Football alums hold NU as prime jumping-off point

Scott Frost is an old man.

Twelve years removed from a national championship, the Oregon wide receiver's coach said his current players don't see him for the great quarterback he used to be.

"These kids don't have any idea what I did," Frost said, laughing. "Which is fine, they're still going to look at you like a coach."

Frost's coaching career, though young, has a great deal of substance through his experiences in college and the NFL.

But most of his learning was at Nebraska, he said, when he played under former coach Tom Osborne and current Buffalo Bulls coach Turner Gill.

Frost isn't the only quarterback whose time at NU helped him in his coaching pursuits.

Joe Dailey, who started for Nebraska in 2004, has found his way onto Gill's staff in Buffalo as the tight ends coach.

Both former quarterbacks said their greatest lessons were learned through the people they played for.

"It was awesome to play for (Gill), and it's even better to coach for him," Dailey said. "He's a man of character, honor, integrity and a man of the Lord."

Frost said he wants to emulate the way both Osborne and Gill conducted themselves around players and the program. So far, he said he's done that by getting to know his players and building relationships with them.

"If I could be half as good of a coach and half as good of a man as those two are, then I'll have accomplished a lot," Frost said. "They care about you as a player, they both cared about me and that made me want to play for them."

Both Frost and Dailey said the key to their experience at Nebraska went beyond their coaches' character.

Dailey said the multiple offenses he went through with Frank Solich and Bill Callahan at NU, combined with his time under John Bunting and Butch Davis at UNC, have given him an invaluable knowledge of the game.

Frost also went through multiple systems, first playing under Bill Walsh at Stanford before transferring to NU. Frost said he even gained valuable skills playing for current NU coach Bo Pelini when he was in Green Bay.

One word of advice both coaches said they've leaned on is the importance of focusing on the here and now.

"It's not where you line up, it's where you wind up," Dailey said. "There's always going to be another gig. But wherever you are, that's the biggest gig for you."

Two former NU quarterbacks implementing those concepts are Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz.

Taylor, who is working as a graduate assistant coach at Texas A&M, said he feels lucky to have been able to get a job so quickly.

While Taylor said coaching under Mike Sherman and being his son-in-law may seem like the explanation, he said it hasn't affected the way business is carried out in College Station. He said he might have to work even harder to get a recommendation when the time comes.

"I've got some time to stay here and learn," Taylor said. "He's probably harder on me sometimes because he doesn't want me to get away with things."

While Taylor already has a job in coaching, Ganz said he is excited about the possibility of the draft, receiving interest from multiple teams.

Ganz said coaching was something he first thought about as his relationships with teammates at Nebraska grew. But he's more than happy to let that option sit while he sees what the professional leagues offer him.

"I think I would try Canada for a year or two (if the NFL doesn't work out)," Ganz said. "As long as I'm getting paid to play the game that I love, I might as well do it for as long as I can."

If Canada's not a viable option, Ganz said he's already received an offer to be the starting quarterback and offensive coordinator for the Stockholm Mean Machines in Sweden.

He didn't know if he would go that far, but Ganz was encouraged to know spot was out there.

Ganz said Northwestern's head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who recruited Ganz in high school, extended him an invitation to be on the staff for quarterback if he decided that was a place he wanted to go.

But coming back to Nebraska is Ganz' ultimate goal.

"The people treated me well here," Ganz said. "Obviously I hope coach Pelini is still here. You always want to coach for the team you played for."

davehoufek@dailynebraskan.com