Now that Gus Malzahn has bailed out, will UCF fans be patient with next coach? | Commentary

Gus Malzahn just gave UCF’s administration and its fan base the best early Christmas present he could ever give them.

On this just-completed Thanksgiving weekend, I believe Knight Nation owes Malzahn a huge debt of gratitude.

He voluntarily resigned as the head football coach on Saturday, apparently forfeited most of the $12 million in contract buyout money he could have collected had he been fired and then shockingly took the offensive coordinator’s position at Florida State.

According to one source, Malzahn has been considering this move since the loss to West Virginia two weeks ago and finally came to the conclusion that he “just wanted to go call ballplays” at FSU instead of trying to rebuild UCF.

The fact that Malzahn left so much buyout money on the table certainly shows that, at 59, he’s lost his appetite for dealing with all of the headaches involved in the new dynamics of college football. It’s one of the main reasons Alabama coach Nick Saban retired and why Chip Kelly stepped down as the head coach at UCLA after last season to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Malzahn often talked about how today’s head coaches not only have to coach and recruit but also have to be NIL fundraisers and transfer-portal GMs as well.

Malzahn was also quite sensitive to the growing fan and booster criticism that littered social media. I believe he saw the handwriting on the wall and knew things would get worse before they got better. According to one source, he didn’t not want to go through the stress and trauma of being fired again like he had at Auburn.

And so, as this season continued to circle the drain, it became increasingly clear to him that his program was broken and he didn’t know how to fix it. UCF lost eight of its last nine games this season and has a 5-13 conference record in two seasons…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/now-gus-malzahn-bailed-ucf-235800519.html

Author : Orlando Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-12-01 23:58:00

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