It’s time for us to part ways with Grandpa Boom

[Bring Back Wackadoos]

Why the hell is RJ returning kicks!?!? This is completely unacceptable. The most important player on the roster, and you’re risking him getting hurt on special teams!? How many athletes do we have on the roster buried, getting no playing time? And he refuses to let anyone else get any reps. That’s why kids transfer, disgusting.

What in the world was that call before the half accepting the penalty on the Gators when we had them off the field attempting a FG. But instead, Gus accepts the penalty, gives them another shot on 3rd down, and of course they convert (and score a TD heading into the half).

The game moves too fast for the old man. The team gets the ball coming out of the half and runs the ball 11 of first 12 plays (down three touchdowns). Down multiple scores, they continued to huddle after every play, taking 20-25 seconds off the clock after each RUN. We can’t ‘no huddle’ anymore? He didn’t coach a single player in-game. No side conversations, no hands-on instruction. Just the iPad walking back and forth. I am so done giving my money to that program until Grandpa Boom is gone.

I was on the field yesterday, you could see in the eyes of his assistant coaches that they don’t buy in. You could see in the eyes of our offensive back-ups on the sidelines (Brown, Colson, Rizk) that a) they were frustrated with their roles and b) they didn’t want to play in that offense anyway.

Making a change in leadership could save the roster. The Democrats replaced Biden as their nominee, UCF may need to respectfully nudge Gus into retirement in the same manner. I kid, I kid - not trying to argue politics. But I’m just saying…

Until then, it’s Boom and Doom.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

The old man has really lost his mind. How can I reach Scott frost?

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

The players are now unmotivated and probably mad at the offensive play calling now. Not even mid season. He's lost the team IMHO

 

[DrPhillipsKnight]

The old man has really lost his mind. How can I reach Scott frost?

Put your ear to a husk of corn and you can reach him

 

[Central Floridave]

UCF is 3-2. 3 ugly wins and 2 ugly losses. 'grandpa boom' is funny.

Nobody likes losing but losing is part of the game. How you respond to losing is on you. For me, I stepped back on getting too emotional on the games and looking at it as just entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. Plus, going to just win money on betting against UCF football. that way I lose and win!

Beat the Bearcats, by at least 3.5 points!

 

[Happy Hands]

The old man has really lost his mind. How can I reach Scott frost?

Say “this place” in a closet three times and Frost will appear.

 

[HammerB08]

It starts at the top. We are really missing Danny White at the moment (and Dr. Hitt).

 

[muckdawg24]

Unless your bank account has 8 digits + in it we're not firing him. I doubt UCF has this kind of money laying around.

Contract is until 2027 and his salary is $5M until 2026 and it goes to $5.5M

If UCF terminates without cause: UCF would owe Malzahn 75% of his remaining contract value.

2025 75% of 5 = $3.75M
2026/2027 - 75% of 5.5 = 4.125 *2 = $8.25M

$12M total buyout if I've read it right.

Unless "sucking a$$" is a 'with cause' legal out.

https://ucf.rivals.com/news/ucf-shows-commitment-to-gus-malzahn-with-new-contract

 

[KISA]

Why the hell is RJ returning kicks!?!? This is completely unacceptable. The most important player on the roster, and you’re risking him getting hurt on special teams!? How many athletes do we have on the roster buried, getting no playing time? And he refuses to let anyone else get any reps. That’s why kids transfer, disgusting.

What in the world was that call before the half accepting the penalty on the Gators when we had them off the field attempting a FG. But instead, Gus accepts the penalty, gives them another shot on 3rd down, and of course they convert (and score a TD heading into the half).

The game moves too fast for the old man. The team gets the ball coming out of the half and runs the ball 11 of first 12 plays (down three touchdowns). Down multiple scores, they continued to huddle after every play, taking 20-25 seconds off the clock after each RUN. We can’t ‘no huddle’ anymore? He didn’t coach a single player in-game. No side conversations, no hands-on instruction. Just the iPad walking back and forth. I am so done giving my money to that program until Grandpa Boom is gone.

I was on the field yesterday, you could see in the eyes of his assistant coaches that they don’t buy in. You could see in the eyes of our offensive back-ups on the sidelines (Brown, Colson, Rizk) that a) they were frustrated with their roles and b) they didn’t want to play in that offense anyway.

Making a change in leadership could save the roster. The Democrats replaced Biden as their nominee, UCF may need to respectfully nudge Gus into retirement in the same manner. I kid, I kid - not trying to argue politics. But I’m just saying…

Until then, it’s Boom and Doom.

