FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Scott Frost's celebrated return as coach at UCF comes with the backdrop of a failed tenure at Nebraska, the alma mater he said he didn't want to talk about at Big 12 football media days Tuesday.

Even though he did.

Frost said, “I really want to keep it about UCF,” just a few hours after telling a reporter from The Athletic that he never wanted to take the Nebraska job in the first place coming off a 13-0 season in 2017 that sparked debate about whether the Knights should have had a chance to play for the national championship in the four-team playoff.

“I said I wouldn't leave unless it was someplace you could win a national championship,” Frost told The Athletic. “I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater and didn't really want to do it. It wasn't a good move. I'm lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier.”

When the same reporter asked Frost in a one-on-one interview what he learned from his time in Nebraska, the former Cornhuskers quarterback said, “Don't take the wrong job.”

Frost's tone was quite a bit different in two different settings with reporters at the 12,000-seat indoor stadium that is also a practice field for the Dallas Cowboys.

“When you go through something that doesn’t work, just ready for another chance, and I’m ready for another chance,” Frost said. “This is about the Big 12. This is about UCF. Everybody has success in life and has failures in life, for all sorts of different reasons. I’m excited to get back in a place where my family and I get treated well.”

Frost inherited an 0-12 team at UCF and turned it into an undefeated American Athletic Conference champion in just two years. Nebraska fans were ecstatic when he made the move 20 years after leading the Cornhuskers to a perfect 1997 season and a split national title with Michigan in the final season before a championship game was established.

Three games into his fifth season in Lincoln, Frost was fired with a 16-31 record. Almost three full college seasons later, it's back to Orlando — after one year working under Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay.

“I really enjoyed two years off,” Frost said. “I got to spend a whole year with Ashley and the (three) kids, and I’ll never get that time back. I played more catch with my son and touch football in the yard with him and going to Little League and seeing my daughter do gymnastics. And then some time out in LA really, really helped reset me, too.”

Images endure of Frost celebrating a 34-27 Peach Bowl victory over Auburn that clinched UCF's perfect 2017 season almost a month after he had been named the coach at Nebraska.

Fast-forward almost eight years, and Frost was delaying a scheduled roundtable with reporters to take a few pictures with the players he brought with him to media days.

“Yeah, being around the guys,” Frost said of that moment. “I’m sorry, I’d rather be around the guys than you guys.”

And there are times when Frost brings up the old days with his new guys.

“We talk to them about all those things,” Frost said. “What happened in 2017 is at times relevant, but this is a new team. So we only point those things out, not to live in the past, but just to help them with any lessons that we want to learn.”

Frost wasn't sharing the lessons he learned in Nebraska with everyone.

Big 12 commissioner doubles down on preference for 5-11 playoff model if CFP expands

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is doubling down on his preference to stay with only five automatic qualifiers if the College Football Playoff does expand from 12 to 16 teams as many expect after this season, instead of each of the four power conferences being guaranteed multiple bids.

“We have the responsibility to do what’s right for college football ... not what's right for one or two or more conferences,” Yormark said Tuesday at Big 12 football media days. “I think 5-11 is fair. Earn it on the field, assuming we want to expand. I love the current format, but if we’re going to expand, let’s do it in a way that’s fair and equitable and gives everyone a chance.”

While the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten will have more of a say on the playoff format starting in 2026, when ESPN's $7.8 billion contract kicks in, Yormark believes the 5-11 format would be good for now and in the future. He said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips feels the same way, and is expected to express that during his league's media days in two weeks.

“We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL,” Yormark said. "We are college football and we must act like it."

In the 12-team format still in place for this season, the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoff. The difference this year is that the top four highest-ranked champions are no longer guaranteed the top four seeds that come with first-round byes.

Among potential 16-team formats would be four automatic qualifiers from both the SEC and Big Ten, and two each for the Big 12 and ACC. The Big 12 last season had only conference champion Arizona State make the playoff last season.

“We want to earn it on the field," Yormark said. “It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, given your comments about (automatic qualifiers), but long term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us.”

Yormark, who is going into his fourth year as Big 12 commissioner, believes that the landmark NCAA House settlement will have a positive impact for all conferences, especially if the College Sports Commission works the way it is intended in enforcing the rules in the remade system.

