
MLB Power Rankings: Who’s the new No. 1 atop our list?
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1 year agoon
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adminWe have a new top team in our rankings!
The Dodgers have usurped the Braves to take hold of the No. 1 spot, thanks to strong performances from Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez.
After two weeks of baseball, the Yankees rode a five-game win streak to the majors’ best record at 10-3, followed by … the Pirates and Guardians?!
Meanwhile, our top 10 features three new teams in the Cubs, Red Sox and Guardians — the last of whom made the largest leap of all 30 teams from last week to now, going from No. 21 to No. 10. Will they be able to keep up this dominance?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team in baseball based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts David Schoenfield, Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers, Alden Gonzalez and Jorge Castillo to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 10-5
Previous ranking: 2
Yoshinobu Yamamoto obtained the largest contract ever by a pitcher this offseason, but there’s a reason Tyler Glasnow drew the Dodgers’ first start of 2024. The team’s evaluators believe Glasnow, 30 years old with a checkered injury history, is just starting to tap into what he can become in the big leagues. His Tuesday start against the Twins was another example of that. Glasnow matched a career high with 14 strikeouts through seven scoreless innings, during which he threw just 88 pitches. He was simply dominant — as he has been through the early part of this season. Four starts in, Glasnow holds a 2.25 ERA. — Gonzalez
Record: 7-3
Previous ranking: 1
As we await the official news on Spencer Strider‘s pitching elbow and whether he’ll need a second Tommy John surgery after first undergoing the procedure in college, the Braves turn to replacing their ace starter. Allan Winans replaced Strider on the roster and started on Wednesday. He made six starts last season for the Braves and posted a 5.29 ERA, although with an excellent 34-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Winans got the call over 2023 All-Star Bryce Elder, who scuffled in the second half last season and then struggled in spring training. His first two starts at Triple-A Gwinnett were better (2.61 ERA), but the Braves want to see more. AJ Smith-Shawver is also there, but he lasted just two-thirds of an inning in his first start, walking three batters. Huascar Ynoa, who had his moments for the Braves in 2021, is at Gwinnett, trying to return from Tommy John surgery after not pitching in 2023, but didn’t pitch well his first two starts. For now, it’s Winans. — Schoenfield
Record: 10-3
Previous ranking: 3
Every year, dozens of major leaguers vow to implement changes upon reporting to spring training. Hitters work on mechanical changes. Pitchers experiment with pitches. The list goes on. But rarely are adjustments as immediately effective as the ones Anthony Volpe has incorporated at the plate. Volpe, 22, looks like a different hitter from his 2023 rookie season. His swing path is flatter, and he’s practicing more patience and making hard contact consistently. His production, as a result, has skyrocketed. The shortstop is 16-for-43 (.372) with an 1.041 OPS and three steals — all while still playing elite defense after winning a Gold Glove last season. The hometown kid is on a path to stardom. — Castillo
Record: 7-4
Previous ranking: 4
Pitcher injuries have been the theme to start the season. It seems as if a pitcher is sidelined with an elbow or shoulder ailment every day, and it’s almost always bad — or even terrible — news. But here’s a positive development: Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish, diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in January, will begin a rehab assignment soon. Bradish, 27, emerged as one of the American League’s top pitchers last season, posting an 2.83 ERA in 30 starts. If he can return anywhere close to that form, he and Corbin Burnes would give the Orioles’ rotation a top-tier one-two punch.
