UCF Football: 5 takeaways from Knights’ perfect 2017 season

1. Positive people create positive outcomes

The UCF Football program has always had the potential to be good if not great. UCF is located in Orlando, Fla., and surrounded by powerhouse programs like Apopka High, Bishop Moore and not that far from Lakeland High School either.

The campus is in sunny Orlando, with predominantly new buildings and dorms, and a newer on-campus stadium and indoor practice facility. Where UCF faltered under the old regime but has seen the light under new AD Danny White is the need for a young innovative coach to catch the eye of recruits who are more inclined to go to traditional in-state powers like Miami, Florida or Florida State or competing AAC squad USF who saw more success much earlier than the Knights.

Scott Frost didn’t just bring an innovative and fun offense to Central Florida, he brought a mindset that was a completely different vibe from George O’Leary’s tenure and that of McDowell and Kruczek before him. Kruczek did have a wide open spread offense unlike O’Leary, but his demeanor and methods were the gruff old school methods of a bygone era.

Nick Saban can still be intense and a ‘yeller’ by nature because he has five national titles, but if you don’t and you’re young, the new methodology of coaching is to be approachable and create relationships with players based on respect and appropriate relationships. This new wave of coaches like Frost believe in getting more from players via respect than via fear and it worked to finish 13-0, UCF’s first undefeated season.

Next: Latest NFL Mock Draft entering bowl season

With this move to more positive humans in the athletic department it’s time to take down the George O’Leary statue from in front of Spectrum Stadium, a move into a new era and a new mentality on a campus that’s built upon progressiveness stars with distancing itself from George O’Leary.