When you have the money for his buyout let us all know. Until then Gus is the coach for better or worse. QB play is a huge part of why we are not doing well. Gus needs to make a change at QB for starters

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

When you have the money for his buyout let us all know. Until then Gus is the coach for better or worse. QB play is a huge part of why we are not doing well. Gus needs to make a change at QB for starters

Have you considered the possibility that the QBs behind Jefferson are trash because Gus has no interest in recruiting and developing QBs? Jacurri Brown left Miami because he was going to be the 3rd or 4th QB on their depth chart. Dylan Rizk was lightly recruited out of high school and has barely sniffed the field even in mop-up time so far.

Maybe they'll be great, but I think it's a lot more likely Gus has put all his eggs in the KJ basket.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

Have you considered the possibility that the QBs behind Jefferson are trash because Gus has no interest in recruiting and developing QBs? Jacurri Brown left Miami because he was going to be the 3rd or 4th QB on their depth chart. Dylan Rizk was lightly recruited out of high school and has barely sniffed the field even in mop-up time so far.

Maybe they'll be great, but I think it's a lot more likely Gus has put all his eggs in the KJ basket.

It is like they think Gus is secretly hiding all of the good players.

 

[Gwoz]

It is like they think Gus is secretly hiding all of the good players.

Just unfortunate there is so many capable QBs around the country including 3 of them that are starting for other programs that originated from UCF.

 

[UCFBS]

Say “this place” in a closet three times and Frost will appear.

You win the Week 7 pre-game memes

 

[The Knightman Cometh]

Unless your bank account has 8 digits + in it we're not firing him. I doubt UCF has this kind of money laying around.

Contract is until 2027 and his salary is $5M until 2026 and it goes to $5.5M

If UCF terminates without cause: UCF would owe Malzahn 75% of his remaining contract value.

2025 75% of 5 = $3.75M
2026/2027 - 75% of 5.5 = 4.125 *2 = $8.25M

$12M total buyout if I've read it right.

Unless "sucking a$$" is a 'with cause' legal out.

https://ucf.rivals.com/news/ucf-shows-commitment-to-gus-malzahn-with-new-contract

Really TM needs to be fired for that extension alone. What a joke of an AD. B12 knows he is one of the weaker ADs in the conference. No spine.

 

[ucfversusbcs]

Grandpa boom is a one hit wonder and it was nothing special, make Cam Newton your QB and keep the ball in his hands. That's not that hard. Gus' reputation as an all time great coach is a head scratcher. If you really look back at his career you'll realize he's overrated

 

[DaShuckster]

Really TM needs to be fired for that extension alone. What a joke of an AD. B12 knows he is one of the weaker ADs in the conference. No spine.

It's easy for an AD 'with a spine' to fire the head coach. But then what?

It's harder than hell for a program like UCF to move up to the Big XII and pay a former head coach, pay a new head coach a salary that will attract him, pay the old staff what they're still due plus competitive salaries for all the new assistants, AND, by the way, build up your NIL coffers.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

It's easy for an AD 'with a spine' to fire the head coach. But then what?

It's harder than hell for a program like UCF to move up to the Big XII and pay a former head coach, pay a new head coach a salary that will attract him, pay the old staff what they're still due plus competitive salaries for all the new assistants, AND, by the way, build up your NIL coffers.

I don't think many UCF fans would say that Gus needed to be fired before, honestly this past week. The problem is the extension, making it nearly impossible for them to fire him now that it's time. What the hell had Gus accomplished here at UCF at the time of the extension?

 

[ucfversusbcs]

It's easy for an AD 'with a spine' to fire the head coach. But then what?

It's harder than hell for a program like UCF to move up to the Big XII and pay a former head coach, pay a new head coach a salary that will attract him, pay the old staff what they're still due plus competitive salaries for all the new assistants, AND, by the way, build up your NIL coffers.

It's possible to do if you dig into the Frost/Heupel tree...with a return to the type of offense that brought husker trolls like you to our board.

 

[UCFBS]

It's easy for an AD 'with a spine' to fire the head coach. But then what?

It's harder than hell for a program like UCF to move up to the Big XII and pay a former head coach, pay a new head coach a salary that will attract him, pay the old staff what they're still due plus competitive salaries for all the new assistants, AND, by the way, build up your NIL coffers.

I do believe I've now 'loved' my first of your posts ... ever.

It's possible to do if you dig into the Frost/Heupel tree...with a return to the type of offense that brought husker trolls like you to our board.

