After he was a national championship quarterback at Nebraska, Scott Frost was a journeyman safety in the NFL. From 1998-03, he played for the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns, the Green Bay Packers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He didn't specify exactly when this happened, probably on purpose. It's not a positive story, although if you didn't know any better it certainly looked like one at the time. While playing defense against the Denver Broncos, Frost broke on a Brian Griese pass intended for Ed McCaffrey and broke it up. A good thing, right?
It was good, but not as good as it should have been -- all because of the coaching Frost received.
"I had coaches that, if you made a mistake, would rip you up and down," Frost said. "They would yell at you, scream at you, threaten to send you home and cut you."
See, Frost said, it was because of that coaching, that fear of failure, that Frost didn't break on a ball he knew was coming sooner, turning a certain interception and a possible pick-six into a simple pass breakup.
Now as the head coach at Nebraska, Frost explained Monday that he doesn't coach his own players to fear failure.