UCF Knights Name Missouri Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel Next Head Coach For Football

ninth coach in UCF football program history

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – UCF Knights have named Missouri Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel the next head coach to lead the UCF football program.

The hiring of  Heupel comes on the heels of former head coach Scott Frost’s decision on Saturday to resign as head coach to coach his alma mater, Nebraska.

Heupel is the ninth coach in UCF football program history.

Heupel is a former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback who was recognized as a consensus All-American in his playing days, won numerous awards and led Oklahoma to the 2000 BCS National Championship.

“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity to represent UCF,” said UCF Head Coach Josh Heupel.

“What makes this opportunity so unique is the vision of the leadership from President John Hitt, Provost Dale Whitaker and Director of Athletics Danny White. Their vision for this becoming one of the premier programs in the country makes this an exciting opportunity. That vision, the amazing campus, along with the recruiting base not only allows you to have immediate success but sustained success. I’m very excited to get a staff together and get to work with our wonderful student-athletes.”

UCF Athletic Director Danny White spoke about why Heupel is the man the for the job.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Josh and his family to UCF. I believe we’ve identified one of the brightest offensive minds in college football,” said White.

“His offensive system is very similar to what we’ve been running. I know he’s going to utilize all the great talent on our roster and continue to add to it. He’s no stranger to success, winning a national championship as a quarterback and leading a number of extremely high-powered offensive teams. Coach Heupel is in coaching for the right reasons. He cares about his student-athletes and that’s one of the most important attributes I look for in a coach.”

Coach Heupel comes to UCF from the Missouri Tigers (7-5), where he served as Tigers offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Missouri for the past two seasons. His offense currently rates 10th in Total Offense this season in the FBS and averaging 39-points a game.

Heupel has also hired former Florida defensive coordinator and former Miami Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon as UCF’s new defensive coordinator.

UCF defeated Memphis 62-55 last Saturday in the AAC Championship and accepted a bid to play in the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day in Atlanta at the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

UCF will face off against SEC runner-up Auburn (10-3). The game is set for January 1, with kickoff at 12:30 p.m. ET.

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