Central Florida names Oregon’s Scott Frost as coach

Central Florida went west to find its next football coach. The school announced Tuesday that it had hired Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost to take over a program that just finished a winless season.

“Scott is a winner and innovator who has directed one of college football’s most exciting offenses at the University of Oregon,” UCF Athletic Director Danny White said in a statement.

Frost, 40, will be introduced at a news conference Wednesday. The former Nebraska quarterback has been an assistant with the Ducks since 2009 and offensive coordinator since 2013. This will be his first time as a head coach.

He takes over a team coming off the worst season in program history. The Knights went 0-12, and during the season longtime coach George O’Leary retired. It was an abrupt fall for a program that two years ago beat Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl to finish 12-1. The Knights were also coming off back-to-back American Athletic Conference titles entering this season.

Cal’s Dykes talks to Missouri

California Coach Sonny Dykes is interviewing for the vacancy at Missouri, according to media reports.

Dykes has two years remaining on his contract at Cal and the two sides have exchanged numbers on a possible extension. Cal is currently waiting for a response from Dykes’ camp to its last proposal.

Dykes has a 13-23 record in three seasons with the Golden Bears, but Cal has shown improvement each season, going from one win in Dykes’ first year in 2013 to five last year to a 7-5 record this season. The Bears will play in a bowl game for the first time since 2011.

Shake-up at Texas Tech

Texas Tech fired three defensive assistant coaches Tuesday, all of them former players with the Red Raiders.

Mike Smith was co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, Kevin Curtis coached the secondary and Trey Haverty handled outside linebackers. All had been on the staff since Coach Kliff Kingsbury, a former Red Raiders quarterback, arrived in 2013.

The Red Raiders’ defense fared poorly this season. After 12 games, they ranked 125th in total defense, giving up 540.2 yards a game and 124th in scoring defense (42 points a game).

Spurrier writes letter to fans

Steve Spurrier wrote a letter to South Carolina fans, saying he was doing a “lousy job” and resigned because he knew the school wouldn’t fire him.

Spurrier also said by resigning in October he saved the school from paying him $3 million as part of a contractual buyout and gave interim Coach Shawn Elliott the chance to improve the players’ attitudes. He suggested twice in the letter that Elliott might have a chance at the permanent job, even though the Gamecocks went 1-5 after Spurrier’s resignation.

Injury update

Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio said safety RJ Williamson was practicing again but he probably wouldn’t play in this weekend’s Big Ten championship game against Iowa.

Williamson hasn’t played since Oct. 3 and he needed surgery on a torn biceps. The fifth-ranked Spartans are hoping the senior will be back for a bowl or playoff game after this week’s showdown with the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes.