Could Gus Malzahn and Gene Chizik be options for UCF HC opening?

Two legendary former Auburn football coaches could be vying for the current head coaching vacancy at the University of Central Florida of the American (AAC) conference. Gene Chizik–the former Tigers coach that was leading the locker-room when Cam Newton took the team to the top of the mountain in 2010–and the man who replaced him and was just dismissed this past offseason, Gus Malzahn, have both been mentioned as possible options for the UCF HC job that opened up on January 27th.

So far, there have been rumbles that the coaching search could be narrowed down to a few candidates soon, but few names have had interviews or have even been linked to the Knights…though that could mean that the program has perfected the art of working in silence (take note, Auburn).

Assuming UCF’s brain trust is still in the beginning stages of their search, that could put the two former Auburn HCs in the mix for the job. The Orlando Sentinel, one of Orlando’s premier print publications, listed both in an article looking into 10 potential HC candidates.

As the OS’s Matt Murschel’s points out, Chizik has been retired from the game but has a significant tie to the University of Central Florida:

"Chizik has ties not only to the state of Florida but UCF, where he was the defensive coordinator from 1998-2001. He has extensive experience that includes serving as head coach at Auburn, where he won a national championship in 2010. Chizik stepped away from coaching in 2016 to spend more time with his family, but he remains connected with the game as an analyst on the SEC Network."

Chizik has been retired since a successful stint in Chapel Hill as the defensive coordinator for the UNC Tar Heels. He could bring his career full circle with the Knights, but he admittedly has been away from the program for so long that it may not be much of a relevant comeback story.

On the other hand, Malzahn could be a more realistic target. Murschel notes that Malzahn’s career success at every stop as a head coach is the crowning achievement on his resume:

"Malzahn is another coach who would bring veteran leadership to the UCF program. The 55-year-old spent eight years as a head coach, first at Arkansas State and then at Auburn. He’s compiled a 68-35 career record, taking his teams to eight consecutive bowl games. Auburn fired him in December after a 6-4 season, paying him a $21 million buyout in the process."

The key to Malzahn’s candidacy could be his relationship with new UCF Athletics director Terry Mojahir. As 247sports.com notes, Mojahir has experienced success with Malzahn as his lead man when Gus worked for him at Arkansas State:

"Mohajir knows a thing or two about conducting football head coach searches. While AD at Arkansas State, Mohajir hired three different head coaches in a short amount of time. Despite the various coaches, the success on the football field didn’t stop at A-State. During Mohajir’s tenure, A-State won four football conference championships with three different head coaches, including Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and Blake Anderson."

That link is a significant one. As we’ve seen from Harsin’s coaching staff search at Auburn, where he brought many of his Boise State support staff members with him, these ties matter.

Ultimately, that’s what makes Gus Malzahn a more likely choice than Chizik, and it may make him one of the frontrunners for the Knights head coaching role.