Former Auburn football and current UCF head coach Gus Malzahn made many Tiger fans happy on January 18 when he answered Paul Finebaum’s question of who the best college quarterback ever was.
His answer was someone whose development he oversaw as AU’s offensive coordinator in his second year on the Plains. His answer was the only answer that one can have when being objective about who performed the best at the collegiate level.
To the surprise of no one, Malzahn called Cam Newton — who helped lead AU to the last undefeated regular season in program history en route to a national championship — the greatest quarterback of all time on Twitter Wednesday.
Cam Newton https://t.co/Z7joWxlkqT
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) January 18, 2023
Former Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn has given up on play-calling at UCF
While Gus Malzahn has had a much better time with UCF the past two years than his replacement Bryan Harsin had leading Auburn football, things haven’t always been smooth in sunny Orlando, Florida for the former Tigers coach.
UCF has lost to Navy and Louisville both of the past two seasons as favorites and seriously faltered in the Military Bowl against Duke this past December. While amassing 18 wins in two seasons has certainly given Knights fans what they bargained for after Malzahn’s hiring in 2021, the increase in competition when UCF reaches the Big 12 later this year is certainly worrying.
In order to stay competitive in the Big 12, Malzahn is re-shifting his priorities as head coach and focusing his energy on the recruiting trail. Darin Hinshaw will take over play-calling duties for the offense in his stead.
It’ll be interesting to see if the move will help the Knights hang in a Big 12 that just sent its first team to the College Football Playoff championship game in 2023 and beyond.