Nebraska head coach Scott Frost’s football program is the subject of an NCAA investigation into the improper use of analysts during practice and games.
The Nebraska Athletic Department acknowledged the probe on Wednesday and said it is cooperating with the governing body.
The Journal Star confirmed the nature of the investigation is surrounding the use of analysts, off-field staffers who are allowed to provide myriad support but who cannot coach or provide instruction on the field during practice or games. The investigation and the nature of the allegations were first reported by The Action Network.
Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts appeared briefly with Frost after the Huskers’ preseason camp practice on Wednesday and gave a brief, unscheduled update on the proceedings.
“We have complied 100% with the NCAA and been very collaborative with them in terms of our approach with them in terms of all of their investigation,” said Alberts, who stood to Frost’s left for about five minutes during the joint appearance. “We will continue to do whatever the NCAA has asked us to do. Our coaches, including Coach Frost, have done a great job and have been very accessible in working with the NCAA. We’ve worked through these allegations. This is an ongoing investigation, obviously, so while we would love to provide additional context and details, we simply cannot do that at this time.”
Frost was asked if the report would be a distraction for the team ahead of the Aug. 28 opener at Illinois.
“Our players have been laser-focused on Illinois,” Frost said. “They’re still laser-focused on Illinois.”
It is not clear how long the NCAA investigation has been underway or when it might conclude, but unsurprisingly, Alberts said it predates his arrival as Nebraska’s athletic director last month.
Alberts said that he found out about the ongoing investigation when he started at NU and added, “We really do look forward to a later date when we can add some context and some additional details to what the investigation entails.”
An NCAA spokesperson had no comment, citing the organization’s policy not to comment on “current, pending or potential investigations.”
Nebraska, like every major college football program, employs several football staffers who are not on-field coaches. In 2020, NU had about a dozen analysts, quality control coaches and graduate assistants on its staff directory. Every practice in 2020 was closed to reporters due to COVID-19 restrictions and all but one spring practice and a couple of short viewing periods during spring ball and preseason camp have been closed to reporters this year. In those open portions of practice, analysts, other off-field staffers and a pair of former players who are volunteering with the program were seen on the field. Being at practice and on the field is not, in and of itself, against NCAA rules.
In 2020, NU’s most prominent analyst was Jonathan Rutledge, hired during the summer as a senior special teams analyst. Frost said when he hired Rutledge that the plan was for Rutledge to implement schemes and do the off-field work and then coordinate with NU’s full-time assistant coaches on how to coach the players on the field.
“We’re going to try this,” Frost said in March 2020. “I didn’t really want to burden someone like Coach (Mike) Dawson with making sure our outside linebackers improved and running all four special teams. That’s a heavy role, so I wanted somebody that could do the X’s and O’s and schematics off the field for our special teams and really train our coaches to go out and implement it with our players. It’s going to save our position coaches a lot of time and have somebody whose entire time is dedicated to making our special teams better.”
The results were not good and Frost fired Rutledge after the season. Dawson is now Nebraska’s special teams coordinator.
Separate from the NCAA probe, The Action Network also suggested that the governing body could look into the legality of off-campus practices Nebraska held in the spring of 2020 in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frost commented on that portion of the report on Wednesday, suggesting that it is not part of the current investigation.
“Everything we did through COVID was with the best interest and health of our players in mind and everything we did was approved by Athletic Department administration and campus administration,” Frost said.
There is no doubt that off-campus workouts happened between the time Nebraska players began arriving back in Lincoln in late March and when limited, small-group workouts resumed on June 1.
The Action Network reports that the off-campus workouts were held under the supervision of NU’s strength staff. Frost told the Journal Star last summer that players held their own, player-led workouts.
“We had probably 30 kids who never left town,” Frost said last year. “Then we started wondering where every one of our kids was. When we started making those phone calls, we identified immediately at least a dozen to 20 kids that had plans to come back to Lincoln. That’s when we had to go into overdrive to make sure we had protocols in place, as they were coming back, to receive them and keep them safe and the community safe.
“It’s been a slow trickle of kids (coming back) ever since then.”
He said the players organized workouts off-campus and he was happy to see, “our leaders stepping up to the front through all of this.”
