Barrett was the only assistant under O’Leary with any previous head coaching experience, having previously served as Buffalo’s interim head coach when Turner Gill departed for Kansas in 2009.
Advertisement
George O’Leary did many wonderful things during his tenure as the UCF football coach. His career record as a college head coach is 133-101.
O’Leary travels to Cincinnati next weekend. Questions were often posed about why the Knights didn’t do a more thorough job of recruiting Central Florida, an approach for which O’Leary and his various assistants tried different tactics over the years. He spent five seasons with O’Leary at UCF. Among the contracts were O’Leary’s original employment agreement and three amendments, the last of which was dated January 2014.
There is also an Orlando bar, The Basement, offering free beer during games until UCF wins.
The win-less Knights will now be led by interim head coach Danny Barrett, who spoke to the media on Monday about his new position. Although the state of New York was his home, O’Leary headed south in what would really start setting him apart in the coaching world. His retirement should be met with cheers and sighs of considerable relief, for reasons that have nothing to do with how well UCF football performs on the field. After significant discussion with the UCF administration, I reconsidered and agreed to coach two additional seasons, 2014 and 2015. However, five days after accepting the Irish post, O’Leary resigned when Notre Dame officials discovered a few inaccuracies in his resume.
In 2007, Bright House Networks Stadium was born, giving the Knights their first on-campus football stadium. It was the first of seven bowl berths the under O’Leary. They finished with a 12-1 record that year.
O’Leary previously stepped down as interim athletic director on October. 12. UCF’s 90 percent graduation success rate in 2014 was third among public institutions and first in the state of Florida and in the American conference.
It was also the eighth consecutive year the football program improved its GSR.
For those Knights entering the professional ranks, O’Leary has seen 18 former players now with National Football League clubs.
Bargnare, like any other players considering UCF, will be eager to see whom the school brings in to replace O’Leary, whose résumé during 12 years in Orlando speaks volumes for what he accomplished with the Knights.
Advertisement
Hometown: Central Islip, New York.
