UCF interviews
Florida assistant Geoff Collins as it continues its search for new coach.
UCF administrators interviewed football coaching candidates during the weekend and are expected to announce a decision this week.
Two sources confirmed Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins interviewed for the job during the weekend. Others linked to the job were Bowling Green coach Dino Babers, Florida defensive coordinator Randy Shannon, Nevada coach Brian Polian and former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Bucs coach Greg Schiano.
Recruiting website 247Sports.com reported Babers has been offered the job, but Sentinel sources could not confirm the report.
Babers was among those who quickly moved to knock down the 247Sports.com report as Bowling Green prepares to play Northern Illinois for the Mid-American Conference title Friday.
Babers posted on Twitter Sunday night, “The rumors about me accepting a job at UCF are not true. I am focused on [Bowling Green football] and winning a MAC Championship Friday night.”
Bowling Green players told the Orlando Sentinel they had not been told anything about a potential coaching change.
UCF is hoping to move quickly. The Knights have few players committed to their 2016 class and a key recruiting window opened this week. There also is a highly competitive market that could feature as many as 25 vacancies at the end of the college football season.
The school is facing a critical juncture in the post George O’Leary era, having just completed its second winless season since 2004.
UCF’s current football coaches met with new athletics director Danny White for the first time Sunday afternoon to discuss the program’s immediate future and everyone is waiting on a decision that could come as early as today.
White, who came from the University at Buffalo, was originally scheduled to start with the university full-time in January, but his start date was bumped up to Dec. 14.
And White has been acting on UCF’s behalf leading the search long before his first official full day at work. It didn’t hurt that Buffalo was able to immediately promote one of his top assistants to the athletics director role, taking some pressure off White juggling two jobs.
UCF President John Hitt made it clear when he first introduced White on Nov. 19 he expected the new athletics directly to work swiftly to hire a new coach.
“When you get to any type of recruiting situation, whether it’s aca- demic, athletic or what, speed is your friend,” Hitt said. “So regardless of what the market conditions seem to be, we’re going to do it the right way, but to the extent that I have input and I sense that Danny and I are of one mind here, we’re going to move quickly.”
In addition to the competiton with Power 5 schools for top coaches, the Knights are now dealing with other American Athletic Conference schools seeking new head coaches.
Tulane fired coach Curtis Johnson, while Memphis coach Justin Fuente accepted the Virginia Tech job. Houston coach Tom Herman was immediately linked to the Georgia job as soon as the school announced it was parting ways with coach Mark Richt.
Memphis named offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey interim head coach while it begins seeking a permanent replacement for Fuente.
Fuente was officially named Virginia Tech’s coach Sunday after going 26-23 in four seasons at Memphis, including a 19-6 mark the last two years. Memphis is 9-3 this year and is bowl eligible for a second consecutive season.
Memphis athletics director Tom Bowen said Sunday that “we are in the process of putting together a list of candidates with our leadership and will begin moving forward in the search for our next head coach.”
“I am confident we’ll be able to build this football program to extraordinary levels of competitive excellence,” Bowen said. “I give you my word on that.”