There is a lot of overlap with the Gus and other coaching trees too.


Be careful what you wish for. Dino, Harsin and many others are out there too.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

It's possible to do if you dig into the Frost/Heupel tree...with a return to the type of offense that brought husker trolls like you to our board.

Troy Walters is the most successful UCF coach from the Frost era. Gus could legitimately reach out to him with an offer as a passing game coordinator.

 

[muckdawg24]

Best thing we can hope for is the administration doesn't give him another extension and lets this contract ride out and we move on. Or we can hope Gus actually realizes he can't get the job done and resigns.

 

[UCFBS]

Best thing we can hope for is the administration doesn't give him another extension and lets this contract ride out and we move on. Or we can hope Gus actually realizes he can't get the job done and resigns.

Gus will resign when he's 'had enough.' Saban got out too, and Saban was top dog.

Gus has already been at the top level, and in the ultimate games. He would like to do that at UCF, and finish there ... especially since he came in with the worst rosters since O'Leary did after 2003. I always looked at Gus as the new O'Leary, but offense-oriented, instead of defense-oriented.

Gus doesn't 'need a paycheck,' and wanted to take a year off ... until we called. He will have no problem working and doing what he wants when he leaves us. His paws are deep into his own coaching tree, and he can be an analyst anywhere, from media to various programs.

Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if Gus goes back to high school and retires from that, maybe not as a coach, but as some sort of director, maybe even at a regional level. He's utterly beloved by kids, parents, virtually everyone he touches, from even Auburn fans who wanted him fired to all-about-Prime himself. In any case ...

That's why I wanted to give him 5 years, 3 years into the Big XII, minimum. I said the same about Frost too, but Frost was able to get good recruits his first year (unlike Gus, who came in after signing day), and then used O'Leary's recruits his advantage.

Just saying ... talent doesn't always work out ... and the Portal is really hurting everyone these days, in building a cohesive team. Upsets are left and right. You might not be happy with 8-9 win seasons, but I am. It's just par for the course these days.

But everyone thinks they can hire the next Saban, or Smart, or whomever, and get undefeated.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

I don't think many UCF fans would say that Gus needed to be fired before, honestly this past week. The problem is the extension, making it nearly impossible for them to fire him now that it's time. What the hell had Gus accomplished here at UCF at the time of the extension?

Quite a few wanted him gone before the extension. Quite a few. Me being 1. I don’t care about his recruiting. That’s easily replicated with a decent coach. We need a good game day coach abd a guy that gets players ready. The players say way too often they weren’t ready for what they saw.

 

[PositYourself]

But everyone thinks they can hire the next Saban, or Smart, or whomever, and get undefeated.

I don't expect the next Saban, nor do I even expect 9 wins. But you can't tell me a coach with Gus's experience/salary should be making the SAME game/time management mistakes OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN - we saw it last year at the end of the first halves, and we've seen it with Colorado and UF....THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR GIFTING the points he does to other teams.

Real college football teams rarely play so sloppily.....

....and that's not to mention the bland play-calling and roster mistakes too.

 

[muckdawg24]

"Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive".

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

Quite a few wanted him gone before the extension. Quite a few. Me being 1. I don’t care about his recruiting. That’s easily replicated with a decent coach. We need a good game day coach abd a guy that gets players ready. The players say way too often they weren’t ready for what they saw.

I never bought into Malzahn, but you weren't going to can him after 2 years, and then you couldn't can him after our 1st year in the Big 12 and the recruiting success he had. This was the year, in my eyes, where we had to actually show the results on the field, and we're not seeing it.

With the extension in place, I think it'd take something crazy, like we don't win another game this year, to see Malzahn get the boot.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

I never bought into Malzahn, but you weren't going to can him after 2 years, and then you couldn't can him after our 1st year in the Big 12 and the recruiting success he had. This was the year, in my eyes, where we had to actually show the results on the field, and we're not seeing it.

With the extension in place, I think it'd take something crazy, like we don't win another game this year, to see Malzahn get the boot.

Without the extension he’d blame the bad year on not getting the recruits he wanted because of negative recruiting. But like I said, I don’t care about his recruiting. He’s proved he can’t coach in 2024 with his offense unless he has a Heisman Caliber QB that runs a lot. We need a firmer QB to be coach in my opinion. Does Gus even employ a QB coach? Frost did and he was a QB at collegiate level. He would have probably been a great QB for us under Malzahn if he was 20 again.