Oh, and the Orioles have called up Jackson Holliday, the consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport. The vibes are looking good in Baltimore. — Castillo
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 5
It looks like the Rangers are going to be piecing things together at the hot corner for at least the first half of the season. The reigning champs got brutal early news when hard-luck standout Josh Jung took a pitch off his right wrist. Jung was off to a blazing start, but after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture, he’s now on the 60-day injured list. Texas summoned prospect Justin Foscue to help out in the infield, and he turned up with an oblique injury after logging his first two major league plate appearances. Now another prospect — Davis Wendzel — has been summoned for his first MLB time. Wendzel will help Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran and, hopefully, Foscue hold down the fort until Jung can get back on the field. — Doolittle
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 7
Through the team’s first 12 games, Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott and Johan Rojas were all without a home run. Bryce Harper has hit three home runs — but all in one game. The slow start from the offense is a reminder that last year’s offense also started off slowly through the first two months — and, really, only put it together in August, when the Phillies went wild and hit 59 home runs with a .907 OPS. The team OPS was under .800 every other month. Last year, Harper was coming back from his Tommy John surgery and didn’t play until May 2, plus several players were at the World Baseball Classic. No similar excuses apply this season. — Schoenfield
Record: 4-9
Previous ranking: 8
Add the Astros to the list of teams who have a complete starting rotation currently on the IL. This week, Framber Valdez‘s sore elbow landed him on the shelf next to Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy. We don’t yet know how long Valdez will be down, but clearly Houston is already scrambling for starting pitchers. Ronel Blanco has been a godsend and Houston summoned 40 FV (future value, per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel) righty Spencer Arrighetti to make his MLB debut. Unranked prospect Blair Henley was selected to start on short notice against the champion Rangers, got one out and was subsequently optioned back to the minors. Expect plenty of this kind of improvisation for a while. — Doolittle
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 15
Everything was going swimmingly for the Cubs until Monday night when they blew an eight-run lead for the first time since 2002. The Padres were the beneficiary of several questionable moves by Chicago manager Craig Counsell, who is known as a good manager of bullpens. It underscores the point that all managers are capable of second guessing — especially when you don’t have the pieces. Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer didn’t add a reliever at last year’s deadline, nor did he add much more than Hector Neris this past offseason. It could come back to bite his team — like it did against San Diego. — Rogers
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 13
The Red Sox didn’t spend much money on free agents during the winter — further peeving fans following consecutive last-place finishes the past two seasons — but they have spent some on their young talent. Last month, they gave starter Brayan Bello a six-year extension. This week was Ceddanne Rafaela‘s turn, as he agreed to an eight-year, $50 million contract after playing in just 38 major league games. Rafaela, 23, is a speedster and dynamic defender, both in center field and at shortstop. That versatility is already crucial for the Red Sox. Rafaela, the club’s opening day center fielder, could see more time at shortstop after Trevor Story’s season-ending shoulder injury. — Castillo
Record: 9-3
Previous ranking: 21
Shane Bieber had dominated in his first two starts, throwing 12 scoreless innings, but then came the devastating news that he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the season. “My performance was getting back to the place I knew I was capable of,” Bieber told reporters, fighting back tears. “I was falling back in love with pitching.” During pregame introductions at the team’s home opener on Monday, the fans gave the 2020 Cy Young winner a huge ovation. For the Guardians, a rotation that was already without Gavin Williams takes a huge blow (Xzavion Curry and Ben Lively are possible replacements, although both are on rehab assignments in Triple-A right now). For Bieber, who’s heading into free agency after this season, there will be no monster contract that he would have received with a healthy season. — Schoenfield
Record: 8-3
Previous ranking: 11
Christian Yelich is off to a hot start, driving the ball like he did during his MVP year back in 2018. The following season was basically the last that he looked this dangerous. In between then and now there were some injuries and little protection in the lineup, but he looks healthy now — and, in a very small sample size, he’s destroying left-handed pitching. He’s 4-for-7 with two home runs against lefties while compiling a near one-to-one overall strikeout-to-walk ratio. This version of Yelich is essential to the Brewers’ chances. — Rogers
Record: 9-3
Previous ranking: 16
Lefty Martin Perez is proving to be a savvy pickup as he has made three starts for the Pirates and given up just four runs over 19 innings. The longtime Ranger didn’t have his best season last year, flipping between starting and relieving, but he’s only a season removed from compiling a 2.89 ERA in 2022 while making 32 starts over 196⅓ innings. Perez is the kind of veteran the Pirates need to help their young rotation. The only question is if he and the team can keep up their hot start to the season. — Rogers
Record: 7-6
Previous ranking: 10
The Rays’ desire to trade Glasnow was one of the offseason’s worst-kept secrets. The question wasn’t if it would happen, but what the Rays would collect in return for the talented, oft-injured pitcher. If Ryan Pepiot‘s start in Colorado on Sunday is any indication, Tampa Bay might have acquired a more-than-adequate replacement for Glasnow.
