Auburn football: Gus Malzahn shifting head coaching priorities at UCF
Gus Malzahn will be giving up play-calling duties for UCF’s offense this coming season, handing the reins over to the Knights’ new offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw according to the Orlando Sentinel’s Jason Beede. Malzahn did the same during his time as Auburn football head coach, relinquishing the responsibilities to then-offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee following the 2016 season.
New offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw confirms he'll be taking over as the play caller at #UCF, something Gus Malzahn had done the past seasons in Orlando. Hinshaw sounds extremely excited to call plays at UCF, where he played quarterback in the 90s.
— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) January 4, 2023
UCF is coming off a 13-point performance against Duke in the Military Bowl on December 28. The Knights’ former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey, a former Auburn football offensive coordinator who Malzahn gave the play-calling duties too as well while on the Plains, took the same job at Duke’s rival, North Carolina, two weeks before UCF’s bowl loss.
Malzahn will go back to something he does best, recruiting. Bama Hammer’s Ronald Evans predicts that new Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze won’t reach the heights on the recruiting trail that Malzahn did, proving that Malzahn’s recruiting success at AU was universally praised.
Gus Malzahn regretted giving up play-calling duties during his Auburn football tenure
In 2019, before the beginning of the end of his Auburn football head coaching tenure during the pandemic-stricken 2020 season, Gus Malzahn had let it be known that his decision to give up play-calling for the Tigers offense for the 2017 and 2018 seasons was a regret of his.
“Through the years, you get advice and all of that,” Malzahn said during 2019 SEC Media Days (h/t AL.com). “And, of course, I made a mistake.”
Malzahn eventually took play-calling duties back in 2019, but gave those duties to Chad Morris in 2020 — leading to a 6-4 season and a publicized firing from the Plains. Things have worked out at UCF, but it’s hard not to worry about an offseason of change as they enter the Big 12 in a step up to the Power Five in 2023.