“It will. I have a lot of faith in Bryan Seely,” Yormark said of the former Major League Baseball executive named CEO of the new CSC. “It should create a level playing field, and I'm not giving that up.”

The Big 12 was already in transition and still at 10 teams when Yormark arrived in 2022. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joined the league the following year.

Texas and Oklahoma, who won football national championships while in the Big 12, completed their long-planned move to the SEC last year. That is when Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah came into what is now a 16-team Big 12.

"I think parity matters, and I think ultimately over time, and that’s hopefully sooner than later, there’ll be a couple of our schools that will emerge, you know, as elite schools that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels. And that’s what we’re working towards,” Yormark said. “But it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom. And I think we’re there.”

Big 12 making no official predictions, so no last-to-first narrative this year like Arizona State

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — There are no official Big 12 predictions going into this season, so there will be no last-to-first narrative like what Arizona State had in its league debut.

Going into its 30th football season, the Big 12 didn't conduct a preseason media poll predicting the order of finish for the 16-team conference. The results were way off last year.

“I try to ignore it as best I can,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said Tuesday at Big 12 media days. “It’s one of the reasons we as coaches did not do a coaches poll because I think the narrative has really hurt our league. I know it hurt Arizona State and I know it hurt BYU last year.”

Arizona State won the Big 12 championship game last season after being picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12 standings. The Sun Devils were in a four-way tie for first place in the regular-season standings, beat Iowa State in the title game and were the only league team to make the College Football Playoff.

Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham said he couldn't care less about any of the predictions last year, or what anybody might have guessed for this season. They do have back quarterback Sam Leavitt, who was picked as the league's preseason offensive player of the year since media still voted on a preseason All-Big 12 team.

“I don’t really care where people put us. Vote us first, vote us last, vote us in the middle. If we’re so focused on other people’s expectations of us, then you’re going to limit yourself,” Dillingham said Tuesday. “Who knows? Are we supposed to win six games? Are we supposed to win nine games? Are we supposed to go undefeated? Are we supposed to win zero? ... All I know is when we show up to work, we should be the very best version of ourselves. And if we compete in something, you better compete to win.”

BYU was picked to finish 13th in the Big 12, and was part of that four-way tie at the end of the regular season with 7-2 conference records. The Cougars finished 11-2 overall, including a 9-0 start in which they had an early win over ACC newcomer SMU, which made the 12-team playoff field even after losing its conference championship game.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said there's no value to such preseason football polls, especially with the ever-changing landscape in the game these days. He felt Arizona State was disadvantaged because of being picked 16th long before even playing its first game.

“With the transfer portal and with roster management and what goes on as you build that roster, no one knows what they really have. They know what they have on paper, but it hasn’t played out,” Yormark said. “And that was the case with Arizona State last year. So I don’t know if it’s a trend or not but certainly it’s the right thing for the Big 12 and I’m glad we did it.”

The Big Ten Conference has long forgone doing preseason polls.

Arizona State went into the Big 12 title game last December at 15th in the CFP rankings, behind three SEC teams with three losses and Mountain West Conference champion Boise State. The Sun Devils were then 12th in the final CFP rankings, but got a first-round bye as one of the top four-ranked conference champions before the format changed for this season to more-direct seeding.

A series of tiebreakers had put Arizona State and Iowa State in the Big 12 title game, and eliminated BYU and Colorado from title contention.

Utah, which like Arizona State made its Big 12 debut last year, was the preseason favorite to win the league. The Utes won all three of their non-conference games, but went 2-7 otherwise to finish near the bottom of the Big 12 standings.

Oklahoma State was last after going 0-9 in conference play. The Cowboys had been picked third.

Global stages

The Big 12 season will open Aug. 23 with Kansas State playing Iowa State in Ireland. TCU will play its 2026 season opener there against North Carolina.

“I’ve been on the record to say that I want this conference to be a global conference," said Yormark, who is going into his fourth year as Big 12 commissioner. “I think we can win globally big time. Playing in Ireland obviously is that first step.”

Football isn't the league's only sport going international for a league in which Yormark said 11% of the student-athletes are from outside the United States.

“Just from a recruitment standpoint, it makes sense to carry that flag outside of the domestic marketplace,” he said.

Baylor's women's basketball team will open the upcoming season in Paris. Yormark said there is a good chance of a baseball game in Mexico City next spring, and that there are conversations about events in other international markets, like Germany.