One of the first tasks facing new UCF coach Gus Malzahn is identifying and hiring a new coaching staff.
“I’m going to be working hard in the next hopefully week to get our staff in place,” Malzahn said during his introductory news conference Monday. “The first thing I told our players was we’re going to get coaches who are great examples for our players. What a great dad looks like. What a great husband looks like. I also told them I’m going to get coaches who truly care about them as a person and invest in their life. Not just football.
“I believe when I had coaches who truly cared about me, they got the most out of me. We’re going to have coaches who will develop our guys on the field. Nobody is going to work harder than us.”
Malzahn has a salary pool of $3.3 million for 10 full-time assistants, according to his memorandum of understanding with UCF Athletics obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
Malzahn is finalizing a deal to make Travis Williams his new defensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. Williams recently joined Manny Diaz’s staff at Miami as the inside linebackers coach and previously worked with Malzahn at Auburn from 2014-20, assuming the role of co-defensive coordinator in 2019.
Interim coach Randy Shannon was among a handful of coaches who remained with the Knights after head coach Josh Heupel’s departure to Tennessee Jan. 27. While there’s been no final decision on whether he’ll retain anyone currently on staff, Malzahn said he plans to meet with Shannon to discuss the future.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a person and as a coach,” Malzahn said of Shannon. “I will talk with him, and I’m not for sure where that’s going to lead, but I do have a relationship and a lot of respect for him.”
Shannon’s current contract with UCF runs through Jan. 31, 2022. The Knights would owe him $1 million if the contract is terminated early.
Malzahn said his new staff will also be great recruiters, emphasizing the importance of landing talent who can help the Knights win.
“We’re going to recruit Florida like nobody else,” Malzahn said. “We’re going to recruit like our hair is on fire. We’re going to go after the best players in America and we’re not backing down to anybody. We’ve got a lot to offer here and we’re going to put together a staff that is going to be able to do that.”
Malzahn’s recruiting classes at Auburn consistently ranked in the top 12 nationally, according to 247Sports.com composite rankings. His recruits were primarily from Alabama, Florida and Georgia. He plans to cover the same territory at UCF.
“The unique thing about this is the last eight years, the footprint that we’ll be recruiting in, I’ve already got experience. I already know the top players; I already know the coaches and everything that goes on,” Malzahn said. “Florida will be our priority, but we’ll also recruit Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. We’re going to spend most of our time within a six-hour circle.”
Most of UCF’s recruits since 2014 have come from the state of Florida (90). It’s lower than USF (147), Miami (119), UF (114) and Florida State (94) during the same period.
A few hours after his introduction as UCF coach, Malzahn extended a scholarship offer to Omari Kelly, a 2022 four-star wide receiver out of Trussville, Ala., one of the top athletes in Alabama who holds offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
