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UCF's Gus Malzahn talks championships, NIL and transfer portal

UCF's Gus Malzahn talks championships, NIL and transfer portal
You mentioned it several times. UCF being the future of college football. This future is *** lot clearer now that the program is going to the big 12. Just how different is this, what you saw it before you came here. You knew something was coming. But how different is this job now than it was when you took it? Yeah, I believe that even more today than I did this time last year. Uh you know, everything is set up. I mean we're in Orlando, the best brands in the world are here. We talked about the social media, which I believe that's what the name, image likeness gonna be driven. Uh This is *** place had great success before I got here, the transfer portal. Uh this is *** place that transfers have came in and before I got here and been very successful last year. We had really good success with the with transfers coming in. So everything's set up. Um our administration, we got the best ***. D. I believe in America, we've got *** great president, everything is in alignment, *** lot of excitement and uh we gotta seize the moment, you know, we gotta seize the moment and win big next year and we got *** chance to do that with the future of college football being what it is expansions probably there, but it doesn't have to be For where you're going. How much better do you feel about this job? Just from that standpoint of playoff possibilities. Even if there is an expansion as quickly as we thought. Yeah, well it's *** shame that there's not 12 teams. I mean, that's what's best for college football and they figured out *** way not to do it instead of way to do it? That's kind of disappointing. But you know, like I said, I think you saw what Cincinnati did last year and they were right there on the doorstep and that's our goal this year and that's *** huge goal. It can be hard to do, but we do have *** chance and you know, this day in college football, you take it year to year and just going to next year, we've got *** real chance. And that's really exciting for me when you look at the portal and how much it has changed college football, How difficult is how much of your recruiting has almost shifted in house or two scouting other programs? Yeah, well, it really starts at home. You just said it. I mean, it's about keeping your top players here because the reality is, other programs are not just recruiting your players, but they're recruiting your players, telling them how much they can make, which is bizarre and just keeping intact. That's really where it starts. We did *** really good job of that, uh, keeping our team intact. And I think that'll be *** big key. You know, moving forward. You look at quality of life, how big and how important is that? Because in your profession, that doesn't happen *** lot. Is this *** place where you feel like maybe you can be *** head coach and achieve all those great things, but also achieve things personally. Is that, is that fair to say? I love it here. I mean, I love Orlando, I love the school, um you know, there's *** lot of excitement, were *** young school and we're trending like this and so it's, it's very um, it's very, it's *** great feeling for me. I know my wife really loves it here too, and I said it's *** great place to recruit and you can win, you can win big here. So we got everything that really you would look for in *** great job. I'm guessing the pressure cooker is pretty much like the one I gave you, it hasn't turned on yet, It doesn't really feel like that pressure is coming. How would you assess kind of, the UCF fandom these days? The fans here are unbelievable. Um it's *** great home field advantage. You know, our our our fans will just to win. We had *** couple of ugly winds in the middle of the season. They will just to win. But this is *** great place, expectations are extremely high. You don't want *** job that, that doesn't have expectations and everything set up and I really feel like our fan base, you know, our players are coaches and everybody is coming together, you can feel that something special is happening. So, uh, you know, with that pressure, that's *** positive pressure the way I look at it.
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UCF's Gus Malzahn talks championships, NIL and transfer portal
UCF Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn sat down with WESH 2 Sports Director Daren Stoltzfus to talk NIL, transfer portal, football and life. Here are some of the highlights of their extended conversation.

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UCF Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn sat down with WESH 2 Sports Director Daren Stoltzfus to talk NIL, transfer portal, football and life. Here are some of the highlights of their extended conversation.