Professional football in Nebraska sucks!


Yes, professional football exists in Nebraska, it's just disguised as NCAA Division I collegiate sporting events, but it has all of the trappings, marketing, branding, hype, and most importantly, the highly compensated broadcast television rights and high compensation paid to coaches. However, unlike NFL football, athletes are NOT compensated equivalent to the revenue their "performance and name and/or likeness" generates for their colleges and universities. Yes, this "exploitation" is slave labor. Supposedly, the NCAA will end "slave labor" in the near future. Meanwhile . . .

In a previous editorial, "Football is NOT the most award winning sport in Nebraska - and it never has been!" I wrote:

With the arrival of Scott Frost as Cornhusker football head coach, local and national print and broadcast media are going to give even more coverage to UNL football in 2018. Of course, this is understandable given the demise of Cornhusker football in the wake of the Tom Osborne era.  But, given the veracity of the exhibit at right that shows UNL's track and field program has always been more successful than football, why must media coverage of UNL “sporting” events be so blatantly skewed and biased?

 
 
Click image to enlarge

Now, to be fair, and let's be fair, sometimes it takes a while for a coach to get a firm grip on a team's identity, to effectively delegate and develop assistant coaches, to assess and develop individual athletic performance, and to chart and execute a strategic plan to get a team to meet performance expectations. So, let's not judge Scott Frost's first year too harshly. Then, with his second year as head coach, well . . . things didn't improve all that much. In baseball, the batter is out after three-(3) consecutive strikes. Here it comes:

QUESTION: How does Scott Frost's coaching performance compare to his NCAA Division I contemporaries who were also hired in 2016?

RESPONSE: Please review the exhibit below.

 
NCAA DIV I
Career Record
NCAA
DIV I
Career Record
2018
2019
2020
TOTAL WINS
TOTAL LOSSES
TOTAL GAMES
Wins
Losses
Total
Wins
Losses
Wins
Losses
Wins
Losses
2018-2020
2018-2020
2018-2020
Virginia Tech, Justin Fuente
26
23
49
6
7
8
5
4
3
18
15
33
Percent
53.06
46.94
100
54.55
45.45
100
Willie Fritz, Tulane
154
69
223
7
6
7
6
4
4
18
16
34
Percent
69.06
30.94
100
52.94
47.06
100
Mark Richt, Miami
145
51
196
7
6
7
6
13
Percent
73.98
26.02
Inactive
53.85
46.15
100
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
35
15
50
8
5
7
6
5
2
20
13
33
Percent
70.00
30.00
100
60.61
39.39
100
Dino Babers, Syracuse
37
16
53
10
3
5
7
1
7
16
17
33
Percent
69.81
30.19
100
48.48
51.52
100
Mike Norvell, Memphis
0
0
0
8
6
12
1
2
5
22
12
34
Percent
N/A
N/A
N/A
TO FLORIDA STATE
64.71
35.29
100
D.J. Durkin, Maryland
1
0
1
0
0
0
Percent
100.00
0.00
100
FIRED DUE TO TOXIC CULTURE THAT LEAD TO DEATH OF PLAYER TO TOXIC CULTURE THAT LEAD TO DEATH OF PLAYER
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
#DIV/0!
Barry Odom, Missouri
0
0
0
8
5
6
6
14
11
25
Percent
N/A
N/A
N/A
FIRED
56.00
44.00
100
Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
99
43
142
8
5
9
5
2
4
19
14
33
Percent
69.72
30.28
100
57.58
42.42
100
Kirby Smart, Georgia
0
0
0
11
3
12
2
4
2
27
7
34
Percent
N/A
N/A
N/A
79.41
20.59
100
Lovie Smith, Illinois
89
87
176
4
8
6
7
0
3
10
18
28
Percent
50.57
49.43
100
35.71
64.29
100
Scott Frost, UCF
0
0
0
4
8
5
7
0
2
9
17
26
Percent
N/A
N/A
N/A
34.62
65.38
100
 
  AVERAGE
54.40
45.60
100.00
TOTAL WINS
TOTAL LOSSES
TOTAL GAMES
2018-2020
2018-2020
2018-2020

In summary, with the above apples-to-apples comparision, Scott Frost's NCAA Division I contemporaries won 54.4% of their games during the same time period; conversely, Scott Frost has only won 34.62% of his games. Excuses do not matter, not even the impact of COVID-19, because all coaches had to deal with the same challenges - even Kirby Smart at Georgia, who like Scott Frost is also new to NCAA Division I football, but Smart won 79.41% of his games!

