Auburn football: CBS also sees Gus Malzahn as home run hire for UCF

CBS never used the term “home run” to describe the hiring of former Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn by the UCF football program, but judging by their write-up and grade of the new Knights’ coach arrival in Orlando, they probably agree with Fly War Eagle in that no runners were metaphorically stranded on base.

Malzahn was announced to be the new lead man of the locker-room at the Bounce House this past Tuesday in a press conference and was even “knighted” by Knightro, the school’s mascot.

If there were any Tiger fans that were feeling nostalgic and even missed Malzahn, seeing him bring back his classic “boom” template for his announcement that Travis Williams will be the new defensive coordinator must have hit fans in the feels.

Perhaps the praise heaped upon Malzahn proves that Auburn football had a great one…and UCF has a great one now.

CBS sees Gus-to-UCF as an A+ hire, with Dennis Dodd saying it is the best Group of Five hire in the decade since it has been called such:

"Gus Malzahn to UCF feels so right. It is not only the best addition of the current hiring cycle of college football coaches, it’s the best Group of Five hire basically since we started calling it the Group of Five about 10 years ago.And it’s not even close."

Malzahn comes with a stronger resume than Lane Kiffin, who had a stint in the Conference-USA at Florida Atlantic University. Of course, he jumped at the first head coaching opportunity in the SEC at Ole Miss, but it’s possible Malzahn passed up offers from Tennessee and South Carolina this past offseason.

Objectively, UCF has a better chance at a New Year’s Six bowl than either program any time soon, and the expectations shouldn’t be too high for Malzahn to prove he was the right man to be the Knights’ man.