That's right: The one thing University of Nebraska-Lincoln football fans (okay, Nebraskans in general) had been on their knees begging for almost all season long.
University of Central Florida head football coach Scott Andrew Frost is coming back to Lincoln to take the same job from Mike Riley...as soon as the Knights get through taking on Auburn in the 1-1-2018 Peach Bowl.
Maybe he's the savior the average Nebraskan's been looking for ever since Tom Osborne hung up his own whistle after the 1997 campaign...the one where Frost (at that time Big Red's starting quarterback) and teammates won the final ESPN-USA Today Division 1-A football poll (AKA coaches' poll).
That season's final Associated Press 1-A football survey went to Michigan.
Coming into this season's Peach Bowl, the Wood River, NE native (he'll blow out 43 candles three days after the bowl game in Atlanta, GA) has logged a mark of 18-7 at the Orlando, FL school.
And ever since his hiring became official on 12-2-2017, Frost (a man who played in the NFL from 1998 to 2003; he was a defensive back for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has been calling for unity.
His first news conference upon getting hired at UNL was packed; lots of former and current Huskers attended, as did plenty of current and former UNL officials...including Osborne.
One telling thing SAF said was: "I know what I'm getting myself into."
I sincerely hope rank-and-file Nebraskans do, too.
At one time or another, the previous seven (or more) UNL head football coaches have faced citizen calls for the pink slip...beginning with Bill Jennings (1918-2002), who had the job from 1957 to 1961, only to go 15-34-1 in the Star City.
People from Scottsbluff to North Platte to Kearney to Grand Island to Lincoln to right here in Omaha had called for the head of the legendary Bob Devaney (1915-1997), who went 136-30-7 overall (101-20-2 with Nebraska, his gig from 1962 to 1972).
They wanted Frank Solich (Osborne's successor who's now Ohio's head football coach) out. They called for Bill Callahan's firing. They wanted Bo Pelini to get shown the door.
And, of course, they just got through calling for Riley's head. (He went 19-19 with the Cornhuskers.)
Yep...they even, at one time, decided that Osborne wasn't good enough as Devaney's successor.
All Tom did was log a 255-49-3 record...all of that at UNL (for the fifth-best winning percentage of all time, .836).
With that in mind, how long will it take for disgruntled Nebraskans (not just gridiron lovers) to say it's time for Frost to go?
Every team there is has its ups and downs.
Nebraska football is no exception.
I just hope people around here will give Scott a chance to show the magic he gave UCF football fans.
And yes, it's going to take time.
This son of husband-and-wife high school football coaches (Larry and Carol) has the time...and that's what counts.
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