Returning to Orlando for a second act as UCF's head coach, Scott Frost reflects on his first two months on the job including hiring a staff, navigating the transfer portal and getting to know his team before the start of spring practice.

Here are the highlights from Frost's 26-minute press conference, his first media availability since his hire:

The first two months were obviously extremely hectic with the transfer portal and recruiting, so he's glad he can now start spending time with his team.

"I actually get to be a coach now, so it's been really fun for me the last week and a half to get back around the players and start what is the beginning of a lot of work that we have to do to try to get the team where we want it to be."

Frost spent two years in Orlando from 2016-17. Does it feel familiar? Like he never left or like it was a long time ago?

"Yeah, it's a little of both. It felt weird being back, but strangely familiar too. It's kind of surreal. You walk into the office and they rearranged it, but it was the same thing. It's amazing to me how much UCF has grown through a lot of hard work from a lot of people and just seeing the natural growth of UCF.

"Really appreciate the administration and the work they've done to get us in the position we're in, but as much as has changed there's things that stay the same too. I'm sitting here in this indoor and it feels like I never left."

Frost described his first five weeks on the job as "intense."

"There was no catching up. In this era of college football you land and immediately have to start putting a team together in the transfer portal. So my life was six in the morning till midnight, and falling asleep with my phone in my hand for five weeks just to try to get a team put together."

Now with the portal and recruiting periods complete, Frost said he's enjoying the current time of getting to know his team and teaching them their strategy and terminology.

"The last couple weeks have been fun."

Talking about recruiting, Frost spoke of the importance of the lines and the benefit that comes from being in the middle of the best recruiting state.

"We're lucky to be in Orlando, Florida. There's so much talent around here and we want to keep as much of the Florida talent right here as we can. You know, going around, I think kids' preference would be to stay close to home and and play. Now that we're in the Big 12, this is big-time football right in the middle of Florida and we're gonna tap into that as much as we can."

The transfer portal brings more roster turnover than ever before, so you have to adjust and adapt in terms of how you manage your team.

"Honestly, in this era of college football everybody has a choice to make every year. We just have to be comfortable with the fact even though no one likes it that you're gonna be coaching a pretty much an entirely different team every year. You're gonna keep some pieces, but the collective of the team is gonna change year by year, so you're really building a one-year team and trying to keep as many of the pieces from the last team as you can."

Frost said he appreciates the players who did want to stay.

"We got some good feedback from them. What I really appreciate about those guys is they want to work and they want to be pushed and they want to be coached. We're pushing them right now, particularly in the weight room and out here on the field. The guys are really rising to that. They're working their butts off. I'm really impressed with the work ethic and the desire to change things and get better."

In hiring a staff, Frost's picks were more methodical, which he thinks turned out for the best.

"I wasn't really hunting for a job. It just so happened that probably the one job that I would have taken in college opened up and I came back to Orlando. My wife and I were excited about that, to raise our kids here, to put our feet down here for a while and and make this home again.

"I didn't have a staff really picked out and ready to go. I think in some ways it was beneficial because it kind of pushed me to interview other people and kind of get outside the box, look for some guys that I didn't know personally. I'm really happy where we ended up. My experience with quite a few of those guys early on has been really positive."

Frost spoke about his decision to bring back his former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton as quarterbacks coach. Milton had spent the last couple seasons on staff at Tennessee under Josh Heupel.

"I'm really happy to give KZ his first full-time job. I wouldn't have hired him just because he was my quarterback and I care about him or he played at UCF. My experience with him was really positive. I think he's gonna be a really good coach, so excited to give him his first shot at running his room and we'll be right there alongside him to make sure it's successful."

He then elaborated why he thinks KZ will be a great coach.

"If you really boil it down, coaching really in my opinion comes down to three things. Making a relationship with the players so that they trust you and being able to relate to them helps. Genuinely caring about them is probably the key to that. Kids know whether you care about them or not. Once you have that relationship, you have to know what you're talking about so you have to be knowledgeable. Then the third thing is you have to be able to communicate it clearly.

"If kids know you care about them and you know your stuff and and you're telling them exactly what to do, those are the marks of a good coach. I think KZ will be good at all three."

Orlando native Kenny Martin has been at UCF since 2021 as Gus Malzahn's defensive tackles coach. Frost spoke about his decision to retain him as part of his staff.

"The first time I came I kept Sean Beckton and Travis Fisher. Really that comes down to when you get your feet on the ground, asking a lot of questions and kind of finding out what the players think and what other people around the program think. I got nothing but good reviews about K-Mart. He's been awesome in my short time here.

