Former Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn will be the next UCF coach, sources told ESPN.
A deal is being finalized and a UCF announcement could arrive as soon as Monday. Malzahn emerged on Sunday as the UCF’s top candidate. Yahoo first reported the rental.
Malzahn, 55, was fired on Dec. 13 after eight seasons at Auburn. He was 68-35 in the overall and 39-27 in the SEC. Malzahn led the Tigers to the national championship game in their first season in 2013. They won 10 games and made an appearance in the SEC championship in 2017, but were only 14-12 against SEC opponents during the next three seasons.
Malzahn replaces Josh Heupel for UCF. Heupel left last month for the job of head coach of Tennessee.
Malzahn signed a seven-year, $ 49 million contract after the 2017 season and had to pay $ 21.7 million from Auburn when he was fired in December. Malzahn was only 8-17 against rivals SEC SEC Alabama, Georgia and LSU, but he was also one of the few college football coaches to be successful against Nick Saban in Alabama. Since the start of the 2013 season, Saban has been 65-6 against SEC opponents, and three of those losses were against Malzahn.
The new paths of UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir and Malzahn intersected briefly in the state of Arkansas. Three months after being appointed athletic director of Arkansas state in 2012, Mohajir had to find a replacement for Malzahn when he left for Auburn.
Kent State coach Sean Lewis was also one of those considered for UCF work, according to sources.
ESPN’s Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report