 

[UCFBS]

I never bought into Malzahn, but you weren't going to can him after 2 years,

Well, he did almost win the AAC in Year 2. I think people forget how bad of shape we were after 2020, and Gus came in after signing day 2021. Let's not bash him over an almost completely successful year 2, with only 1 HS recruiting classes, even if he had a couple of bad losses.

He did beat the top teams in the conference, short of the CGC ... multiple ranked conference teams.

People were bashing JRP, but JRP really kept us in games -- when he wasn't under 80% healthy -- in Year 3, Year 1 of the Big XII. All but 1 game, we were only down 1 score, and often led. But we did lack depth, and that's been a major issue on defense since before Heupel left.

That said ...

and then you couldn't can him after our 1st year in the Big 12 and the recruiting success he had. This was the year, in my eyes, where we had to actually show the results on the field, and we're not seeing it.

We've gone from a SoS of 60s-70s in the AAC, top 40s in our first year of the Big XII to Top 25 this year.

With the extension in place,

That was smart. Gus knows the history on that, and people would want to can him, like some were calling for Patterson at TCU, and Whittingham at Utah.

TCU Horned Frogs (Gary Patterson)	All	B12	Place
2012	7–6	4–5	T–5th
2013	4–8	2–7	T–7th

Did Utah fire Whittingham after 3 years in the Pac-12?

Utah Utes (Kyle Whittingham)	All	P12	Place
2011	8–5	4–5	T–3rd (South)
2012	5–7	3–6	5th (South)
2013	5–7	2–7	5th (South)

But I don't their fanbases were as loud as I've seen this year at UCF. But then again, we're a very young and inexperience fanbase, and far less of us were around for the '00s, let alone early '90s (FCS/I-AA) and even '80s (Division II)

Then there's the transfer portal, and we had 50 new players this year. Working together and developing teams as an unit is difficult. That's why we're seeing more major upsets this year than ever. Vandy beat its first AP Top 5 team (and a #1 at that).

It's a mess in every conference. Unbeatens are a remaining very few after just 5-6 games. BYU has managed it so far, which is a shocker as only a year 2.

I think it'd take something crazy, like we don't win another game this year, to see Malzahn get the boot.

Finishing 3-9 would be a tough sell to keep Gus. But it's also going to cost us $12-15M too. That's a lot of money compared to, say, giving him a Year 3, or even Year 4, like Patterson and Whittingham, respectively.

Don't shoot the messenger.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

I don’t get the team being completely new due to the Transfer Portal as a defense, Isn’t that Gus’ fault? Gus has demonstrated the ability to bring talent in, but not keep that talent around. I know it’s a new era with the transfer portal and NIL, but if Gus can’t show the ability to keep his talent in this new era the team will never be successful under his leadership.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

The difference between Gus and Whittingham and Patterson is they had a record of success. Undefeated seasons, huge bowl wins. Gus did none of that in the first two years in the AAC. He lost 9 games in those 2 years, which was unacceptable. Heupel’s era could’ve ended better, but the program was by no means in tough shape, certainly it was in way way better shape than when Frost took over.

 

[rainman614]

That's why I wanted to give him 5 years, 3 years into the Big XII, minimum. I said the same about Frost too, but Frost was able to get good recruits his first year (unlike Gus, who came in after signing day), and then used O'Leary's recruits his advantage.

That was my thought as well. I think we need it for consistency and to see what he is truly capable of. Last season we were playing an AAC team against established Big12 rosters and our main wins were against former AAC teams that were in the same boat as us that we beat. We are playing much better teams than the AAC as we don't have the ECU, Temple, SMU, UConn, or USF teams. The majority of the teams in the conference are actually decent to good and with the exception of Kansas have been consistently decent to good for 5+ years. Sure some teams have a down year but as long as UCF can win 6 games, we are still a decent team. There have been 12 teams that have jumped conferences and only 4 of them have winning records over the last 10 years. So as long as we can maintain a winning record, we are doing better than 2/3's of others who have been here before.

Am I upset at the way our team played the last two weeks? Yes. I thought the Colorado game we looked off the entire game and couldn't figure out why we looked like we had no fight. Against Florida, I thought the offense struggled and just couldn't get into the game. I don't think Florida was that good, we just kept making mistakes. I'm not sure what is going on in the locker room but I do agree that we need someone on the team to step up and be a leader. If that is going to be Jefferson, then he needs to do or say something to the team to get everyone on board. If it is going to be another QB on the roster, then so be it. I want to see our team develop and right now, I don't believe the team looks prepared so I blame the coaches, specifically the DC, the OC, and I'm not quite sure if the problems are with the QB or the QB coach. I was spoiled with KZ, DG, MK, and even JRP as each of these QBs showed more emotion on the side line and after each play. While Gus may be struggling, I don't think he's lost the team like the prior coach when our players were fighting on the sidelines at the Tulsa game and he just kept staring at the field. I think we are getting close to the point as morale is low but I still think the team has potential to win more games.

