Shortly after the completion of the 2024 regular season, Tennessee Vols offensive analyst McKenzie Milton agreed to a deal to become Scott Frost's quarterbacks coach at UCF. 

Milton, who joined Tennessee's staff as an analyst ahead of the 2023 season, played college football at UCF under Frost and current Vols head coach Josh Heupel (Milton played two seasons under Frost and three seasons under Heupel at UCF). 

Frost left UCF to become the head coach at Nebraska, his alma mater, after the 2017 season. He was rehired by UCF this past offseason to replace Gus Malzahn as the program's head coach. 

Milton met with reporters this week in Orlando and he discussed, at length, his decision to leave Tennessee for UCF and how Frost and Heupel both handled the transition. 

The former UCF quarterback detailed the open and honest communication between himself, Frost, and Heupel as he went through the hiring process. Milton's comments provide a great look at the elite character traits that all three men posses. 

Milton revealed that Frost called Heupel, simply out of respect, before even offering Milton the job. 

And Heupel was more than understanding of Milton's decision to leave Rocky Top for Orlando. 

"When Coach (Frost) called me, it would have took a lot for me to leave the place I was at — just with the relationships I had up there (at Tennessee)," said Milton this week. "But this is kind of impossible to say no to." 

"I left a great place where I was at with great people. But Coach Frost, he's like a father figure. He's like a big brother. So conversation wise, he's like, 'Hey, you know, if I take this (job at UCF) are you gonna come with me'. I was like, 'Man, coach, you know the answer'. But I told him also I have to talk to Coach Heupel before anything's finalized or anything like that. Just out of the respect I have for Coach Heup, everything he's done for me and my family. Not just in the profession, just in life, from the time I got hurt. I do believe Coach Frost called Coach Heup prior to offering me the job as well. Just the mutual respect both those guys have for each other and all that."

"Coach Heup was understanding of me taking this opportunity," continued Milton. "He actually texted me today, just checking in. Those are two guys that I'm so grateful that I got to experience one as a player, and now getting to work for both of them, I think that's pretty unique." 

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Milton agreed to take the job at UCF a couple of weeks before Tennessee's College Football Playoff matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Typically in those situations, a coach that leaves for a new job packs up his stuff and is gone. You don't often see assistant coaches stick around — especially with how chaotic the month of December has become in college football. 

Heupel and Frost, however, both wanted Milton to be with Tennessee for the playoff game against Ohio State. 

"Coach Frost and Coach Heup, they're both national championship quarterbacks, and they know those opportunities are few and far between," explained Milton. "You think back to when Coach Frost came back and coached us (at UCF) while Coach Heup was transitioning as the head coach (at Tennessee). So I do believe being up front with Coach Heup and Coach Frost, just the open communication leading up to taking the job here, helped. And Coach Heup wanted me to come back and help him through the playoffs. So I came down here (to UCF) for about 10 days and was working on like a skeleton crew with Coach Frost. And I believe it was Tuesday night of the Ohio State week, I flew back up to Tennessee to help fulfill my duties up there.

"I think it's rare that one, a coach will allow you to come back to help out, and want you to come back to help out. And then two, it's rare to have a coach you now work for allow you to go back. I think it's just a testament to, like I said, those two guys played as national champion quarterbacks and they know those opportunities are so rare that if you have that opportunity, you got to go. That's exactly what Coach Frost told me. And Coach Heup gave me that opportunity, so it wasn't something I was going to pass up. So I'm grateful to both those guys….it was really cool for me to get to do that."

College football is a cutthroat world these days. Coaches are poached, players are tampered with, and all kinds of lies about rival programs are told behind the scenes. 

Heupel, Frost, and Milton, however, showed that you can still do things the right way while coaching at big-time college football programs. The way those three men handled Milton's move from Tennessee to UCF should serve as an example to rest of the sport on how to handle coaching changes the right way. 

McKenzie Milton details what his duties were as an analyst at Tennessee 

While speaking with reporters this week, Milton also detailed what his duties were as an offensive analyst at Tennessee. 

"It was kind of a combination of doing GA, analyst work and quarterback coach work," explained Milton. "Just with everything that goes on at a place like that where QB coaches can't always be in the room. So they'll ask me to run a meeting and things like that. But everything from opponent game breakdown to opponent reports to coming up with play ideas, red zone reports, things like that.

"And then game day wise, I spent part of my time there on the field with the quarterbacks, and then part of my time up there with the OC in the box this past season. It was a great learning experience. Nothing but love and respect for those guys up there and everything that I learned in those two years."

Milton, who will turn 28 later this year, is a fast-rising star in the coaching business. And after hearing him talk to reporters this week, it's easy to see why that's the case. 

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