The Hope of a UCF Fan

 You see 0-12 is never fun. Of course that goes without saying. But last year was just a kick in the balls for UCF fans in a variety of ways. There was the drama with the athletic director and whether or not George O'Leary was going to be named permanent athletic director. Then there was the drama about if Brent Key was ready to take over as head coach. Of course then as the season unfolded the house of cards ,that was the 2015 Knights football team, came crumbling down. The team did not just look bad, the team looked lifeless. It wasn't just that the team looked schematically and physically worse than the teams they played, but the team looked joyless. The players had checked out and as some reports would verify so had the likes of Key and other coaches. Miserable doesn't even begin to describe what watching UCF was like last year.

Initially I was angry as I watched those games last year. I was so pissed that this was the product. I wanted the heads of George O'Leary and Brent Key on a silver platter. They had destroyed my alma mater's program. Had taken UCF from Fiesta Bowl champions to national jokes. I hated these men with such a passion and distaste that I had never felt for a sports figure. But then it shifted. I became ambivalent about the team. I did not care if they won or lost. I quit watching in the middle of the season. This wasn't the UCF I recognized and I could no longer bare to watch them. It was torture.

But like a good fire, that season was cleansing. George O'Leary "retired" mid season. I have written extensively about why this was so beneficial to UCF. Removing George O'Leary was removing a philosophy that clearly had been surpassed by other teams in the conference. O'Leary thought that toughness should triumph all. That his team was going to out tough the opponents. Of course this was flawed as the HUNH offense made its way into the American Athletic Conference. George refused to adapt to college football. George thought that he could game the system. That his team's had solved the riddle of college football atleast at the AAC level. Yet it is his stubbornness, his refusal to adapt to the game of college football that cost him his job. And as a UCF fan I couldn't be happier. It was time for George to go, time for a new era.

But  as the old saying goes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. O'Leary needed to go so that UCF could rebuild. The game had passed O'Leary and he had become more of a detriment to the program than beneficial. Let us be honest with one another: the plan that UCF had in place for O'Leary's successor was a mess. Just handing the team off to Brent Key would have ruined the team. Just look at what Key did in his one year as offensive coordinator. If George had it his way, UCF would be stuck with Key as head coach and the fanbase would be livid. There would be an overwhelming sense of despair, a sense of another possible winless season. 

Enter Scott Frost. The offensive innovator at Oregon. The man that has become the symbol of hope for UCF fans. He is the perfect coach at the perfect time for the Knights. Innovator, charismatic, intelligent. Everything that UCF had wanted in a successor. Sure he is a first year head coach and his staff is untested. He is inheriting a team that had few lone bright spots last year. Yet there is an overwhelming sense of of coach Frost amongst the UCF faithful. A sense that he will take this program to heights that no one could have ever imagined. He has already won and the team has not played a game yet.

You see Frost has changed everything about UCF. Things the fans have complained about and demanded for years has finally come true. Finally UCF has new uniforms. Uniforms that will have players names on them. This is a small thing that most programs take for granted. But for so long UCF fans have wanted this change. Yet they were denied again and again and again. So for there to be new uniforms is a small victory of sorts. Then there is the offense. UCF will finally open up and run a hurry up offense. An offense that many have thought the Knights should have been running for years. Finally there will be some life back into this offense after having to endure run, run, run, punt last year. Then there are the little things like the better training, the pep rallys, a better understanding of social media. Finally, it appears that UCF has caught up to the rest of college football just by adding Scott Frost.

I don't know how this season will play out. I can take a guess that this season will be a rebuild. That it is going to take time for Frost and his staff to implement everything they want to build. That it will have highs and lows. I really don't know, that is all just speculation. But what I do know is that Frost has returned hope and excitement to UCF. A program that was on death's doorstop in terms of relevance now as a new life. Now most eyes have turned to Orlando to see what Scott can do here. There hasn't been this much excitement for the start of a UCF season ever even the 2013 season.

 December 4, 2014. That is the last time UCF won a football game. As we approach Saturday's game, I can't help, but think about that date. And all that has happened since then. On Saturday, the Knights have a chance to erase that date and the 2015 season from all of our memories. I can not wait.