George O’Leary Head Coach - 11th Season with the Knights In his 11th year at UCF in 2014, George O’Leary has helped the Knights achieve dozens of historic firsts, including games in front of sellout crowds on campus, individual accolades for student-athletes, three conference championships, plenty of na onal television exposure and victories in presgious bowl games. For O’Leary, it has been business as usual.
5-1 down the stretch and won six-straight C-USA contests to close out the regular season. That included the Knights’ first win in school history over a na onallyranked Football Bowl Subdivision program when they upset No. 13/12 Houston, 37-32, on Homecoming.
Since taking over the program in 2004, O’Leary has made sure that UCF has reached new heights. The longest-tenured coach in the American Athle c Conference, the veteran football mind has molded his program into a consistent winner on and off of the field.
There was li le suspense as to who would garner C-USA Coach of the Year honors that year. For the Knights and their fans, 2007 was truly a year to remember. For the college football world, the season was more evidence that O’Leary was only just beginning to build the Knights into a powerful bunch.
His hard work contributed to the construc on of Bright House Networks Stadium. Interest in the program has never been higher. His student-athletes are enjoying record success in the classroom, and the Knights are winning on the football field.
Helping UCF Arrive on the Na onal Scene
Joining The American in 2013, UCF set school records with 12 wins, seven victories away from Orlando and a nine-game winning streak which is s ll ac ve heading into 2014. UCF was undefeated in league play for the first me (8-0) en route to the outright conference tle. The 2013 squad also posted UCF’s first two wins over top-10 teams (No. 8/6 Louisville and No. 6/5 Baylor) and its first victories against Big Ten (Penn State) and Big 12 (Baylor) programs. And on Dec. 8, exactly 10 years to the day O’Leary was hired at UCF, the Knights accepted their first BCS bowl berth. Ranked No. 15 heading into the Tos tos Fiesta Bowl, UCF lit up University of Phoenix Stadium with a 52-42 triumph over Big 12 champion Baylor. And the celebraon con nued in the days a er as the Knights achieved their first top-10 ranking by placing 10th in the final AP Top 25 Poll. They were then honored by thousands with a massive pep rally at CFE Arena and a once-in-a-life me parade at Magic Kingdom. O’Leary was named The American’s Coach of the Year in 2013, as well as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, the Paul Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award Watch List and a semifinalist for the Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year. The seniors on the 2013 roster le as UCF’s winningest senior class with a 38-15 record from 2010-13, while Blake Bortles was named The American’s Offensive Player of the Year. He joined five other Knights on the league’s first team. To top it off, Bortles became the highest NFL Dra pick in UCF history when he was selected third overall by Jacksonville. Before heading off to The American for 2013, O’Leary and his Knights had work to do in Conference USA, and they definitely made 2012 another memorable season. UCF went on to earn its fourth East Division tle and post a 10-4 record. It culminated in a 38-17 thumping of Ball State in the 2012 Beef `O’ Brady’s Bowl. UCF paced the league with six players on the AllC-USA First Team. That included C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Kemal Ishmael and C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year Quincy McDuffie, who was also named a Sports Illustrated FirstTeam All-American. Freshmen seemed to take over on the field in 2011. UCF led the league with six players voted onto the C-USA All-Freshman Team, which were the most by any team since Houston had six in 2008. Rannell Hall served as the lone freshman from any school to grab a spot on the All-C-USA First Team, as he was the first freshman kick returner in C-USA since 2002 to be voted onto the first team. In all, 14 players received postseason honors by the league, including cornerback Josh Robinson, who was voted onto the All-C-USA First Team for the secondstraight year, and wide receiver J.J. Worton who set a UCF freshman record with 41 recep ons during the season. O’Leary guided the 2010 Knights to the school’s first 11-win season, the C-USA championship and an AutoZone Liberty Bowl win over Georgia. The Knights earned their first-ever na onal ranking in 2010, finishing the year at No. 20 in the coaches poll and O’Leary was rewarded with the C-USA Coach of the Year award as voted on by his peers for the third me in six years. Just one year prior to that, O’Leary and the Knights put together an impressive run at the end of the 2009 season to earn a bid to the St. Petersburg Bowl. UCF went 22
2014 UCF Football Yearbook
UCF broke out in 2007 with 10 wins, claimed the C-USA tle and par cipated in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in front of a na onally-televised audience on ESPN.
O’Leary has already le his stamp on the Knights’ program. When he arrived in Orlando in 2004, UCF was not a factor on the regional or na onal scenes. He rebuilt the program from the ground up. He lobbied for new facili es, toured the state to gain publicity, restocked UCF with top recruits and made sure his student-athletes excelled in their studies. The growth of the program was no more evident than in 2007. UCF posted a thenschool-record seven-game winning streak during the season. The conference championship was the first in program history. And O’Leary helped tailback Kevin Smith post one of the most dominant single-season rushing performances. The junior rushed for 2,567 yards, good for second all- me in NCAA history, and 29 touchdowns. He became the only rusher in the state of Florida and the 12th allme in the NCAA FBS to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark. The 2008 season saw Joe Burne also earn first-team All-America honors as he sha ered the school and C-USA punt return records and graduated ranked 19th in NCAA history in career punt return yards. In 2009, Robinson was a first-team freshman All-American and Bruce Miller won the first of two consecu ve C-USA Defensive Player of the Year awards. In addi on to Miller, Jeff Godfrey was named the 2010 C-USA Freshman of the Year.
Excellence off the Field O’Leary has reshaped the UCF program in every facet, including improved results in the classroom. The American Football Coaches Associa on recognized UCF in 2011 for being one of just 17 ins tu ons for gradua ng at least 90 percent of its members of the freshman student-athlete class of 2004, which was UCF’s first year with O’Leary at the helm of the program. While UCF was busy working toward the eventual AAC championship and Tos tos Fiesta Bowl tle in the 2013 season, it also was opening eyes in the classroom. The Knights checked in with a program-high APR of 994 for 2012-13, only six points shy of a perfect score and ed for fi h in the country. It also marked eight consecuve years that UCF was ahead of the na onal average. UCF’s mul -year APR rate jumped from 975 to 978, placing the Knights 15th overall among all FBS schools and 27 points higher than the average. The Knights’ Gradua on Success Rate, meanwhile, came in at 83 percent, or 12 points above the na onal average. UCF became the first football program in C-USA history to have a team GPA of at least 3.0. The Knights also ed for third in the country for having the most players who already had their degrees (11). At the end of the spring, UCF posted its highest average GPA for two consecu ve terms under O’Leary. Defensive lineman Keith Shologan became the first player in school history to receive ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team honors in 2007. Rocky
O’Leary’s Honors • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
2013 - American Athle c Conference Coach of the Year 2013 - Eddie Robinson Na onal Coach of the Year finalist 2010 - Conference USA Coach of the Year 2007 - Conference USA Coach of the Year 2007 - Atlanta Touchdown Club Conference USA Coach of the Year 2005 - Conference USA Coach of the Year 2005 - CBSSports.com Na onal Coach of the Year 2005 - SportsIllustrated.com Na onal Coach of the Year 2005 - Eddie Robinson Na onal Coach of the Year finalist 2005 - Paul “Bear” Bryant Na onal Coach of the Year finalist 2000 - Bobby Dodd Na onal Coach of the Year 2000 - Atlan c Coast Conference Coach of the Year 1998 - Atlan c Coast Conference Coach of the Year 1998 - AFCA Region I Coach of the Year 1998 - Eddie Robinson Na onal Coach of the Year finalist