Pepiot held the Rockies to three hits over six scoreless innings, striking out 11 without a walk in the hitters’ haven that is Coors Field. An oblique injury limited the right-hander to eight outings with the Dodgers last season, but he was plenty good when healthy, posting a 2.14 ERA over 42 innings. The Rays clearly saw something they liked in Pepiot. Their history with pitchers suggests they’ll find a way to maximize his abilities. — Castillo
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 6
Asked during spring training about a potential breakout candidate on his team, D-backs general manager Mike Hazen pointed to Ketel Marte. It was a rather odd choice, given that Marte is in his age-30 season and has been in the big leagues for 10 years. We know what he is, basically — which is pretty darn good. But Hazen felt there might be yet another level for Marte, pointing to how he surged through last year’s postseason and how that might springboard him in 2024.
That proved to be the case in the early stages of this season, with Marte carrying a .342/.386/.658 slash line through his first nine games. If Marte can get back to his MVP-level production from 2019, it will go a long way toward the D-backs separating themselves from the Padres and Giants in the National League West. — Gonzalez
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 12
The Blue Jays launched the season with a harsh three-city road trip through Tampa, Houston and New York to give workers more time to finish Rogers Centre’s latest round of renovations. The ballpark makeover has received mixed reviews, but the club enjoyed its return home, winning two straight over the Mariners after its 4-6 start against three playoff teams. The Rockies and Yankees travel north next before the Blue Jays leave Canada again. Maybe some home cooking will get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette going after slow starts at the plate. — Castillo
Record: 7-8
Previous ranking: 18
In case you had forgotten, Fernando Tatis Jr. is still capable of magic. We saw it once again, rather emphatically, on Monday night. Eighth inning. One on, two outs. Down a run. Brushed back on a pitch by Cubs reliever Adbert Alzolay. On the very next one, Tatis launched the game-winning home run, capping an eight-run comeback, electrifying Petco Park and celebrating as emphatically as you might think. The Padres still have superstars. Their fans are still behind them. But they’re still waiting for key guys to get going around Tatis, namely Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado, the latter of whom is still relegated to designated hitter while recovering from offseason right elbow surgery. — Gonzalez
Record: 7-4
Previous ranking: 14
For the eternally optimistic, every new season has carried with it the renewed hope that Javier Baez can recapture some of what he once had offensively and live up to the expectation of his $140 million contract. And we once again regret to inform those people that there are no signs of that happening. Not yet, at least. Through his first nine games, Baez has mustered only five hits in 33 at-bats, striking out 11 times without drawing any walks or producing any extra-base hits. Baez struck out a NL-leading 184 times in 2021 but still produced an .813 OPS. It dropped to .671 in 2022, then .593 last season, and now, at this very early juncture, it sits at .323. — Gonzalez
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 20
Spencer Steer might not have garnered the headlines that Elly De La Cruz earned last year, but he’s certainly getting them now. Steer won player of the week in the NL and is putting up monster numbers one season after posting a 119 OPS+. That number is hovering around 220 right now. Meanwhile, his hard hit percentage is over 50% — up from 37% last year. He’ll surely come back down to earth, but with injuries plaguing the Reds, they need a leader at the plate after Joey Votto moved on. Steer is turning into that guy. — Rogers
Record: 5-8
Previous ranking: 9
As a rookie in 2023, right-hander Bryce Miller was half of a first-division starter. Against righty hitters, Miller was lights out, holding them to a .210/.242/.332 slash line. The news wasn’t so good against lefty swingers, though, with whom opposing managers stacked the lineup whenever Miller took the hill. Those guys hit .282/.340/.521 against him, which was a problem. The solution: a new pitch. Miller has thrown a splitter 20 times in each of his first two starts, with 28 of those 40 offerings attacking his lefty-hitting nemeses. So far: Lefties are hitting .107/.194/.214 against Miller. It’s early, yes, but that’s awfully exciting for a team that needs all the good news it can get. — Doolittle
Record: 4-6
Previous ranking: 17
Byron Buxton, an elite defensive center fielder, didn’t log one inning in the outfield in 2023. To limit his risk of injury, the injury-plagued veteran was the designated hitter in every one of his 80 games. The Twins chose to reverse course this season, and Buxton showed why Monday, robbing Teoscar Hernandez of extra bases with an all-out diving catch in right-center field. Constant major setbacks haven’t allowed Buxton, 30, to reach the potential that once made him the consensus top prospect in the sport. He has played more than 92 games in a season just once in his seven full, non-COVID-shortened campaigns. If he can stay healthy, his glovework alone will make a difference in the Twins’ pursuit of a second straight division title. — Castillo
