Gus Malzahn is approaching a return to secondary lines in 2021.
The former Auburn coach is close to finalizing a deal to become the next UCF coach, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. An announcement can be made on Monday.
Sources: UCF is close to finalizing an agreement to make Gus Malzahn the next football coach. An announcement is expected today.
– Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 15, 2021
If the hiring is successful, Malzahn will replace Josh Heupel, who left UCF to become Tennessee’s head coach.
Heupel went to Tennessee after the school hired UCF sports director Danny White for the same position. White decided to keep Heupel as the school’s football coach not long after he arrived in Knoxville. And now Malzahn is about to join a well-known sports director in Orlando.
UCF hired Terry Mohajir of Arkansas to be White’s successor. Mohajir’s first year at ASU was 2012, the only year Malzahn trained the Red Wolves. After a year in Arkansas, Malzahn took over as Auburn’s head coach after Gene Chizik was fired.
Malzahn achieved a strong acquisition of Auburn
Malzahn’s resignation was a surprise and one of the biggest moves on a surprisingly busy coach carousel after the 2020 season. Auburn decided it was willing to pay more than $ 20 million to buy the rest of Malzahn’s contract after the Tigers reached 6-4 in the regular season.
The Tigers never replicated the heights they reached in Malzahn’s first season. Auburn went 12-2 and lost to the State of Florida in the final game of the BCS Championship at the end of the 2013 season.
Over his eight years at Auburn, Malzahn trained the Tigers for an overall record of 68-35 with a 39-27 mark in the SEC game. In addition to his appearance in the national title game, Malzahn also led Auburn to 10 wins and the SEC championship game in 2017, losing to Georgia.
UCF is one of the best jobs outside the Power Five
Malzahn has a chance to take on a program that has established itself as one of the top three programs in the state of Florida in recent years, thanks to the state’s difficulties in Florida. UCF was 41-8 in the past four seasons under Scott Frost and Heupel, although the Knights’ record has worsened with each passing year in that period. UCF made it 13-0 in 2017, but Frost left for Nebraska at the end of the season. Heupel’s teams were 12-1, 10-3 and 6-4 in their three years with the school.
Can Malzahn reverse this slide? If you do, UCF will remain relevant at the top of the American Athletic Conference. And I could give him another chance at a job at a Power Five conference school, if he wants to.
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