UCF is reshaping its athletic department with two big hires upcoming before the start of 2016. A new football coach is important, but the new AD is vital.
UCF’s entire athletic department will undergo an important transformation. The whole future of the university at this critical time is in complete flux. And the path for its future too.
The new head coach is going to get a lot of the attention. The candidates are far more visible and forward as UCF limps through its 0-9 season.
That new hire though will be very much a reflection of the hire UCF makes beforehand. The one the school has muddied up already by naming George O’Leary the interim athletic director before the season began rather than moving quickly to replace Todd Stansbury.
Stansbury certainly left UCF in a bit of a lurch, leaving for Oregon State on June 18. The Knights had a little less than two months to hire a new athletic director before the academic year began. The decision to tie themselves further with George O’Leary as interim athletic director came down shortly thereafter.
The Knights knew it would be a short-term role for O’Leary, with the potential for him to move to the role full time after O’Leary stepped down as head coach, but it was also somewhat clear O’Leary was not the right man for that job either.
In every way, this football season has become a lost year.
Athletic director at its best is a mix of marketer, fundraiser and booster. He is responsible for managing the entire athletic department, helping set a tone for how the school and its teams are marketed and presented to the world. A good athletic director increases the profile of the university through athletics.
Or it could be a straight administrator, satisfied with the status quo. Judging by the way attendance figures around college football have gone, the administrator (which O’Leary very much was for the last few months).
UCF has struggled some to capture a college football-hungry market. The Knights have not — and may never — unseat the Gators and the Seminoles for Orlando’s complete attention. Certainly not with an 0-9 team, but there are still plenty more things UCF could do to take more of the market share.
Finding a strong athletic director who can implement an identity and bring energy to the position seems imperative for the program’s growth.
The Knights have had several months now to seek an athletic director and get that mission in place. UCF vice president Grant Heston told Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel the hope is to have an athletic director hired in early December and have him in place to help hire the football coach.
Both positions are in need of a fresh voice and approach. O’Leary helped build the football program to respectability and consistent competitiveness (this year excepted). However, his lack of energy hurt the team trying to sell tickets and attract the general Orlando audience and it hurt him some on the recruiting trail.
Much like in a new athletic director, the Knights should be looking for a coach with some energy who can sell the program to recruits as much as to fans. And winning helps with all of that, of course.
So far though, it just seems UCF is happy with their status quo in an industry and a profession that demands constant innovation.
The Knights undoubtedly want someone who will be at UCF for a long time. They do not want an athletic director who views the job as a stepping stone. That is certainly admirable as UCF could become a very strong power in the region. An aggressive athletic director also cements UCF firmly in expansion talks when they pick up again.
As the Knights embark on this search, the future of the athletic program is in the balance. Will they go with something new and someone who will grow the program, making it the destination it perhaps should be?
Or will they go with someone who simply does the administrative job, leaving the marketing and growth to the individual programs?
The latter would leave UCF in a hole and subject to constant swings with its growing football program for sure unless the absolute right coach is brought in.
Finding the right athletic director is probably more important for UCF’s growth than the new head football coach. And before UCF does anything, it has to get this hire right.
