Former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn resigned from his position as UCF head coach on Saturday. Auburn’s leading man from 2013-2020, Malzahn led the Tigers to a National Championship in 2011 as the offensive coordinator before finishing as the National runner-up as the head coach in 2014.
The 59-year-old left the Plains to coach UCF in 2020, where he led the Knights to three-straight bowl game appearances from 2021-2023, including an appearance in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl to finish off UCF’s first season in the BIG 12 conference. Malzahn failed to lead UCF to a postseason birth for the first time since taking over the program this season, leading to his resignation this weekend.
Malzahn now heads to Florida State in hopes of turning around the program after its worst season in recent memory. After failing to qualify for the 4-team College Football Playoff despite an undefeated season in 2023, FSU won just 2 games in 2024 after a preseason ranking of No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. With head coach Mike Norvell likely to clean house and create a new look to his program, Malzahn will now return to a coordinator role for the first time since 2011.
In six seasons as head coach on the Plains, Gus Malzahn led Auburn to a 53-27 record, including appearances in a pair of SEC Championships and four “New Year’s 6” bowl games. The Tigers program has yet to re-gain the stability it had under the 59-year-old coach, and he’ll look to bring his winning culture to a FSU program in need of a culture change.
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