Official UCF Sports Thread - Basketball: NIT Bid? Football: Spring Practice Underway

Post #1241 » by **UCF** » Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:59 am

I wish we had an AD in place (specifically DW) when JH departed. His record was trending the wrong direction and depending on the new hire the impact is TBD.

I really hope they select a new AD ASAP so the coaching search can be started.

Post #1242 » by **Knightro** » Thu Jan 28, 2021 6:14 am

Losing Heupel at the same time unfortunately puts a rush on replacing White.

I'm sure UCF wanted to take their time to vet and interview a bunch of athletic director candidates. No one would have really batted an eye had they taken a month or even two months to make an AD hire.

But now? They pretty much have to hire an AD within the next 1-2 weeks so they can hire a football coach as soon as possible.

It reminds me of the Boise State situation. They announced they were beginning a national search for a new AD on December 14th, but then their head football coach left unexpectedly on December 22nd.

So they had to speed their process up. They couldn't afford to wait 1-2 months to make an AD hire anymore. They rushed and ended up hiring their new AD on January 2 and hiring their new football coach on January 8.

Spring practice started on February 28 in 2020. If UCF is looking for a similar timeline, then obviously they need a coach hired ASAP so he can have time to fill out a staff.

Post #1243 » by **UCF** » Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:31 pm

Read on Twitter

In other news

Post #1244 » by **UCF** » Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:36 pm

After seeing what DW did as AD, it’s obvious we need the next athletic director who already knows how to fundraise at a high-level. College athletics is $$$ arms race for salaries, facilities, student benefits (food, equipment, travel, lazy river, etc). DW seemed to be able to draw the larger donations to support these efforts.

Football scheduling will hopefully also get better for the next AD since we had a down year.

Post #1245 » by **Knightro** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:26 am

The amount of recently graduated and current players publicly stumping on Twitter for Jeff Lebby to be the next head coach is really jarring.

We're talking 20+ players here.

Post #1246 » by **UCF** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:56 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #1247 » by **UCF** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:58 pm

Knightro wrote:The amount of recently graduated and current players publicly stumping on Twitter for Jeff Lebby to be the next head coach is really jarring.

We're talking 20+ players here.

I was surprised as well. Seems a little early since we don’t even have an athletic director.

Post #1248 » by **craig01** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:25 pm

UCF wrote:
Knightro wrote:The amount of recently graduated and current players publicly stumping on Twitter for Jeff Lebby to be the next head coach is really jarring.

We're talking 20+ players here.

I was surprised as well. Seems a little early since we don’t even have an athletic director.

There has been a lot of smoke rising with the Lebby rumors and now 24k.

Adding to this: the 4* WR from Hawaii is also rumored to announce Ucf today

Post #1249 » by **UCF** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:05 am

craig01 wrote:
UCF wrote:
Knightro wrote:The amount of recently graduated and current players publicly stumping on Twitter for Jeff Lebby to be the next head coach is really jarring.

We're talking 20+ players here.

I was surprised as well. Seems a little early since we don’t even have an athletic director.

There has been a lot of smoke rising with the Lebby rumors and now 24k.

Adding to this: the 4* WR from Hawaii is also rumored to announce Ucf today

Kid committed with no head coach in place. I’m sure the next guy will want to keep a 4* recruit in the fold.

Apparently 24K removed any ole miss from his Twitter bio...

Post #1250 » by **UCF** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:21 am

Read on Twitter

That has to sting a bit :lol:

Post #1251 » by **Knightro** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:25 am

If Jeff Lebby does come to UCF to be the head coach, the rumor is he'd bring both Ole Miss RB coach Kevin Smith and Ole Miss OL coach Randy Clements with him.

Not sure if either one of them would be offensive coordinator or if it would be a co-offensive coordinator thing or if they'd hire a completely different offensive coordinator.

Post #1252 » by **UCF** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:41 pm

Having 24k back with the program would be awesome.

They need to select an athletic director already to get the coaching search started.

Post #1253 » by **craig01** » Mon Feb 1, 2021 1:36 am

UCF wrote:Having 24k back with the program would be awesome.

They need to select an athletic director already to get the coaching search started.

I hope the AD is filled next week (Carr) and the following week the next HFC is named (Lebby)

Time is of the essence.

Post #1254 » by **UCF** » Mon Feb 1, 2021 2:25 pm

craig01 wrote:
UCF wrote:Having 24k back with the program would be awesome.

They need to select an athletic director already to get the coaching search started.

I hope the AD is filled next week (Carr) and the following week the next HFC is named (Lebby)

Time is of the essence.

I know the players seem to support Carr, but does he have a reasonable chance given the “national search”?

Post #1255 » by **Knightro** » Mon Feb 1, 2021 3:43 pm

UCF wrote:I know the players seem to support Carr, but does he have a reasonable chance given the “national search”?

I wouldn't say he's necessarily the favorite considering there appear to be several standing athletic directors who want the job, but Carr definitely has a reasonable chance.

He was a high ranking executive in the Auburn athletic department from 2009-2016 and has been No. 2 in command at UCF since Danny White arrived in 2016.

Replace his five years of UCF experience with any P5 school and he's almost certainly on the short list of interview candidates anyway.

Post #1256 » by **UCF** » Mon Feb 1, 2021 5:50 pm

Knightro wrote:
UCF wrote:I know the players seem to support Carr, but does he have a reasonable chance given the “national search”?

I wouldn't say he's necessarily the favorite considering there appear to be several standing athletic directors who want the job, but Carr definitely has a reasonable chance.

He was a high ranking executive in the Auburn athletic department from 2009-2016 and has been No. 2 in command at UCF since Danny White arrived in 2016.

Replace his five years of UCF experience with any P5 school and he's almost certainly on the short list of interview candidates anyway.

It’ll come down to what the donors think of him imo. With Covid impacting everything, I would embrace the internal hire if we have someone qualified to take the reins. We need someone the players will respect and who donors will listen to. If he doesn’t get the job, I would guess he’s also leaving.

Kent · Post #1257 » by **Kent** » Tue Feb 2, 2021 8:13 pm

How's this for good news?

EA Sports is bringing back college football.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30821045/school-plan-ea-sports-do-college-football

I don't play much video games these days but I would be interested in playing as UCF on a modern system.

Post #1258 » by **UCFJayBird** » Tue Feb 2, 2021 8:18 pm

Kent wrote:How's this for good news?

EA Sports is bringing back college football.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30821045/school-plan-ea-sports-do-college-football

I don't play much video games these days but I would be interested in playing as UCF on a modern system.

I actually never played the NCAA games, because I was a bigger NFL fan back then and I always went with Madden.

But I will definitely be grabbing this when it comes out. Sounds like it might be a few years away though.

Post #1259 » by **UCF** » Wed Feb 3, 2021 9:44 pm

Kent wrote:How's this for good news?

EA Sports is bringing back college football.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30821045/school-plan-ea-sports-do-college-football

I don't play much video games these days but I would be interested in playing as UCF on a modern system.

A long time ago, my brother worked at EA and was part of that team. I’m glad they’re bringing it back! I’m glad I never have to touch the ‘14 version ever again lol.

Post #1260 » by **Knightro** » Thu Feb 4, 2021 2:50 pm

The more I am reading and hearing, the less likely it seems UCF is going to promote an internal candidate. I don't think Carr is going to get the job.

My personal opinion is that there was even more interest in the AD job than the search committee anticipated there would be when the job opened up.

A bunch of current athletic directors, at least 5, have expressed interest. Also just about every 2nd in command around the country has expressed interest as well.

Read on Twitter

This list seems like it might be rather poignant when it's all said and done.