I first started hearing about Porky Butts BBQ back in March of 2019. Complete strangers started tweeting at me about this competition BBQ master who was opening a brick and mortar in Omaha, and it was not to be missed.
Suffice to say, my excitement level was quite high. So when the restaurant opened this summer, I rushed out on the third day. I just couldn’t wait to try it.
The early returns were… well, not great. Not even good, actually.
Some of the burnt ends were blistered into another dimension, so hard a fork couldn’t pierce their defenses. The ribs were tasty but small, and the pulled pork was cold—not room temperature, but cold. I felt awful for the server at the counter, who struggled to run the new cash register, and it wasn’t a huge surprise when our meal arrived missing a few items.
Now, what does that all have to do with Nebraska’s football coach?
When Scott Frost was hired to become Nebraska’s football coach in 2017, the move was met with near universal approval. Frost was arguably the hottest candidate at the time, and his return to Lincoln brought epic levels of excitement.
Through 22 games, the passion has tempered quite a bit. The Huskers are 8-14 under Frost, and many of the same maddening struggles that plagued the team from Mike Riley’s tenure remain.
Turnovers.
Penalties.
Missed tackles, and even more missed opportunities.
Nebraska hasn’t given up on its native son, but when it was announced Saturday that Frost had signed a contract extension, the move was met with far more consternation and questions than anyone would’ve guessed 18 months ago (heck, three months ago).
There are many reasons why I still believe in Frost and his ability to get the job done, but first and foremost is Porky Butts BBQ.
I knew as soon as I left Porky Butts after the first visit that I couldn’t write a review. The new restaurant was going through so many changes; it would have been expecting too much for there not to have been some chaos, honestly. Consider:
- Hunter, a master at preparing a few beautiful plates over several hours for judges, now had to speed that process up and produce mass quantities of ‘que, an arduous task even for seasoned BBQ restauranteurs.
- The staff had to memorize the menu and learn how to operate the machines, cook the meats and sides, and maintain a clean dining room.
- There are bills, expenses, taxes, and other financial considerations everyone is going through for the first time (these are but a few. I can’t imagine all the headaches that come with this process).
And all this had to be done why the bullets were flying and customers complained. It’s a minor miracle any new restaurant survives, really.
Once I thought about these challenges, I knew I had to return, and I did a few months later.
I’m so glad I did. The experience could not have been more different.
With a few months to smooth out the kinks, learn processes, and just get their legs under them, the good people at Porky Butts served a great product. The once scrawny ribs were now massive and meaty. The burnt ends were more consistent in texture, and our order was on point and delivered within minutes.
Porky Butts is now a very good restaurant, and I think it’s just getting started.
Back to Frost. He hasn’t delivered what many fans—and surely, he himself—expected so far. We’re all disappointed, and there’s no guarantee that Frost will turn things around.
But I think he will. Experience is an incredible boon for any profession. Frost has 48 games of head coaching experience, which is nothing compared to many of the men performing his job on the other sideline most Saturdays. More than half of his games came at Central Florida, with a much lighter schedule and many roster pieces left over from a 2014 team that went 9-4.
Nebraska is a completely different beast, in both good ways and bad. Frost’s national profile, salary, and budget have all been raised, but so has the scrutiny and the degree of difficult he faces not only in games, but on the recruiting trail. He’s now fighting Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Oklahoma for prospects, not Memphis and East Carolina.
Frost also has to fix a messy culture left behind by Riley. I don’t say this to hammer Riley, who is a great man. But when you consistently lose for years, it becomes an expectation for the players. Rot develops. Apathy sets in. Losing stings less. Blowout losses almost become expected. When things start to go wrong in games, guys hang their heads and give in.
Oh, and the 2017 recruiting class, Riley’s final group and one that should include a high number of contributing juniors and redshirt sophomores, is basically giving Nebraska nothing.
This is the culture Frost is working on.
Has he done everything right? Absolutely not, and I’m sure he’d admit to that. He’s made a number of questionable in-game decisions, and I’m sure with the number of defections Nebraska has had (some necessary), there are probably some things Frost would do differently with the roster (the depth is currently a mess).
But if Porky Butts, and any new restaurant for that matter, teaches us something, it’s that time matters. I know Husker fans don’t want to hear that. Their once-proud program hasn’t been nationally relevant for almost two decades. After suffering through the Callahan and Riley eras (and to some extent, the Pelini era, though it looks much rosier in hindsight), they want instant results from Frost.
And that works sometimes. Sometimes a coach comes in and everything clicks from the first practice. The restaurant is operating at full capacity within a few weeks.
Ask any restaurant owner—those cases are few and far between.
To be clear, Porky Butts is not an elite BBQ restaurant yet in my eyes. It has taken massive steps, and I believe it will continue to do so. I’m willing to give it more time to get there and trust its strong roots.
And I’ll do the same with Frost. I believe Nebraska, for the first time in months, showed real signs of progress in its loss to Wisconsin, and I trust Frost will get this thing turned around.
Only time will tell if he can figure out how to mass smoke ribs or teach employees to run a register.
I just know that I’ll keep coming back, trusting the process and hoping for the greatness I know lies within breaks through and shines.