Domenic Spencer will be forever grateful to George O'Leary.
The senior linebacker and Dallas native wasn't sure he'd be able to play college football, but O'Leary gave him a chance. He admits he got a little bit emotional on Sunday when he learned of his resignation.
"A lot of people were sad," Spencer said. "I know I was sad because he gave me the opportunity to play football. You guys know my story. I didn't have any scholarship offers. No D2, D3 or junior college. This was the only offer I had. That's a lot of kids (here). Those are the players we recruit here. We don't recruit the big star athlete. We recruit the hard workers, the ones no one gave a chance. There was a sad reaction in the locker room when we found out.
"There were some tears. We're going to try to win these last four games for him. That's how we're looking at it now. It's a four-game season. 0-0. We're going to try to win these four games."
Interim head coach Danny Barrett gave the players the day off on Monday to adjust to the changes. The day of rest was also well needed after eight straight weeks of games. They went back to work on Tuesday.
"Practice was practice," Spencer said. "Just like Coach O'Leary always used to tell us, if somebody gets hurt, it's the next man up. Coach O'Leary down, next man up. Coach Barrett did a good job. We didn't miss a beat today. Up-tempo, same thing as Coach O'Leary would have done. Just another UCF day at practice."
It had to be a little different, right?
"It's not a different structure," Spencer said. "It's just different. I don't know how to explain. It's like two different people. Coach O'Leary was different. Coach Barrett is a different guy. I don't know how to explain it. Stick around these next four weeks and you guys will see. It's just different."
Ironically for Barrett, his first game as interim coach will be against his Cincinnati, his alma mater. He was a standout quarterback there in the early 1980s and was later inducted into the Bearcats' Hall of Fame.
"Coach Barrett gave us a speech that he was at Cincinnati," Spencer said. "I think he said he hasn't played there since 1982. He wants this win as bad as we want it. We have to win for Coach O'Leary and win for Coach Barrett."