"And I got to give him a lot of credit. He did a lot of work to make sure that we kept the core of the team from last year together. Especially in this era of transfer portal, when a team loses a coach a lot of those guys can jet out of there pretty fast. K-Mart did a good job holding all that together. Excited to work with him and he's been great so far."

Frost detailed his offensive plans, confirming he will be the primary play caller.

"It's gonna be a collaboration. We have a lot of smart guys in the offensive staff room and guys that have seen a lot of football. Our plan right now is for me to call it and I'll get a lot of assistance from a lot of guys. I want to be the one making the play calls. That's gonna be with a lot of help from a lot of people."

Steve Cooper, UCF's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, brings experience and familiarity from previously working with Frost.

"He's been an offensive coordinator and called it at two different places. He's also seen some other styles of football in some places he's been. He knows our system inside and out from his time with me, so he's one of the few guys I've been around that kind of sees the game the same way as I do.

"He doesn't just run plays, but looks for opportunities and ideas to help make plays work. I've known from being around him that he's got a chance to to be really good in the coaching profession. He already has been and to help me as much as anybody else because of his knowledge."

Frost was asked about quarterback transfer Tayven Jackson. He said he was a bit hesitant to go into detail about individual players since he hasn't had much time working with them. I also got the sense he didn't want to let on that he was favoring one player over another.

"We're excited to have Tay along with all the other quarterbacks that we have. We've had a few meetings as we're starting to install offense and very little interaction with them so far. Obviously I was a fan of his going back to when we recruited him out of high school. He's gonna have a really good opportunity, just like everybody else here, to show what he can do and and try to earn this job."

Speaking about hiring Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator, Frost said he had previously coached against him on several occasions dating back to when he was the OC at Oregon and Grinch was DC at Washington State. They also met a couple times during Frost's Nebraska era when Grinch was at Ohio State (2018) and Oklahoma (2021).

"I've coached against him several times and had trouble with him. I think the biggest thing for me was just the personality fit. You know, sometimes you're successful in this business and sometimes it doesn't go the way you want. Sometimes it's your fault and sometimes it's not. I think I can really relate to Alex's career. One time he was probably the hottest defensive coordinator in the country. He went to another place where it didn't go quite as well, and I don't think that was necessarily all his fault.

"What I know I'm getting is a really good guy that's been around a lot of football, has been successful and has a chip on his shoulder to take advantage of another opportunity. I think the parallel of that with my career makes us a good fit together."

Frost spoke further about the hectic time in December and early January when he was tasked with recruiting the transfer portal at the same time he was filling his staff.

"Hopefully I'll never have to go through that again."

Does Frost associate the new era of college football with the portal and NIL akin to NFL free agency?

"I don't want to say anything controversial, but I look forward to a time when this is like NFL free agency. There are some similarities. I think you're working with a budget or a salary cap and you're trying to build the best team you can with those resources. The downside is contracts don't matter. Kids saying they're gonna come doesn't matter. It's it's a free-for-all.

"At least in the NFL, when someone signs a one, two or three-year contract, they're your player for one, two or three years. Just the volatility of this and the ability to to have things change and have kids change their mind, it's just a revolving door.

"And just when you think you have a piece plugged in, you lose that piece and you have to get out and get another one. My hope eventually is we get to a point where it's like the parameters that exist with NFL free agency."

He said the biggest adjustment was learning the new realities of recruiting when it comes to NIL and revshare.

Now, their focus is getting the staff and team on the same page, finalizing their offensive and defensive plans. It's good that he has guys he's worked with before, like Steve Cooper and Sean Beckton, that will make the transition go smoothly.

"There's just a lot of ground to cover. This is a 4-8 football team last year. We have high hopes, but we have a lot of work to do to get where we want. When you're installing this stuff for the first time, there's just a process you have to go through to get everybody to learn what we're doing, what we're all about and how we're going to get there."

Looking ahead to spring practice, it's about teaching as coaches and competition for the kids. The quicker guys can learn, the better chance they have to be successful on the field.

"As much as we're competing with one another, I want it to be a team-based mentality so guys are caring about each other. That's a hard thing to balance, so that's going to take good leadership and good communication from the coaching staff.

"We're not really sure what we have yet until we get them out on the field, so it's hard to answer questions about personnel. But the guys are gonna get a chance to prove that and and like I said, I've been really impressed with the work ethic and the attentiveness to try to learn things and move this in a positive direction."

Asked his time in the NFL with the Rams and head coach Sean McVay, Frost said it was an incredible learning experience that will make him a better coach going forward.

"I think anytime you think you know everything, then you're done learning. I went into that time out in LA with an open mind and trying to just soak in as much as I could. There's a lot of things that I think I'll adjust having been there and seen that, like our approach to practice, our approach to time off, our approach to the staff.

