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Scott Frost hot seat: Paul Finebaum says Nebraska coach is in ‘dire straights’
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After just one game and one bad loss to Northwestern in Ireland, Paul Finebaum already believes Scott Frost’s days might be numbered at Nebraska.
During an appearance with “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Monday, Finebaum said the Cornhuskers’ coaching situation is dire. Nebraska blew a 28-17 third-quarter lead to Northwestern in a 31-28 loss in its season opener on Saturday in Dublin.
Finebaum even went on to compare Frost’s situation to the failed Clay Helton regime at USC.
“They’re in dire straights, because everyone is just assuming he’s going to get fired,” said Finebaum. “It reminds me a little bit of where Southern California was last year. They lost early, they fired [Clay] Helton and they spent the fall looking for a new coach and arguably ended up getting the best hire of the offseason. You can debate that with LSU and Brian Kelly, but they’re on the same level. I think that’s where [Nebraska athletics director] Trev Alberts needs to be today.
“He did the old college try routine by retaining him, but that program’s too good to be run by someone who for whatever reason always makes the wrong decision at the wrong time.”
Finebaum does think Nebraska can return to its past glory, just that Frost isn’t the guy that will do it. Frost just began his fifth season in Lincoln and dropped to 15-30 overall and 10-26 in Big Ten play with Saturday’s heartbreaker.
“Well, I think this has been going on for some time. I think you can make the argument that Nebraska hasn’t gone so wrong — they’ve simply become irrelevant,” said Finebaum. “The big move did not help them. I thought it was an interesting move when it happened. We were all excited about those first couple of games. You understand that, you do a lot of Big Ten games, but their national brand has shrunk as others have increased. It’s just no big deal anymore. OK, so and so is playing Nebraska — well, big deal. We’ve seen that. Programs come and go. I think another one like that, that needs to make sure it starts winning again is Florida State. These, Nebraska, Florida State — Tennessee has been in that group as well, but with some change it looks like Tennessee is now back on the national radar.
“Ultimately, you keep making bad decisions and you just simply shrink into oblivion, and I think that’s where Nebraska is. It doesn’t have a real great geographical base, and I think it’s been victimized by the Big Ten move not going very well.”
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