Record: 8-4
Previous ranking: 23
While many rotations have been affected by injury-related instability so far in 2024, the starting group in Kansas City has fueled the team’s early surge. Kansas City features a top-five rotation ERA but that’s only part of the story. It’s not just one or two breakouts fueling that number — it’s the whole group. The Royals have set the pace in terms of quality starts and average game score so far. With that consistency comes volume: Their starters lead the majors in innings per start despite being middle of the pack in pitches per outing. Can it last? We’ll see, but as long as it does, Kansas City will be a threat in the AL Central. — Doolittle
Record: 5-8
Previous ranking: 19
Blake Snell‘s first start in a Giants uniform was a bit of a dud, which was probably to be expected. He gave up three runs, allowed five baserunners and threw 72 pitches in just three innings on Monday. His stuff looked electric at times, but he was clearly off after a strange offseason in which he signed on March 18, didn’t have the benefit of spring training and was forced to prepare by throwing a five-inning simulated game from Dodger Stadium before the Giants’ seventh game of the regular season. Speaking to reporters after his debut, Snell said: “I’m only going to get better. It’s going to get more crisp. First game, I’m happy it’s out of the way.” — Gonzalez
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 22
Is anyone shocked that the Cardinals’ starting staff ranks in the bottom third of the league in ERA? Two of their new pickups, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, combined to pitch 11 innings in their last outings, giving up nine runs on eight hits. They’ll both need to be better considering Sonny Gray is just coming back from injury. On the bright side, he looked great on Tuesday against the Phillies. Still, St. Louis is putting all its eggs in this basket, counting on aging starters to turn the team around. It’s a risky proposition with a low level of confidence in its success. — Rogers
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 25
Given Mike Trout‘s injury luck, it’ll be hard for Angels fans to avoid cringing every time he runs into a wall, gets hit by a pitch or runs hard from first to third. So far — fingers crossed — Trout has looked as good as he has in years, fueling hopes for a vintage, and complete, season for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has even stolen two bases, a total he hasn’t exceeded since 2019. Trout’s six early homers have him on an epic pace, but the other part of that story is his RBI total — eight on those first six dingers. That might be a season-long disconnect. With Trout hitting third, the Angels lead the majors in OPS from the three-hole. But the combined on-base percentage for the three spots ahead of him — 9-1-2 — ranks near the bottom of the majors. — Doolittle
Record: 4-7
Previous ranking: 24
Francisco Lindor is off to such a slow start — 4-for-45 (.089) — that Mets fans are trying to organize a standing ovation for him when they return home on Friday, hoping to boost him up similar to what Phillies fans did with Trea Turner last August. It does look in part like a run of bad luck, as Lindor has just six strikeouts in 53 plate appearances. He has had just one other 11-game stretch (non-overlapping) when he hit under .100, back in September of 2016. He had an 11-game stretch last year in May and June when he hit .114, but he still managed three home runs and seven RBIs, as opposed to one home run and two RBIs in this stretch. — Schoenfield
Record: 5-7
Previous ranking: 27
An early bright spot for the Nationals is CJ Abrams, who hit .306/.359/.611 through his first nine games (he missed three games with a finger injury) with three home runs — including blasts of 423 feet and 429 feet. Those are longer than any of the 18 home runs he hit last season, a sign that his power is continuing to develop. Indeed, keep the sample size in mind here, but his average launch angle has gone from 6.8 degrees as an overmatched rookie in 2022 to 13.5 degrees in 2023 to 22.3 so far in 2024. It’s an interesting twist for a prospect once projected as more of a high-average hitter with minimal power, but who now may be turning into a 25- to 30-homer guy. — Schoenfield
Record: 2-11
Previous ranking: 26
The Marlins started 0-9 before finally breaking through on Sunday with a 10-3 win over the Cardinals. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit two home runs while Max Meyer picked up his first MLB victory in allowing just one run and three hits over six innings. The Marlins thus avoided becoming just the seventh team since 1900 to begin the season with at least 10 consecutive losses. Meyer was impressive with his fastball/slider combo, inducing 11 groundouts. He wasn’t supposed to be in the rotation — Miami had actually optioned Meyer to the minors in March, hoping to bring him back slowly after not pitching last season — but injuries in the rotation forced the Marlins to call him back up. — Schoenfield
