Felt compelled to sign up and join this megathread. I have no inside sources or new information sadly. That said I feel the following are reasonable assumptions:
1. Frost is not staying at UCF. He's had enough time to consider his options and would make a public statement if he were planning to continue there. The rumors have to be distracting to his undefeated team and can’t help recruiting efforts.
2. Frost is most certainly Moos top choice for the position. If we don't get him it won't be due to lack of effort or capital resources.
3. I think only NU, Florida, and Oregon (if taggart leaves) are possible destinations. Tennessee is the SEC version of NU so no reason to go there. Texas A&M has no major advantages on Florida so that seems unlikely as well.
4. The timing will never be better for Frost to come to NU. Expectations are reasonable and every fan and booster desperately wants him to be our coach. He will be provided tremendous support and a very long leash. Florida and Oregon can't offer that.
5. Mike Leach would be an awful fit culturally for NU. His offensive/defensive systems would bother traditionalist and he is brash/eccentric/non-PC. That said I wouldn’t be surprised if he was at the top of a short list of plan B candidates. AD knows how to work with him, wins everywhere using 2-3 star players, already has the QBs and receivers on NU's roster to implement his system year 1.
I still think most likely Frost comes and the NU fan base can begin to mend and unify.