Scott Frost stands outside of the Hatfield-Dowlin complex, eyes aimed at the ground as he softly talks about his camaraderie with his players. As he speaks, wide receiver Chance Allen approaches. Allen’s bright smile complements his pink sweatshirt. Frost turns and looks at the redshirt freshman with a slight grin.

“Nice pink shirt,” Frost quips. “It suits you.”

Allen gives his coach a firm hug and says “How are you doing?” then walks away, laughing Frost’s comment off.

“Chance is probably the worst-dressed guy on our team,” Frost said, with Allen still close enough to hear.

“What?!” Allen yells.

Allen doesn’t have a comeback for Frost at that moment, but he will a couple of weeks later.

“My response is, ‘get some eyebrows,’” Allen said.

Frost’s eyebrows are famous among the Oregon receivers. His blonde hair so closely matches his light skin tone that it looks like he has no eyebrows, at least to some of the receivers. It’s one of the many things they’ll joke about with their coach.

“It’s a sad and angry state of a human being when they can’t laugh at themselves,” Frost said. “I think it’s important to keep a little levity.”

The 38-year-old from Wood River, Neb., might be in his first year as Oregon’s offensive coordinator (he also coaches quarterbacks), but neither he nor his players or fellow coaches sense much of a difference in his attitude. He says that he’s busier and a bit more nervous than when he was coaching Oregon’s receivers from 2009-2012, but the players say he’s still the same person.

Sophomore receiver Bralon Addison says Frost will give just as much off-field attention to defensive players as offensive ones, asking them how their families are doing, how they’re performing in school, etc.

“I think if you’re in coaching for a lot of reasons other than to help young men then you’re missing the mark,” Frost said.

Allen went to Frost’s house for Thanksgiving dinner last year. He met Frost’s father, Larry, and his mother, Carol, who cooked that night.

“I like them a lot,” Allen said of Frost’s parents. “Real genuine people.”

Allen is from Missouri City, Texas and wasn’t able to make the long trip home last November, so having a family atmosphere at Frost’s house in his first year at Oregon was an invaluable experience.

“He (Frost) comes from a wonderful family,” Allen said. “That’s what he gave to me when I came here, the family environment, and that’s what really drove me to come to Oregon.”

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Larry and Carol Frost sit in their Lincoln, Neb., home on a Monday afternoon. Larry, the head football coach at Parkview Christian High School, is still upset over his team’s playoff loss the previous Thursday. Scott’s 12-year-old chocolate Labrador, Bogey, has lived with Larry and Carol for years now, and is currently barking up a storm.

“Cut it out, will ya?” Larry says sternly.

Scott’s parents don’t want any interruptions as they talk about their son.

“Wherever we went, he was able to fit in almost instantly and make friends,” Carol said of Scott.

The Frosts moved all over the place when Scott was a child, but Carol said it didn’t matter where they lived. Scott still found it incredibly easy to develop relationships, something Carol attributes to his leadership abilities both athletically and academically.

Scott decided to play at Stanford after high school, and the school seemed like a perfect fit to him at the time. The Cardinal had a pass-happy offense and a legendary head coach in Bill Walsh. But Scott says he never fit in.

“I didn’t like Stanford,” Scott said. “I’m a conservative Midwest boy and I fit better in a place like that.”

Larry says Palo Alto, Calif., was an awkward fit, culturally, but football played just as big of a role in Scott’s unhappiness.

“They didn’t win any games,” Larry said.

The Cardinal had a combined 7-14-1 record in Scott’s first two years. Plus, he wasn’t happy with his role on the team, so he transferred to his home state of Nebraska to play for the Cornhuskers.

Scott’s head coach at Nebraska was Tom Osborne, who both Frost and his parents say was probably the best coach he ever played for. In fact, when Scott talks about his best mentors growing up, he doesn’t mention Walsh or the legendary coaches he played for in the NFL (a list that includes Super Bowl winners Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick). He brings up his parents and Osborne.

“He set an example every day for how any man should want to be,” Scott said of Osborne.

Osborne says he still talks with Scott about once a month. Most of their conversations, understandably, revolve around football.

“I’ll probably call him this week and wish him well against Stanford,” Osborne said. “I know it’s a big game for him.”

Osborne, like Scott now, didn’t yell much as a coach, especially not at Scott. The fact that Scott played quarterback was a big reason and it’s why Osborne believes Frost has become such a successful coach.

“(A quarterback’s) already got an awful lot on his mind,” Osborne said. “Sometimes guys who haven’t been there and haven’t played the position don’t do a very good job of handling quarterbacks.”

Scott and his parents believe playing under coaches like Osborne helped him rise through the coaching ranks as much as playing quarterback did.

“I think he has taken the attributes that they (Scott’s coaches) had and how they handled athletes and taken the best from those guys and tried to apply it to his own coaching,” Carol said.

To Scott, the attribute from those coaches he probably values the most is the relationship building. His players say he’s still the same caring person, even though he has a high-profile position for the third-ranked team in the country. Scott recognizes how hard it can be for a football coach to maintain that type of attitude, and he tries his best to fight through the pressure.

“You can get so focused on work and trying to win games that you forget what I think is most important and that’s helping these guys grow and become the type of men that they need to become,” Scott said.

That’s why Scott takes some time, even if it’s just for a second, to see how his players are doing. To show he cares about them.

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On that Thursday morning by the Hatfield-Dowlin complex, minutes after Allen and his pink sweatshirt have departed, Scott gushes about the selflessness of his players.

“Our kids are so committed to (the) team and each other that we’re not worried about the stats or anything else — See ya, buddy,” Frost says to receiver Josh Huff, who walks by Frost to his right.

“Alright, coach,” Huff replies.

Sophomore running back Byron Marshall walks by at the same time, to Frost’s left.

“See ya, Byron,” Frost said.

“See ya later, coach,” Marshall said.

Frost goes right back to his previous thought, continuing to praise the mindset of his players.

“It’s just wins and losses and trying to do what’s best for the team,” he said.

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415