Record: 4-8
Previous ranking: 30
Mason Miller‘s electric arsenal plays in a number of key staff roles, but so far this season he’s a closer. He has had myriad arm issues, so the short relief gig could help protect him to a degree. Still, while his average four-seamer has ascended into triple-digits in the short stints, he has largely abandoned his changeup and cutter to this point. As a closer, Miller has shined with his four-seamer/slider combo, but it’ll be interesting to see going forward if he becomes pigeonholed as a reliever as his in-progress secondary offerings trend toward atrophy. — Doolittle
Record: 3-10
Previous ranking: 29
Kyle Freeland had a really good spring, posting a 2.37 ERA in 19 Cactus League innings, but he struggled mightily when the games began to start. The Rockies’ 30-year-old left-hander gave up a whopping 17 runs and allowed 24 of 40 batters to reach during his first two starts against the D-backs and Cubs. But Freeland was better in his third start against the division-rival D-backs (4 runs, 2 earned, in five innings) and should eventually get back to doing what he normally does — taking down innings and putting up above-average park-adjusted numbers. One good sign early on: His four-seam fastball has been averaging 92 mph, where it stood in 2020 before declining for three straight years. — Gonzalez
Record: 2-10
Previous ranking: 28
Chicago’s futility on offense is shocking but what can you expect when Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert Jr. and now Yoan Moncada are once again out of the lineup with injuries? It has led to a historically bad start at the plate — the White Sox were shut out four times in their first 10 games and scored a total of 16 runs. That’s the fewest for an MLB team through its first 10 games since 2004 and fewest for the White Sox through 10 since 1968. They had a one day reprieve on Tuesday, scoring seven against the Guardians, but that’s the same day Moncada was lost with an adductor strain. It’s going to be a long year for Chicago. — Rogers
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Sports
This time at UCF, Scott Frost won’t need to catch lightning in a bottle
Published
10 mins agoon
May 5, 2025By
admin
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Andrea AdelsonMay 3, 2025, 09:58 AM ET
Close- ACC reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
- Graduate of the University of Florida.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Scott Frost walks into the UCF football building and into his office, the one he used the last time he had this job, eight years ago. The shades are drawn, just like they used to be. There are drawings from his three kids tacked to the walls. There are still trophies sitting on a shelf.
He still parks in the same spot before he walks into that same building and sits at the same desk. The only thing that has changed is that the desk is positioned in a different part of the room.
But the man doing all the same things at the University of Central Florida is a different Scott Frost than the one who left following that undefeated 2017 season to take the head coach job at Nebraska.
UCF might look the same, but the school is different now, too. The Knights are now in a Power 4 conference, and there is now a 12-team College Football Playoff that affords them the opportunity to play for national championships — as opposed to self-declaring them. Just outside his office, construction is underway to upgrade the football stadium. The same, but different.
“I know I’m a wiser person and smarter football coach,” Frost said during a sit-down interview with ESPN. “When you’re young, you think you have it all figured out. I don’t think you really get better as a person unless you go through really good things, and really bad things. I just know I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Out on the practice field, Frost feels the most at home — he feels comfort in going back to the place that has defined nearly every day of his life. As a young boy, he learned the game from his mom and dad, both football coaches, then thrived as a college and NFL player before going into coaching.
He coaches up his players with a straightforwardness that quarterbacks coach McKenzie Milton remembers fondly from their previous time together at UCF. Milton started at quarterback on the 2017 undefeated team, and the two remained close after Frost left.
“I see the same version of him from when I was here as a player,” Milton said. “Even though the dynamic in college football has changed dramatically with the portal and NIL, I think Coach Frost is one of the few coaches that can still bring a group of guys together and turn them into a team, just with who he is and what he’s done and what he’s been through in his life. He knows what it looks like to succeed, both as a coach and a player.”
