After UCF lost to West Virginia 31-21 on Saturday, head coach Gus Malzahn was asked about the retirement rumors that are floating around Central Florida.
Malzahn responded to the question, framed by mentioning a CBS Sports report suggesting he might retire, by saying, “Yeah, I don’t know where that came from. I’m not retiring.”
Malzahn did go on to admit, “This has been a tough season. Everybody knows that. We had high expectations. We lost some really close games we felt like we should have won. But we have a lot of really fine young men that we’re disappointing for. We’ve got one game that we’re focused on to finish the right way.”
UCF is now 4-7 on the season, meaning the Knights will miss a bowl game for a second-straight season, both of which have come as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Knights were a trendy, dark horse preseason pick in the Big 12 thanks to an explosive offense, especially in the running game, led by running back RJ Harvey.
The good news is that the Knights have a solid 2025 recruiting class coming in. While the class is ranked 15th in the Big 12, according to 247Sports, the average recruit ranking of 88.40 is second in the Big 12 behind only Colorado.
UCF wraps up the 2024 college football season with a Black Friday game at home against the Utah Utes. Kick off is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on FOX.
