Malzahn gives UCF football stability upon Big 12 arrival
ORLANDO, Fla. — Gus Malzahn didn’t have a job and didn’t need one.
Auburn fired Malzahn in December 2020, and the football coach whose salaries over eight seasons combined for $40.08 million was due $21.45 million with his buyout.
But football coaches coach. And when Central Florida hired Malzahn 64 days after he hit the unemployment line, Malzahn talked up the job bigtime.
Turns out he was right. “When I first took the job, I was pretty confident we were going to go into a Power Five Conference in a short period of time,” Malzahn said, sitting his UCF office earlier this month.
Malzahn’s belief pays off Saturday, when UCF officially joins the Big 12. And of the four Big 12 newcomers — also including Cincinnati, Brigham Young and Houston — the Knights figure to be most prepared for Power Five football.
Great recruiting area, smack in the middle of Florida and just 199 miles from the state line of Georgia, another booming football state. Great recent tradition as a mid-major force.
Great potential for resources, considering UCF’s enrollment of almost 70,000 constantly grows the fanbase.
And a coach who knows what it takes to win at this level.
In eight years at Auburn, Malzahn took the Tigers to the 2013 national championship game, twice reached the SEC Championship Game and thrice beat Nick Saban.
“He’s been through the fire of one of the toughest leagues in America,” UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir said, referring to the Southeastern Conference. “There’s a lot of value in understanding how to compete in a really amazing league.”
You remember how Cincinnati lost coach Luke Fickell at precisely the wrong time – Fickell left UC for Wisconsin in late November, forcing the Bearcats to recalibrate their program just as their Big 12 era loomed?
UCF hired Malzahn at just the right time. Two years lead time to get his program primed for the Big 12.
“Got some work to do with resources for football,” Mohajir said. “However, I still feel like, how our coaches are recruiting … I think our upside is even more significant than we realize.”
UCF has slipped some from its 25-1 summit of 2017-18 – most programs slip from a 25-1 summit – but part of that is the instability that goes with mid-major life.
The Big 12 status figures to enhance recruiting; UCF coaches say athletes are showing more interest in the school the last two years, and Malzahn just signed the No. 1 recruiting class in school history.
“The fact that you weren’t in one of those conferences was kind of stopping point” in recruiting, said UCF senior associate athletic director John Heisler, who was lured out of retirement at Notre Dame to head the Knights’ media relations.
The Knights have been college football rabble-rousers for a full decade, since their 2013 team upset Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.
In those 10 years, UCF has had four coaches, four athletic directors, four school presidents and four chief athletic fundraisers. So stability hasn’t been part of the Central Florida plot.
“The organic value of this place just needed to mature,” said Mark Wright, UCF’s deputy associate athletic director, who oversees fundraising. “It’s going to be great. Just needed some discipline and consistency.”
Could Malzahn provide that in Orlando? He’s tried the rat race of Auburn, an impossible place to please. Could Malzahn find contentment in Orlando? UCF, after all, has a chance to be a regular contender in the Big 12 and seems at least as capable of Auburn of making regular College Football Playoff appearances.
“I love it,” Malzahn said. “Great spot. It’s a good fit. It fits me. We’re a young school, we’re growing. This place has really had big-time success since before I got here.”
Malzahn, 57, grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, just across the Oklahoma state line. He attended several OU games in the 1980s and even made it to Stillwater for a Cowboy game or two.
Malzahn was a high-school coaching sensation at Springdale, Arkansas, and was hired onto Houston Nutt’s Arkansas staff. Malzahn became offensive coordinator at Tulsa and Auburn, then head coach at Arkansas State in 2012, before Auburn summoned him back as head coach.
“He’s really enjoying it here,” Mohajir said. “I think he’s really energized about the future of this program.”
Mohajir says Malzahn wants to build a program, not just a season. But these days, the season comes first, often through the transfer portal.
UCF brought in 15 transfers this season, eight of them from Power Five schools. In 2022, UCF brought in 14 transfers, and 11 of them had Power Five experience.
“We’ve built the foundation,” Malzahn said. “Our culture is good. Got a great staff. Got great kids. We’ve really built it from the ground up.”
Virtually no one is picking UCF to win the Big 12 in the Knights’ inaugural season in the conference. But most are picking UCF to finish as the top Big 12 newcomer.
The Knights are not a great geographic fit – they will be the only Big 12 member both east of Malzahn’s hometown and south of Cincinnati – but that Power Five status is enough to have UCF excited.
“I think for me, it’s a real conference,” Malzahn said. “There’s real teams. That’s probably the best way to put it.
“Anytime you move up conferences, our level, you gotta be really good on both lines of scrimmage. Been building for that the last two years. Pretty good shape in that department.”
And pretty good shape in the headcoaching department, with Malzahn at the helm as the Knights go into the Big 12.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@ oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:405:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.