Since his return, Frost has had to adjust to those changes to college football, but he said, “I love coming into work every day. We’ve got the right kids who love football. We’re working them hard. They want to be pushed. They want to be challenged. We get to practice with palm trees and sunshine and, we’re playing big-time football. But it’s also just not the constant stress meat grinder of some other places.”
Meat grinder of some other places.
Might he mean a place such as Nebraska?
“You can think what you want,” Frost said. “One thing I told myself — I’m never going to talk about that. It just doesn’t feel good to talk about. I’ll get asked 100 questions. This is about UCF. I just don’t have anything to say.”
Frost says he has no regrets about leaving UCF, even though he didn’t get the results he had hoped for at his alma mater. When Nebraska decided to part ways with coach Mike Riley in 2017, Frost seemed the best, most obvious candidate to replace him. He had been the starting quarterback on the 1997 team, the last Nebraska team to win a national title.
He now had the coaching résumé to match. Frost had done the unthinkable at UCF — taking a program that was winless the season before he arrived, to undefeated and the talk of the college football world just two years later.
But he could not ignore the pull of Nebraska and the opportunities that came along with power conference football.
“I was so happy here,” Frost said. “We went undefeated and didn’t get a chance to win a championship, at least on the field. You are always striving to reach higher goals. I had always told myself I wasn’t going to leave here unless there was a place that you can legitimately go and win a national championship. It was a tough decision because I didn’t want to leave regardless of which place it was.”
Indeed, Frost maintains he was always happy at UCF. But he also knew returning to Nebraska would make others happy, too.
“I think I kind of knew that wasn’t best for me,” he said. “It was what some other people wanted me to do to some degree.”
In four-plus seasons with the Cornhuskers, Frost went 16-31 — including 5-22 in one-score games. He was fired three games into the 2022 season after a home loss to Georgia Southern.
After Frost was fired, he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where his wife has family. He reflected on what happened during his tenure with the Cornhuskers but also about what he wanted to do with the rest of his career. He tried to stay connected to the game, coaching in the U.S. Army Bowl, a high school all-star game in Frisco, Texas, in December 2022. Milton coached alongside him, and distinctly remembers a conversation they had.
“He said, ‘It’s my goal to get back to UCF one day,'” Milton said. “At that time, I was like, ‘I pray to God that happens.'”
If that was the ultimate goal, Frost needed to figure out how to position himself to get back there. While he contemplated his future, he coached his son’s flag football team to a championship. Frost found the 5- and 6-year-olds he coached “listen better than 19-year-olds sometimes.”
Ultimately, he decided on a career reboot in the NFL. Frost had visited the Rams during their offseason program, and when a job came open in summer 2024, Rams coach Sean McVay immediately reached out.
Frost was hired as a senior analyst, primarily helping with special teams but also working with offense and defense.
“It was more just getting another great leader in the building, someone who has been a head coach, that has wisdom and a wealth of experience to be able to learn from,” McVay told ESPN. “His ability to be able to communicate to our players from a great coaching perspective, but also have the empathy and the understanding from when he played — all of those things were really valuable.”
McVay said he and Frost had long discussions about handling the challenges that come with falling short as a head coach.
“There’s strength in the vulnerability,” McVay said. “I felt that from him. There’s a real power in the perspective that you have from those different experiences. If you can really look at some of the things that maybe didn’t go down the way you wanted to within the framework of your role and responsibility, real growth can occur. I saw that in him.”
Frost says his time with the Rams rejuvenated him.
“It brought me back,” Frost said. “Sometimes when you’re a head coach or maybe even a coordinator, you forget how fun it is to be around the game when it’s not all on you all the time. What I did was a very small part, and we certainly weren’t going to win or lose based on every move that I made, and I didn’t have to wear the losses and struggle for the victories like you do when you’re a head coach. I’m so grateful to those guys.”
UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir got a call from then-head coach Gus Malzahn last November. Malzahn, on the verge of finishing his fourth season at UCF, was contemplating becoming offensive coordinator at Florida State. Given all the responsibilities on his desk as head coach — from NIL to the transfer portal to roster management — he found the idea of going back to playcalling appealing. Mohajir started preparing a list of candidates and was told Thanksgiving night that Malzahn had planned to step down.
