Gus Malzahn is approaching a return to the sidelines in 2021.
The former Auburn coach is close to concluding an agreement to become the next head coach at UCF, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. An announcement can be made later Monday.
Sources: UCF is close to finalizing a deal to make Gus Malzahn the next football coach. An announcement is expected as soon as today.
– Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) 15 February 2021
If the lease goes through, Malzahn will replace Josh Heupel, who left UCF to become Tennessee’s head coach.
Heupel went to Tennessee after the school hired UCF athletics director Danny White for the same position. White made the move to keep Heupel as football coach of his school, not long after coming to Knoxville. And now Malzahn is about to join a well-known athletic director in Orlando.
UCF has hired Terry Mohajir, Arkansas, to be White’s successor. Mohajir’s first year at ASU was 2012, the only year Malzahn coached the Red Wolves. After one year in Arkansas State, Malzahn took over as Auburn’s head coach after Gene Chizik was sacked.
Malzahn got a solid buyout at Auburn
Malzahn’s launch was a surprise and one of the biggest moves in a surprisingly busy coaching carousel after the 2020 season. Auburn decided he was willing to pay more than $ 20 million to buy out the rest of Malzahn’s contract after the Tigers won 6-4 in the regular season.
The Tigers never repeated the heights they reached in Malzahn’s first season. Auburn won 12-2 and lost to Florida State in the final BCS Championship at the end of the 2013 season.
During his eight years at Auburn, Malzahn coached the Tigers to an overall record of 68-35 with a score of 39-27 in SEC. In addition to his national title appearance, Malzahn Auburn also led to 10 wins and the 2017 SEC Championship game and lost to Georgia.
UCF is one of the best non-Power Five jobs
Malzahn has the chance to take over a program that has pushed itself as a top-three program in the state of Florida for the past three years, thanks to the fight in Florida. UCF has gone 41-8 under Scott Frost and Heupel over the past four seasons, though the Knights record in that time frame has gotten worse with each passing year. UCF won 13-0 in 2017, but Frost left for Nebraska at the end of the season. In his three years with the school, Heupel’s teams succeeded 12-1, 10-3 and 6-4.
Can Malzahn reverse that slide? If he does, UCF will remain relevant at the top of the U.S. Athletics Conference. And it could give him another chance to do a job at a Power Five conference school if he wants to.
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