UCF head coach Gus Malzahn talks about his decision to fire defensive coordinator Ted Roof and hand over play-calling duties to Tim Harris Jr.
Opening statement:
"Okay, I made a decision this morning to make a change with our defensive coordinator position. Really appreciate Ted (Roof), appreciate his professionalism, wish him nothing but the best.
"Addison Williams will be our defensive play caller moving forward. I know our players have a lot of trust in him, so looking forward to watching him.
"Offensively, Tim Harris is gonna take over play calling duties the rest of the season. Real excited for Tim, he's a rising star, he's been waiting on this moment.
"Gonna allow me to take care of more of the head coaching duties, which there is more demands on the head coach this day and time than ever before. It'll help me be on top of all three phases. We got recruiting, the portal, everything that goes with that.
"Our players have a lot of confidence in Tim, real excited about him.
"As far as the quarterback goes, I'm not ready to say who's gonna start. We'll manage that throughout practice, and I'll let you know as it gets a little closer to game time about exactly what that looks like.
"Both these decisions are my decisions, I mean, what's best for our team. And as a leader, as a head coach, that's what you gotta be thinking, and that's what I did. And looking forward to going through this process the last four games with that."
Coach, on the decision to hand over play calling to Coach Harris, I guess, what specifically, or has the last few weeks has it been weighing on your mind that it was something that you needed to do with the offense kind of sputtering out?
"Yeah, I think so, like I said, as a leader, you gotta do what's best for your team, and that's what's best for our team. And Tim has been a guy that has been waiting, I mean, he is ready for this moment. Like I said, the big thing is our players have a lot of confidence in him. He's a really, really smart guy, I think he'll give our offense a spark.
"Like I said, for me, just to be able to manage all three phases, to do a better job in that area, that'll be a big help too."
Gus, when did the decision to let go of Ted come to you? And also, was this driven by, did the administration make these moves?
"No, like I said, I made all these decisions on my own, what's best for the team. I mean, there's never great timing, but no, it was this morning. I just felt like that was the best thing for our team right now. And as a leader, you've got to do what you think is best for your team."
Coach, how do you expect this to kind of galvanize the team moving forward, heading to the Space Game?
"I think our team, I think there'll be some new excitement. I think our guys will respond, real excited about the Space Game. Obviously, this has been a big one for a long time. I know our guys are looking forward to it. And so we're looking forward to get on the practice field with our players and our coaches."
When you look back at the film of the BYU game, what made now the right time to make a change at defensive coordinator?
"Well, I think it's just what's best for our team right now. As far as being more efficient, and we got some good players on defense. And I think this will help."
And considering that you obviously have known Roof for quite some time, what was the conversation like at that time?
"Yeah, there's nothing ever easy about conversations like that. Like I said, being a head coach and doing what's best for your team. That's what I had to do. And that's how everything happened."
Coach, Ted Roof came in to become defensive coordinator and Addison Williams went down to co-defensive coordinator. What's the confidence in Addison Williams that he can take back this position?
"Yeah, I think he's a different place than he was last year. We have a more talented defense, first of all, than we had last year. He's got great relationships with our players. He's a year further down the line, and our players have confidence in him."
What was the distribution of tasks between Ted Roof and Addison during the time where they were taking over defensive responsibilities?
"I mean, Ted was our defense coordinator."
Kind of following up on the play calling, you said you wanted to take over play calling this year. What was not clicking on the play calling?
"Yeah, well, like I've said before, I mean, I love calling plays. I mean, I'm a football coach first, but as a leader and as a head coach, you gotta do what's best for your team, and that's what's best for our team. And it's what's best for me as a head coach.
"I said the head coach responsibilities in college football in the last year have completely changed, and the demands of everything. And just take the game management is one thing, but then the off the field stuff with the portal coming up, with recruiting your own players, and everything that goes with that. The demands of head coaches is more than ever before, and so it is the right time for me.
"And then, like I said, I've got a guy that I have a lot of confidence in. I think that obviously helps, too. And I think he'll bring a little spice to our offense."
Have you been talking with other coaches or in the off season about finding that balance?
"Yeah, yeah, I mean, I've got my group of head coaches. And I mean, all the guys that I talk to, it all feels the same way. I mean, we're all going through a transition, especially the guys that have done it for a while.
"It's a transition. It's probably a little easier on the young guys, because that's really all they know. But it's a different day. It's a different day in college football. It's a different day for head coaches in college football, yeah."
Coach, can you tell us what it's like game planning with the new defensive coordinator on such a short turnaround? Can we expect to see a similar game plan or a brand new scheme?
