UCF has become a program on the rise under head coach George O’Leary, but it sounds like there could be change coming at the end of the 2015 season.
It is being reported by USA Today that O’Leary wants to step down from his head coaching gig at UCF and become the athletic director full time after being named the interim AD this summer.
Here are the details from USA Today:
Central Florida coach George O’Leary, who was named the school’s interim athletics director in June, has expressed a strong desire to assume the position full time and step down as football coach at the end of this season, according to two people who have communicated directly with school officials about the situation.
The people spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the matter was supposed to be private.
The school was prepared to go through a standard national search for its next athletics director after Todd Stansbury departed for Oregon State earlier this year. Plans changed, however, once O’Leary approached school President John Hitt and other power brokers at UCF with the transition idea. Now the process is on hold as school officials consider the possibility.
Hitt is fiercely loyal to O’Leary, who has built UCF into one of the better football programs outside of a Power 5 conference and led the Knights to a 12-1 season in 2013 including a victory in the Fiesta Bowl.
While O’Leary has done a lot for UCF over the past several years, including bringing in several conferences titles and a Fiesta Bowl win over Baylor, there is concern over whether he is the right candidate for such a position.
O’Leary has been in the coaching industry dating back to the 1980s, but he has no athletic administration experience on his resume. This has many worried about what direction it would take the entire athletic department if the school president elects to grant O’Leary this wish, but at the same time they don’t want to burn bridges with a head coach that has done so much for them.
It will be interesting to see what they elect to do once the season wraps up.
