Former Auburn football head coach Gus Malzahn received an extension on October 5 to continue coaching UCF through the 2027 season, with a raise to $5.5 million annually for the 2026 and 2027 seasons per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“The raise and extension are part of UCF’s transition plan to the Big 12, which the school calls ‘Mission XII,” Thamel prefaced before saying, “The new deal puts him more in line with the Big 12, as he would have entered UCF’s first in the Big 12 as the lowest-paid Power 5 coach without the adjustment.”
This prompted On3’s Alex Weber to praise Malzahn for being the “latest in a long line of remarkably successful coaches at UCF.”
“Malzahn is in his third season as the Knights’ head coach and is the latest in a line of remarkably successful coaches at what has long been a non-power-conference program,” Weber prefaced before saying, “In his two seasons thus far, UCF has won nine games in both 2021 and 2022 and is off to a 3-2 start so far this season.”
Gus Malzahn not remembered as remarkably successful with Auburn football
Despite being the offensive mind who engineered the only Auburn football championship in the 21st century and leading the Tigers to the BCS Championship game in his first season as head coach, Malzhan is not remembered as remarkably successful on the Plains; making Weber’s statement one that points out the disparity in what is seen as remarkably successful in East Central Alabama and in Central Florida.
It was Malzahn who the Knights beat in 2017 to give UCF their identity as a program. That 2018 Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day is seen as one of the reasons why Malzahn wasn’t seen as a remarkable success at AU. But on the Knights’ side of the equation, Scott Frost is a legendary coach in UCF’s history for that run; even though his other season as a coach was a losing season.