"Well, Addison, I'll be getting with him. We'll be talking about what that looks like further. I mean, this late in the season, I mean, obviously, to have massive, massive changes is not realistic. It's not what's best, but I'll be getting with him. And we will be navigating through each side, offensively and defensively."
With Ted gone, who's gonna be coaching linebackers?
"We're still working through that."
On that note, do you have analysts or people on staff that have potential to do that? Is that where it would likely come from?
"Yeah, that's where it'll likely come from. Like I said, I'm not quite ready to say what that looks like. We're still working through it."
Yeah, so just kind of looking at the quarterback, I know you said it'll be a week-long process in practice. Can you expand on Dylan Rizk? It looked like at one point he might have been the fourth string guy. He gets out there, makes some plays passing the ball. Just talk about his performance, and does he have a fighting shot to get the start on Saturday?
"Yeah, yeah, Dylan is in the mix, there's no doubt about that. I mean, you saw he gave the offense some life, he did progressions, he battled really hard, he made plays, he created things when things broke down. So yeah, he'll be in the mix. Like I said, that's probably as deep as I can tell you right now. And we get to Thursday, I'll have some more information for you."
And what about EJ Colson? At some point, it looked like he was starting and then he was the backup. And then the other day, you said you're trying to preserve his redshirt.
"Yeah, we're still navigating through that, redshirt and everything that goes with that. We're in a new age of college football."
Gus, along the lines when it comes to the roster, is there opportunities for more younger players to step up? Will you try to maybe, you see some new faces out there?
"Yeah, and that's a possibility too. I think even last week, you saw more new faces than at any time. We got some young guys that are progressing, they're starting to grow up, they're starting to click. And so I think you could see some of that, for sure."
Coach, you mentioned the reasoning for the decision that you made. Kind of on the timing, what made this week the right week to do that?
"Yeah, as a head coach, you just go with your senses and what you feel like is best for your team. And we just gotta do better in some areas, and that had to do with the timing."
Where do things stand as far as your secondary is concerned with Ladarius Tennison and Braeden Marshall?
"Yeah, we're hoping to get those guys back. We didn't practice last night, so tomorrow, hopefully we'll get those guys back out there. Obviously, those are key guys, Mac (McWilliams) being one of those guys too that didn't play last week. We're hopeful to get him back, I'm just not ready to, we don't know right now."
I was gonna ask you in particular with the Arizona passing game.
"Right, there's no doubt. Yeah, their quarterback's phenomenal. The receiver's one of the best in the entire country. So definitely a secondary, being healthy, having our main guys out there will be a big deal."
Coach, between the different players at quarterback and then now the firing of Ted Roof, how do you maintain the structure of this team? Where do you go from here?
"Well, I mean, our team's resilient, our team's gonna respond. The thing about Addison and Tim is they're big relationship guys, and our players have a lot of confidence in them. And so I would go to say that our players will be excited to practice tomorrow."
Would you say that the goals of the season have transferred to making a bowl game?
"Yeah, I mean, our goal is to make a bowl game, there's no doubt. But we're gonna take it one game at a time. I mean, this is a big game, it's a Space Game, there's a lot of things that go with it. We're playing a very solid Arizona team, and we need to get it done on the practice field. So we're looking forward to practicing tomorrow."
I know you said you made the decision this morning, but how has team leadership kind of taken the decision? What's been kind of the charge to them to rally the guys this morning?
"Yeah, I mean, our guys, they wanna be the best version of themselves. They're very competitive, we got really good leadership. I expect our guys to respond in a very positive way."
What is the status of Kobe Hudson here this morning?
"Yeah, we're hopeful with Kobe also too, I know he's a tough guy. I know he's gonna do everything he can to play. He'll be another one of those guys that we just need to see how this week goes and see if he can practice and how much he can practice. So not ready to make a call, but I know he'll do everything he can to try to be on the field."
Coach, with the Space Game this week, how important is a win to show fans and recruits that this is a capable football program?
"Yeah, I mean, we need to play good football. We're excited about the Space Game. We understand that's very important for our program and our fans."
Can you comment on Arizona and just what you see from those guys?
"Yeah, yeah, well, first of all, the quarterback and the receiver, they jump off the film like you'd expect. That's really where it starts.
"Defensively, they started out the season in a four down front. They were really good early on defense. They've had some injuries. They did a little bit more odd the last few weeks and kind of mixed and matched. They had some new players playing new positions and all that. So, it's kind of one of those things that who's gonna be back and all that.
"But when they have all their guys, they're impressive on defense."
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