"It's not like I'm gonna be a different person, but I think anytime you're around somebody that's smart and a really good organization or team, there's things that you pick up along the way that you integrate with what you've already been doing to try to make you better. He's certainly one of the best to do it and one of the smartest guys I've been around, so definitely a lot of things that I was able to pick up out there."

Asked about his relationship with McKenzie Milton and how it's evolved, Frost offered a friendly reminder that KZ is an adult now.

"I think the the key for me and probably for UCF and its fans is to see him as a grown-up and a coach now. He's not who he was. He's not the same person he was eight years ago. Neither am I. Neither are you. He's not a sophomore from Hawaii that's out flipping options over his right shoulder anymore and doing crazy things on the field. God bless him, most of them turned out good, but he's a grown-up now. That's the way I see him.

"I've seen his growth kind of from afar for a while and I think it's important for me to make sure UCF fans look at him as the person he is now and not the hero that played on the field."

Looking at the QB room, which includes Dylan Rizk, Jacurri Brown, Tayven Jackson and Cam Fancher, Frost said he's been impressed with their willingness to learn. The QB has to be the leader, the most knowledgeable on the field and knowing what everybody is doing. The No. 1 characteristic he's looking for is a playmaker that finds a way to win regardless to situation.

Zach Duval is back as head strength coach.

"I think Zach is such a good fit for here and I've been reminded of that having watched a few weeks of guys training in the weight room again.

"Florida is full of talented athletes that can really run. When you take those type of athletes and put them in a situation where they're eating well and getting good nutrition and really busting their hump in the weight room to get stronger, then you're taking fast guys and making them faster and stronger."

He added the players have been very receptive to the strength & conditioning changes.

"I've got to compliment the team. We're working them right now and the kids are embracing it and loving it. We haven't had one kid miss a workout or be late to a workout. I can't say how many kids have come up to me and told me how glad they are that we're pushing them. And when I say pushing them, they're working. So seeing that kind of effort from the guys and appreciation for making them do hard things, that speaks a lot about the character of the guys."

Frost's first offense at UCF was dubbed UCFast. How would he now describe his offensive philosophy?

"We're gonna do whatever the best thing is to win, to move the ball and win. I suppose age brings you wisdom if you're always learning. I think there's gonna be times when we look a lot like we did when I was here the first time. Maybe there'll be some times when we won't.

"But a lot of that's gonna depend on what we see in spring ball and what kind of team we have. A lot of it's gonna depend on who we're playing, the style of the league.

"We're not gonna be doggedly committed to any one style. I want to be able to be flexible enough to do the things that it takes to give us the best chance to win week in and week out."

Asked about defensive recruiting, Frost recognized Kenny Martin again for holding much of the defensive line together. Their primary portal focus was centered on linebacker and secondary. Excited about the players they recruited and retained.

In a perfect world, Frost would recruit from high school and develop but you don't always have that prerogative, especially this year when the roster had dipped to 50. Going forward, they'll try to find the right balance with high school and portal.

Now a member of the Big 12, UCF in 2025 has way more opportunities than they did the first time he was here.

"The trajectory of UCF and UCF Athletics has been amazing to me. Going back to when Coach Beck played, I think they were in I-AA, the MAC and in the American. Now we've got a seat at the big boy table. That's a challenge. We got work to do to make sure that we're competitive first and then hopefully go beyond that.

"There's no reason that we can't recruit as well as anybody else in Florida and give people the opportunity to play in the Big 12. I think that alone is going to springboard our ability to get even better players. Then it's up to us to make sure that we're working hard enough to be competitive and try to win in the league."

Frost spoke glowingly of the fact he's working in lockstep with UCF AD Terry Mohajir.

"Terry's been great. I'm so grateful to have an AD that's on my side and working alongside me. When you're in the other situation it's really difficult, and it's really debilitating to be honest with you. When you feel like you're working and you don't have somebody right there alongside with you.

"Terry and I are on the same page. He's trying to give us everything that he can to be successful. It's a good partnership. I'm grateful to him."

Lastly, Frost gave his thoughts on the 2025 schedule which includes a non-conference home game vs. North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick and a Big 12 slate that includes trips to Kansas State, Texas Tech and BYU.

"It's a fun schedule. We got our work cut out for us. We're taking off from a point that I don't think anybody was happy with last year's results. That being said, I think watching the tape and a few plays go different, UCF wins seven or eight games last year. So we got our work cut out for us

"The league is tough I think from top to bottom. There's so much parity in the league having watched the tape now that if you play well and execute well you're gonna have a chance in every game, but every team can beat you.

"We're excited for that opportunity. Looks like a fun schedule and we'll start talking to the players right away about not being cold in Provo in November. We'll get their mind right."