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Malzahn Accepts UCF HC Job

Paladin

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Paladin Founding Father

Paladin 3,305

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UCF offers head football coaching job to Gus Malzahn

By MATT MURSCHEL and MIKE BIANCHI

ORLANDO SENTINEL |

FEB 14, 2021 AT 9:33 PM

UCF has offered Gus Malzahn its head football coaching job, a source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel Sunday night.

Malzahn, 55, spent the past eight seasons as coach at Auburn, where he led the Tigers to a 68-35 overall record and a 39-27 mark in the SEC. He was fired on Dec. 13 following a 6-4 campaign and a third-place finish in the SEC West.

It’s unclear whether Malzahn will accept the UCF offer. Malzahn was linked to the job as soon as UCF hired athletics director Terry Mohajir, who worked with Malzahn at Arkansas State. 247Sports.com’s Jason Beede was the first to report the offer.

Malzahn would replace Josh Heupel, who left to take over as the Tennessee Volunteers’ head coach on Jan. 27, following former Knights athletics director Danny White.

Malzahn led Auburn to an appearance in the BCS national championship game in 2013, losing 34-31 to Florida State in the Rose Bowl. He also guided the Tigers to a New Year’s Six Access Bowl appearance in 2018, with the Tigers ironically losing to UCF in the Peach Bowl.

Before his time at Auburn, he led Arkansas State to a 9-3 record in 2012 and a Sun Belt Conference title in his only season with the Red Wolves. He was hired by the Red Wolves shortly before Mohajir took over the Arkansas State AD job.

Malzahn is known for his no-huddle hurry-up offenses. His first season at Arkansas State, the Red Wolves finished ranked No. 26 (34.9 points per game) in the Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring offense.

The next year at Auburn, the Tigers’ offense ranked No. 12 in the nation. But the program was never able to match that success, finishing no higher than No. 25 in 2017 and No. 88 in 2020.

The Knights have gone 47-15 (76%) since 2016, including a school-record 25-game win streak during 2017-18. Along the way, the program has claimed back-to-back American Athletic Conference titles (2017-18) while earning consecutive appearances in the New Year’s Six Access Bowl games .

But the program has slipped in recent years, losing seven games during the past two seasons, including a 6-4 mark in 2020. Six of the seven losses have been by a combined 19 points, with the 49-23 loss to BYU in the 2020 Boca Raton Bowl being the program’s first double-digit loss since 2016.

Mohajir, who was introduced as UCF’s new athletics director on Feb. 10, said one of his first priorities was finding a head football coach.

“I met with the football team today and one of the players asked me, ‘Do you think you can find a coach within the next month?’ And I said, ‘I hope so or they’re going to fire me,’” Mohajir recalled. “I told them I didn’t want them to get married to any one person or somebody out there. ‘You need to let me know what you think we need to do better.’”

Mohajir said he planned to go “dark” for a couple of days to do more research and narrow the list of coaching candidates. Once that’s happened, he planned to present candidates to school president Alexander Cartwright.

“He’s an equal partner in this, so when I bring a candidate to him, it’s somebody I believe I’m prepared to hire,” Mohajir said.

 

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  • Paladin changed the title to Malzahn Offered UCF Job, per AuburnUndercover




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  • Paladin changed the title to Malzahn Offered UCF Job
gr82be Founding Father

gr82be 14,423

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I'm guessing that Bill Clark turned them down. 

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JBiGGiE Founding Father

JBiGGiE 2,488

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He should find plenty of success at UCF. Not like the cupboard is bare over there. Good place to springboard into a Power 5 gig in a few years from now.

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Zeek Founding Father

Zeek 16,649

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7 hours ago, The Freak said:

Epic @Zeekmeltdown in 3..2..1...

Melted down all last night. It's a cruel and awful joke by the football gods. 

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AuburnEagle79 Founding Father

AuburnEagle79 2,165

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He will do fine at UCF. His wife will be a disney with the grandkids all the time. 

Not sure who UCF's rival is, but they should hire Kevin Steele to make things interesting. 

After a couple years he will end up at South Carolina when they realize that Shane Beamer can't coach. 

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augolf1716 Founding Father

augolf1716 21,103

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35 minutes ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

He will do fine at UCF. His wife will be a disney with the grandkids all the time. 

Not sure who UCF's rival is, but they should hire Kevin Steele to make things interesting. 

After a couple years he will end up at South Carolina when they realize that Shane Beamer can't coach. 

The new AD at UCF came from Arky St. so this has been rumored downhere for a while still need to see it happen. As for rivalry it would be USF

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Auctoritas Founding Father

Auctoritas 2,828

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5 hours ago, Under49 said:

It makes sense. After all, he did help them win a national championship once.

Man, you are only 15 posts in on this site but you should quit now, you'll never have a better post.

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cptau Founding Father

cptau 169

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1 hour ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

He will do fine at UCF. His wife will be a disney with the grandkids all the time. 

Not sure who UCF's rival is, but they should hire Kevin Steele to make things interesting. 

After a couple years he will end up at South Carolina when they realize that Shane Beamer can't coach. 

UCF is in the American Conference along with Univ South Florida who is their main rival. 

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cptau Founding Father

cptau 169

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UCF only pays a salary, Malzahn gets his contract money from Auburn whether he works or not and has already gotten half of it.  

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abw0004 Founding Father

abw0004 10,110

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I am happy for him.  Regardless of your feelings for him, he and Kristi loved Auburn and the players.  I hope he feels at home there and the fans welcome him with open arms.

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AuburnEagle79 Founding Father

AuburnEagle79 2,165

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I've always pulled for UCF as some of my best friends are alums, but this will make me actually watch their games more often.

Extremely happy that Gus is gone from Auburn, but I still think he's a great guy and will pull for him wherever he goes. 

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Zeek Founding Father

Zeek 16,649

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8 minutes ago, abw0004 said:

I am happy for him.  Regardless of your feelings for him, he and Kristi loved Auburn and the players.  I hope he feels at home there and the fans welcome him with open arms.

UCF and Orlando are a completely different culture than Auburn.

The good news is the whole town isn't hyper obsessed with football. 

Bad news is, despite that, the expectations right now are consistent 10 or more wins every year.

Complaint with Heupel was a lack of offensive adjustments and innovation...

Defense is awful right now too so no one will bail him out. Fortunately he's inheriting a QB who has thrown for like a million yards.

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DAG Founding Father

DAG 33,973

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Seems to be a mix reaction from the Orlando Natives. I know my family down there really wanted coach Lebby. He should still do well down there.

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auskip07 Veteran

auskip07 930

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18 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Fortunately he's inheriting a QB who has thrown for like a million yards.

i would be interested to see if that QB performs better or worse next season. 

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