Simply put, Scott Frost is underperforming.

UNL football continues to underperform, talented athletes will literally refuse to be recruited by UNL, and most importantly, revenue streams will drop.

Unfortunately, college football is just as incestuous as all other aspects of collegiate education, where actual performance has less value than a good-old-boy connection and/or a college degree. For example, there are many Nebraska high school and college coaches who have better win-loss ratios than Scott Frost; and before you dismiss this assessment, keep in mind, except for a few rules, and without regard to level (high school, college, professional, etc.) the game of football is essentially the same: run, pass, tackle, block, score, etc. Again, there are many Nebraska high school and college coaches with excellent win-loss ratios, and they've demonstrated excellence in coaching, for example:

Jeff Bellar of Norfolk Catholic (state-record) 349 - 64

Mark Wortman of Elkhorn, 339-82

Fred Petito of Millard North, 303-142

Doug Goltz of Falls City Sacred Heart, 307-59

Ron Mimick of Aquinas, 290-111

Matt Franzen of Hastings College, 65-49


Plus, the "practice" is to pay a NCAA Division I head football coach millions of dollars, but these contracts are not typically performance based. As reported by Rival's Blair Sanderson, after a series of new hires and raises, 14 coaches in the Big 10 conference are making about $67.8 million per year, which equates to an average salary of about $4.84 million. The highest-paid Big 10 coach is Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, who makes just over $7.5 million per year. He could also earn a max bonus of $1.325 million. Purdue's Jeff Brohm isn't far behind, with a $6.6 million salary and a potential bonus of $1.29 million. Harbaugh is the third-highest paid coach in all of college football, while Brohm is the eighth. In fact, nine of the top 25 highest-paid coaches are in the Big Ten.

Big Ten FB coaching salaries after new hires & raises

EAST
Harbaugh $7.5M
Franklin $5.7M
Tucker $5.3M
Day $4.5M
Schiano $4M
Allen $3.9M
Locksley $2.5M
 WEST
Brohm $6.6M
Fitzgerald $5.2M
Scott Frost $5M
Ferentz $4.8M
Fleck $4.6M
Chryst $4.2M
L Smith $4M


RECOMMENDATION:

1. Fire Scott Frost.

2. Hire a new football coach, preferably an existing successful coach from a Nebraska high school or from another college or university in Nebraska, under a performance/incentive based contract, with a maximum first year starting salary of $500,000 which can be increased to $1,000,000 with a win/loss ratio of 9 - 3; and increased by $1.5 million with a consecutive win/loss ratio of 9-3 for year two; and automatically increased to $5,000,000 with a Big 10 conference championship; and automatically increased to $7.7M with a NCAA Division I national title. Automatically terminate the head football coach with a losing record after year two of employment. Why? Simple, athletes who "fail to perform" are cut from the team, so why should coaches be treated differently?

3. Or, hire, also under a performance/incentive based contract, an external football coach from outside of Nebraska, preferably someone like Willie Taggart from Florida Atlantic, or Jimmy Lake from the Univesity of Washington, or Jay Norvell from the University of Nevada, Reno. Automatically terminate the head football coach with a losing record after year two of employment. Why? Simple, students who "fail to perform" are flunked (graded "F") from a class, so why should these pseudo-academician coaches be treated differently?


I welcome your feedback.

Trip Reynolds
trip.reynolds@yahoo.com

Reynolds' Rap
December 1, 2020
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