound might have the right fits to take this program forward in the Big Ten.
How about Baylor? Osborne was 4-0 against the Bears, but they have two potential candidates that should interest Nebraska. Dave Aranda won a Big 12 championship in his second season, and he has experience as a defensive coordinator at LSU and Wisconsin. Aranda built the Bears from the offensive line, and despite signing an extension, he would be the perfect fit in the Big Ten West.
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Matt Rhule, now with the Carolina Panthers, also coached at Baylor. He is a much better college coach who could be a hit in Lincoln given the chance.
What about Kansas State? Osborne was 24-0 against the Wildcats. Now, the Wildcats are a trendy Big 12 sleeper with former North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman, a 54-year-old coach who won four national championships with the Bison. Kansas State will have more wins this season with Nebraska's old quarterback Adrian Martinez, who hasn't thrown an interception the last two weeks. Klieman should get a call.
Yes, Kansas is included here, too. Osborne was 25-0 against the Jayhawks. Kansas is 2-0 this season under Lance Leipold, a successful coach who has rung up 150 victories between Kansas and previous stops at Wisconsin-Whitewater and Buffalo. The 58-year-old won six national championships in Division III.
Then there is Iowa State. Osborne was 22-3 against the Cyclones. Matt Campbell has led Iowa State to five straight winning seasons and five straight bowl appearances. That's not easy to do in Ames, and he played at Mount Union – the best Division III program in the country.
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That's the list outside of Kentucky's Mark Stoops – whose brother Bob coached at Oklahoma. Nebraska could take a flier on Nick Saban's latest reclamation project like Bill O'Brien. Or Nebraska could bring back the triple option with Troy Calhoun.
But it comes back to that list of coaches from former Big 12 doormats the Huskers walked over for years. Add that record up, and Osborne went 75-3 against those schools, and the resentment from that quarter century of domination still stands in those places.
This is where Nebraska's arrogance cannot interfere with the hiring process. The Huskers aren't above hiring from those schools, not in the College Football Playoff era. Baylor (33-19), Iowa State (33-20) and Kansas State (27-23) all have winning records since Frost was hired at Nebraska. Kansas (10-37) doesn't, but you know that drill by now.
Frost's flop suggests that if the Huskers cannot bring in a link from that storied past and win, then it's time to move forward with somebody in the Midwest who can. Klieman and Leipold have won national titles. Aranda, Rhule and Campbell have coached in New Year's Day Six bowls. Those schools cannot be looked down at any more, and Alberts needs to weigh that in heavily before that next coach is brought on.
It's OK to celebrate the Osborne era and that dominance in the 1980s and 1990s. That is part of the culture that makes Nebraska unique. Alberts was a part of that, and it could happen again. But it's been almost a generation in real time since that last national title Bringing up Solich, Bill Callahan, Bo Pelini, Mike Riley or Frost and what went wrong won’t make that happen.
Alberts need to move both feet forward, and the trick will be selling one of those coaches on Nebraska. It's not the other way around now, especially after Frost couldn't make it work after a 13-0 season at UCF.
Nebraska can find the right coach; one that could win in a Big Ten West that is anything but a juggernaut.
They just can't let the past dictate the future this time.
