In the world of sports, I have only cried tears of joy twice, both being in the 2022 calendar year. 

The first was Feb. 13, when my National Football League team, the Los Angeles Rams, beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, and Sept. 11, when I got the Twitter notification from Field Yates, that Nebraska had fired head football coach Scott Frost.

Frost had been on the hot seat for quite some time. His “claim to fame” with the Cornhuskers came in the 2021 season, where the team went 3-9 posting a positive point differential, and losing a game by at most nine points. The media crowned the team as the “Greatest 3-9 team of all time”.

In his first season with the Cornhuskers, Frost posted a 4-8 record, starting the season 0-6. This also was a small glimpse into a ugly trend, six games were decided by six or less points, with only one being won, a slugestfest between the Michigan State Spartans 9-6.

The next year saw promise, as the team started 3-1, but after a crushing loss to Ohio State, the team went on a downward spiral, winning just one more game, the second and last one score win of the Frost era, posting yet another 4-8 record. 

This was where the Frost started to thaw.

2020 saw the world shut down, and for a moment, B1G 10 football. This is what I would say was the only positive of the Scott Frost Era. His commitment to getting his players out on the field, standing side-by-side with everyone was incredible. He and his players fought, and got, the B1G 10 football back, and with that 3-5 record. This was the last time Frost would lose by 10 or more points. The 41-23 loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini on Nov. 21, 2020, would start a 13 game losing streak by single digits, five of whom were ranked in the AP Top 25.

This brings us to the greatest 3-9 team of all time, as claimed by most. Where does one even begin? Every single game felt the same. After the opening loss to Illinois, it wasn’t looking great, but following a close loss with some questionable play calling to Oklahoma, I wasn’t alone in having some new found optimism in the program. But the losses kept piling on. Every single week. Throw in a blowout win to the Northwestern Wildcats and you’ve got yourself yet another 4-8 season, which is the only thing Scott Frost was ever actually good at.

Then, this year, the Cornhuskers got studs on both sides of the ball, former Texas Longhorns quarterback Casey Thompson, Louisiana State speed demon Trey Palmer, and arguably the biggest transfer in all of football, edge Ochaun Mathis. It took just three games for Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts to pull the plug on the Frost era with one of the best teams on paper. And now with Mickey Joseph running the ship, I expect big things for this once historic program.

Even though the 2022 coaching carousel has begun way early compared to years prior, last year’s turnover proved anything, and I mean ANYTHING, can happen. Reports at the top of the list include Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. While both may be able to recruit, it’s not what this team needs.

This team has all the talent, and can recruit like crazy posting some of the best Name-Image and Likeness deals in the nation. I would prefer to see Nebraska to poach a higher level assistant from a winning NFL team, and my personal choice would be the Rams’ Thomas Brown. He has been a positions coach for a variety of positions with L.A., and as the assistant head coach under Sean McVay, who up until his opening day loss to the Buffalo Bills, has never posted a sub .500 record. The time is now to win for the Cornhuskers, and with the Frost at full thaw, they can finally show this team’s full potential.