Former Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn will be the next UCF head coach, sources told ESPN.
An agreement is being finalized, and an announcement from UCF could take place on Monday. Malzahn stepped down as UCF’s leading candidate on Sunday. Yahoo first reported the rent.
Malzahn, 55, was sacked on December 13 after eight seasons in Auburn. He was 68-35 and 39-27 in SEC play overall. Malzahn took the Tigers to the national championship game in his first season in 2013. They won ten games and played a SEC Championship in 2017, but played only 14-12 against SEC opponents for the next three seasons.
Malzahn replaces Josh Heupel at UCF. Heupel left for the Tennessee coaching staff last month.
Malzahn signed a $ 49 million seven-year contract after the 2017 season and owed a $ 21.7 million buyout to Auburn when he was sacked in December. Malzahn was only 8-17 against SEC rivals Alabama, Georgia and LSU, but he was also one of the few coaches in college football to succeed against Nick Saban in Alabama. Since the start of the 2013 season, Saban has been 65-6 against SEC opponents, and three of those losses have been against Malzahn.
New UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir and Malzahn’s paths crossed shortly in Arkansas State. Three months after being named Arkansas State’s athletic director in 2012, Mohajir had to find a replacement for Malzahn when he left for Auburn.
According to sources, Kent State coach Sean Lewis was also one of those considered for the UCF post.
ESPN’s Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report