Alberts explains decision to stick with Frost for a fifth season

At the end of a significant Monday regarding the immediate future of the Nebraska football program, Trev Alberts took to the radio airwaves to try and recap the most prominent decision he’d made yet as NU’s new athletic director.

Appearing on the Husker Radio Network’s “Sports Nightly” show, Alberts went into further detail about his choice to retain head football coach Scott Frost for at least another season and the firings of four offensive assistant coaches.

With Frost, Alberts said he’d gotten to know the fourth-year coach well throughout the season and had many “intimate” and “detailed” conversations about the state of the program.

While Alberts would have preferred not to make any public statements regarding Frost’s future until the end of the season, Alberts said he recognized the climate around the team and the fan base and knew a decision needed to come sooner than later.

The accelerated recruiting calendar with the early signing day and the emergence of the NCAA Transfer Portal also played a part in the timing of Monday’s announcement, he said.

In the end, Alberts stressed that no one – including himself and Frost – were remotely satisfied with the win-loss results over the past four years. But when it came down to it, Alberts said there had been enough “incremental progress” made to give Frost more time to see it through.

“Scott and I both understand that our results have not been what they need to be,” Alberts said. “Nobody is suggesting that where we stand is currently comfortable and/or acceptable long-term. But I also think that observing and watching some things that are very, very important to me in terms of the unity of the players, the work ethic, the togetherness; those things are there.

“So I’ve talked about incremental progress, and I’ve seen that in some key areas.”

Alberts commended Frost and his staff for how the Huskers responded and fought in last week’s 26-17 loss to No. 5 Ohio State. But he made it clear that the previous defeats to Minnesota and Purdue “were very difficult for me, and they shake some of your confidence.”

Alberts said in watching Nebraska play this season, “there was no question to me, in making some observations, that there are some things that we could do differently and we can get better.”

Alberts said he’d talked with Frost about things like attention to detail and organizational skills as areas that needed to improve, and he believed Frost “has a good plan and a vision around that.”

However, the decision to part ways with four assistant coaches – offensive coordinator Matt Lubick, offensive line coach Greg Austin, running backs coach Ryan Held, and quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco – was not one he forced upon Frost.

“I don’t believe it’s the athletic director’s role to tell a coach, ‘you need to fire that coach and hire this coach,'” Alberts said. “I like to ask questions. Most of it was fairly self-evident to Scott, and I think he knew that certain changes needed to be made. But this was Scott’s plan.”

Another critical part of Monday’s decision was a significant restructuring of Frost’s contract.

Alberts announced that Frost’s annual salary had been reduced from $5 million to $4 million, and his buyout after the 2022 season was renegotiated from $15 million to $7.5 million. Alberts said those “were two good indicators” of Frost’s commitment to Nebraska.

“When I look at good deals, good business deals, I rarely see a good business deal where only one party has skin in the game,” Alberts said. “But if both of us have skin in the game, we’re both fairly incentivized to work really hard to be successful. Part of risk is mitigation of risk as well…

“In a way, Scott’s bet on himself, and I like that.”

Alberts said this was a situation where there was no easy answer. He said the reaction he’d heard about his decision ranged from, “‘ I’ve ‘set the program back two years,’ to, ‘this is the right move.'”

Alberts said loyalty had always been one of his core values in everything he did. During his interview, he referred to Frost as “a brother” and “one of us.”

In the end, loyalty might have played into his decision to stick with Frost as much as anything.

“We’re not going to be blindly loyal. I don’t want to send that message,” Alberts said. “But if you’re trying to balance one (decision) or the other, as long as I’m here, I’d like to think we’re going air on the side of loyalty as best we can.”