Though Frost previously worked at UCF under athletics director Danny White, he and Mohajir had a preexisting relationship. Mohajir said he reached out to Frost after he was fired at Nebraska to gauge his interest in returning to UCF as offensive coordinator under Malzahn. But Frost was not ready.
This time around, Mohajir learned quickly that Frost had interest in returning as head coach. Mohajir called McVay and Rams general manager Les Snead. They told him Frost did anything that was asked of him, including making copies around the office.
“They said, ‘You would never know he was the head coach at a major college program.” Mohajir also called former Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts to get a better understanding about what happened with the Cornhuskers.
“Fits are a huge piece, and not everybody fits,” Mohajir said.
After eight conversations, Mohajir decided he wanted to meet Frost in person. They met at an airport hotel in Dallas.
“He was motivated,” Mohajir said. “We went from coast to coast, talked to coordinators, head coaches, pro guys, all kinds of different folks. And at the end of the day, I really believe that Scott wanted the job the most.”
The first day back in Orlando, Dec. 8, was a blur. Frost woke up at 3:45 a.m. in California to be able to make it to Florida in time for his introductory news conference with his family.
When they pulled into the campus, his first time back since he left in 2017, Frost said he was in a fog. It took another 24 hours for him and his wife, Ashley, to take a deep exhale.
“Rather than bouncing around chasing NFL jobs, we thought maybe we would be able to plant some roots here and have our kids be in a stable place for a while at a place that I really enjoyed coaching and that I think it has a chance to evolve into a place that could win a lot of football games,” Frost said. “All that together was just enough to get me to come back.”
The natural question now is whether Frost can do what he did during his first tenure.
That 2017 season stands as the only winning season of his head coaching career, but it carries so much weight with UCF fans because of its significance as both the best season in school history, and one that changed both its own future and college football.
After UCF finished 13-0, White self-declared the Knights national champions. Locked out of the four-team playoff after finishing No. 12 in the final CFP standings, White started lobbying for more attention to be paid to schools outside the power conferences.
That season also positioned UCF to pounce during the next wave of realignment. Sure enough, in 2023, the Knights began play in a Power 4 conference for the first time as Big 12 members. This past season, the CFP expanded to 12 teams. Unlike 2017, UCF now has a defined path to play for a national title and no longer has to go undefeated and then pray for a shot. Win the Big 12 championship, no matter the record, and UCF is in the playoff.
But Frost cautions those who expect the clock to turn back to 2017.
“I don’t think there’s many people out there that silly,” Frost said. “People joke about that with me, that they’re going to expect you go into undefeated in the first year. I think the fans are a little more realistic than that.”
The game, of course, is different. Had the transfer portal and NIL existed when Frost was at UCF during his first tenure, he might not have been able to keep the 2017 team together. The 2018 team, which went undefeated under Josh Heupel before losing to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl, might not have stayed together, either.
This upcoming season, UCF will receive a full share of television revenue from the Big 12, after receiving a half share (estimated $18 million) in each of his first two seasons. While that is more than what it received in the AAC, it is less than what other Big 12 schools received, making it harder to compete immediately. It also struggled with NIL funding. As a result, in its first two years in the conference, UCF went 5-13 in Big 12 play and 10-15 overall.
Assuming the House v. NCAA settlement goes into effect this summer, Mohajir says UCF is aiming to spend the full $20.5 million, including fully funding football.
“It’s like we moved to the fancy neighborhood, and we got a job that’s going to pay us money over time, and we’re going to do well over time, but we’re stretching a little to be there right now, and that requires a lot of effort from a lot of people and a lot of commitment from a lot of people,” Frost said. “So far, the help that we’ve gotten has been impressive.”
Mohajir points out that UCF has had five coaching changes over the past 10 years, dating back to the final season under George O’Leary in 2015, when the Knights went 0-12. Frost says he wants to be in for the long term, and Mohajir hopes consistency at head coach will be an added benefit. Mohajir believes UCF is getting the best of Frost in this moment and scoffs at any questions about whether rehiring him will work again.
“Based on what I’m seeing right now, it will absolutely work,” Mohajir said. “But I don’t really look at it as ‘working again.’ It’s not ‘again.’ It’s, ‘Will it work?’ Because it’s a different era.”