 

[PositYourself]

Dude...your paragraph structure resembles a gd rainman.

 

[Gwoz]

Always enjoy seeing posts about how terrible the roster was when Malzahn joined. Rj Harvey terrible, Tatum Bethune terrible, Cam Goode terrible, Jeremiah Jean Baptiste terrible, Ryan O'Keefe terrible, Mikey Keene terrible, Dillon Gabriel terrible, Johnny Richardson terrible, Divaad Wilson terrible, Tremon Morris Brash terrible.

None of those players would ever see playing time on a Malzahn team, nevermind start.

 

[UCFBS]

Dude...your paragraph structure resembles a gd rainman.

Could be 'text to speech.' Don't forget that some people may have physical limitations that keeps them from a keyboard, or they may be on their phones. I don't ever give anyone grief for their posting approach or sentence structure. That's just 'arguing semantics.'

The only time I give anyone grief is when they take up the scrollbar bitching about a member, especially posting 3-5 times, let alone if they are just 'spamming the board' with scrolls of pics and text. That's actually an abuse of the Rivals terms of service, but ... I'm not big on moderation.

Since 2021, given how much I now 'bark back' and even use the F-word, I'd be a hypocrite to do so the last 3 years.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

Always enjoy seeing posts about how terrible the roster was when Malzahn joined. Rj Harvey terrible, Tatum Bethune terrible, Cam Goode terrible, Jeremiah Jean Baptiste terrible, Ryan O'Keefe terrible, Mikey Keene terrible, Dillon Gabriel terrible, Johnny Richardson terrible, Divaad Wilson terrible, Tremon Morris Brash terrible.

None of those players would ever see playing time on a Malzahn team, nevermind start.

Not against P4 competition at least.

I kid. I kid.

 

[UCFBS]

The difference between Gus and Whittingham and Patterson is they had a record of success.

But they had losing conference records in Year 1, and regressed in Year 2 ... even Year 3 in the case of Whittingham. I don't understand. You're basically saying Gus gets no considerations at all as such?

Gus started with nothing in 2021, the program was in shambles and BYU could have put 80 on us if they wanted. The D was depleted. No 2021 recruiting class of Gus' own, and relied heavily on transfers, freshmen and walk-ons. We still did well enough.

Gus nearly won the AAC in 2022, using JRP, who played hurt at times. We went to the CCG. That was a good season. It would have been better had we beat Tulane the 2nd time, at Tulane. But we didn't.

In 2023, Big XII, we lost 5 of 6 conference games by 1 score. We blew leads, but we competed. A lot of that had to do with returning players. They worked well together. But we also lacked depth. And JRP was hurt at times too. That's happening to many in the 4th quarter now too ... it's the Portal era.

This year ... we regressed. 50 new players, and we screwed up. No argument. But ... does that mean fire?

Undefeated seasons, huge bowl wins. Gus did none of that in the first two years in the AAC.

Do you think Gus had more or less than when Patterson and Whittingham came in?

You literally think Gus, coming in after signing day 2021, after BYU handed our butts to us, and we were in a downward spiral at the end of 2020, was a good UCF program?

It was almost as bad as O'Leary's hand at the end of 2023! But at least he had a recruiting class, although it wasn't helped by a heart attack early on.

He lost 9 games in those 2 years, which was unacceptable.

You think Heupel would have done better, had he stayed?!

Heupel’s era could’ve ended better, but the program was by no means in tough shape, certainly it was in way way better shape than when Frost took over.

Heupel had a dream program handed to him. Gus, the exact opposite.

Sorry, but Heupel went down worse than Gus has. We just had hoped Gus would break the TCU and Utah curves in 2024. He hasn't. But if you think it's time to fire him ... well, we have a much better chance of ending up like Auburn, Florida, Nebraska, etc... in the conferences, or ECU, let alone s. Florida for that matter.


If someone makes an objective argument about Gus here, I'll listen. But this ... this is not only subjective, but it's complete non-sense at times. And that's before we consider the $12M+ buy-out.