Gus Malzahn resigns and UCF gets off scot-free without paying a buyout

After a disastrous 4-7 season, UCF can finally put all the bad memories behind them, as every UCF fan just got everything they wanted. Fourth-year head coach Gus Malzahn announced he is resigning from the university to take on the offensive coordinator position at the school four hours North in Tallahassee, FSU.

With Malzahn resigning, UCF avoids having to pay his $13 million buyout.

Malzahn ends his four-year tenure at UCF with a 28-24 record, where he regressed just about every season with the Knights. This past season was Malzahn's worst as he went through four different quarterbacks, and the team just could not compete with anyone above an FCS level except for Arizona and TCU.

Malzahn probably knew his days in Orlando were numbered as the Knights missed a bowl game for the first time since 2015 when the team went 0-12, and legendary coach George O'Leary was fired. At almost every home game this season, fans were chanting "Fire Gus" from the stands, letting the administration know their feelings about their head coach.

UCF was projected to finish seventh in the Big 12 before the season started and will finish the season second to last at No. 15 in the conference. Every other team that joined the Big 12 last season with UCF last year took a step forward as BYU is in contention to make it to the Big 12 Championship, Cincinnati has the ability to be bowl-eligible after missing it last season, and even Houston looks better.

The problems were evident from the start when transfer quarterback KJ Jefferson had visible problems throwing the ball, and Malzahn wasn't willing to bench him till halfway through the season amid a five-game losing streak. It wasn't until UCF's annual Space Game that Malzahn put a quarterback more capable of throwing the ball on the field, leaving fans to wonder what Malzahn saw in all the other quarterbacks.

With so many big-name players coming back for one final year, including star running back RJ Harvey, who set the program record for total touchdowns at UCF, wide receiver Kobe Hudson, and defensive tackle Ricky Barber. It feels like all those guys simply lost a year in this final season as Malzahn just continued to run the program into the ground.

UCF fans are happy to see Malzahn go, and now the search begins. Some fans want to bring back former head coach Scott Frost, who led the Knights to their first undefeated season and National Championship win back in 2017, while others want to bring in youth with former UCF legend McKenzie Milton, who is currently an offensive analyst at Tennessee.

Athletic director Terry Mohajir has his work cut out for him as fans want him gone, too, so he needs to hit it out of the park with this next hire, or he could be on the hot seat next.