AD White defends scheduling philosophy
Despite criticism, UCF going forward with series against FIU
UCF athletics director Danny White and fans defended the Knights’ scheduling philosophy after news broke the Knights had agreed to a new home-and-home series with FIU beginning in 2020.
UCF will host the Panthers at Spectrum Stadium in 2020 before traveling to South Florida in 2022, according to Stadium reporter Brett McMurphy.
FIU is the third nonconference opponent on the Knights’ 2020 schedule, with the team set to host North Carolina (Sept. 5) before traveling to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech (Sept. 19) a few weeks later. The trip to Miami in 2022 is the first nonconference road contest on the schedule, with two home games set against Louisville (Sept. 17) and Georgia Tech (Sept. 24).
It will be the seventh time FIU and UCF have met, but the first since 2017. UCF holds a 4-2 advantage in the series, with losses coming in 2015 and 2011.
UCF’s scheduling approach has been under scrutiny since White has made it clear the school won’t sign two-for-one agreements with Florida and other Power 5 schools. Two-for-ones call for UCF to play two road games and one at home during the series.
While some of those games pay as much as $1 million to a visiting opponent, White has pointed out UCF makes far more on a home game and needs a strong home slate to help boost season-ticket sales.
In addition to declining to settle for a two-for-one with Florida, White said he understood but wasn’t thrilled to see fellow American Athletic Conference team USF welcome twofor-one deals. The Bulls have different needs, gaining more from packing NFL-size Raymond James Stadium when big-name opponents play the sole home game in the two-forone agreements.
USA Today’s Dan Wolken offered a sarcastic analysis of UCF’s scheduling plans when the FIU news broke.
“So Danny White won’t do 2-for-1s with Power Fives but will do 1-for-1s with FIU. Makes sense,” Wolken wrote on Twitter.
White responded by tweeting, “Just seeing this. Disappointed in you Dan. You took your shot, hope you get a lot of clicks — congrats! We have been very clear about our scheduling philosophy. We don’t believe in inequitable scheduling. Our program has accomplished far too much to have to do that.”
“Getting home-andhomes is getting increasingly harder, but we firmly believe that it’s the right move,” White told the Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi on his Open Mike radio show. “From an equitable standpoint, I don’t believe our student-athletes should have to take an inequitable series. That’s not fair to them. … We’re scheduling the way we schedule to build our season-ticket base and grow our revenue.”