To that end, Frost says success is not recreating 2017 and going undefeated. Rather, Frost said, “If our group now can help us become competitive in the Big 12, and then, from time to time, compete for championships and make us more relevant nationally, I think we’ll have done our job to help catapult UCF again.”
You could say he is looking for the same result. He’s just taking a different route there.
Sports
Ex-Cougar Haulcy, top transfer safety, picks LSU
Published
11 mins agoon
May 5, 2025By
admin
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Max OlsonMay 4, 2025, 11:06 PM ET
Close- Covers the Big 12
- Joined ESPN in 2012
- Graduate of the University of Nebraska
Houston transfer safety A.J. Haulcy committed to LSU on Sunday, his agency, A&P Sports, told ESPN.
Haulcy, the top player still available and No. 1 safety in ESPN’s spring transfer portal rankings, committed to the Tigers after taking an official visit Sunday. Miami, Ole Miss and SMU were also contenders for his pledge.
The 6-foot, 215-pound senior defensive back has started 32 games over his three college seasons and earned first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2024 after producing 74 tackles, 8 pass breakups and 5 interceptions, which tied for most in the conference.
LSU has assembled one of the top incoming transfer classes in the country this offseason with 18 signees, including six players — wide receivers Barion Brown (Kentucky) and Nic Anderson (Oklahoma), linemen Braelin Moore (Virginia Tech) and Josh Thompson (Northwestern), cornerback Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech) and defensive end Patrick Payton (LSU) — who ranked among the top 60 in ESPN’s winter transfer rankings.
The Tigers also landed USF transfer Bernard Gooden, one of the most coveted defensive tackles in the spring transfer window.
Haulcy began his career at New Mexico in 2022, earning a starting role as a true freshman and recording 87 tackles, including a career-high 24 against Fresno State, and two interceptions. The Houston native entered the transfer portal at the end of the season and came home to play for the Cougars.
As a sophomore in 2023, Haulcy recorded a team-high 98 tackles and received votes for Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year from the league’s coaches.
Haulcy chose to re-enter the portal April 21 after Houston’s spring game, as did starting cornerback Jeremiah Wilson, who’ll continue his career at Florida State. Wilson and Haulcy were the Nos. 11 and 12 players, respectively, in ESPN’s spring transfer rankings.
Sports
Bachmeier brothers leave Stanford to play for BYU
Published
11 mins agoon
May 5, 2025By
admin
BYU picked up a pair of key transfer portal additions Saturday, as brothers Bear and Tiger Bachmeier told ESPN that they have committed to play for the Cougars next season.
The brothers are transferring from Stanford and project to be key players of the immediate and long-term plans for the BYU program.
Bear, a quarterback, committed Saturday morning at the end of his visit, he told ESPN. He is a class of 2025 recruit who committed to Stanford out of high school and enrolled there this spring.
Both Bachmeiers elected to transfer in the wake of Stanford’s dismissal of head coach Troy Taylor in March. After visiting BYU coach Kalani Sitake’s program in recent days, the brothers committed.
For Bear, he is expected to be one of the backups for successful incumbent quarterback Jake Retzlaff in 2025 and compete for the starting job at BYU in 2026.
Bear was attracted to BYU’s open offensive scheme and a rich history of quarterbacks that includes a strong recent run under offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. He also referenced BYU’s historical success, which stretches from Jim McMahon to Ty Detmer to Steve Young.
“The ability to come in and win games and [Coach] Roderick’s scheme and the pedigree of quarterbacks they have produced in history and recently is enticing,” Bear told ESPN.
Tiger told ESPN he committed to BYU later Saturday. He’ll arrive at BYU having graduated from Stanford in two-and-a-half years with a degree in computer science. He’ll enroll in a graduate program at BYU, he said.
Tiger will be expected to be an immediate contributor at wide receiver. He caught 46 balls over two seasons at Stanford for 476 yards and two touchdowns. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
Bear and Tiger are the second and third brothers to play major college football in their family. Their older brother, Hank Bachmeier, played quarterback at Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest, where his college career concluded last year.
There is one more Bachmeier brother remaining: Buck Bachmeier will be a freshman in high school in the fall.
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