George O’Leary resigns as UCF coach

Two weeks after resigning as University of Central Florida’s athletic director, George O’Leary has also resigned as the school’s football coach.

Two years after leading UCF to the Fiesta Bowl, O’Leary’s Knights are a shocking 0-8 and coming off a 59-10 blowout at the hands of Houston. Underdog Dynasty has already compiled a list of potential replacements for O’Leary.

O’Leary’s coaching career began in 1968 at the high school level and in nearly five decades of coaching, he has coached at every level. After seven seasons as an assistant at Syracuse, O’Leary coached defensive line for Georgia Tech for five years and the NFL’s San Diego Chargers for two.

He returned to Georgia Tech as a defensive coordinator in 1994 and one year later had his first head coaching gig. After an 11-11 record in his first two full seasons, O’Leary led the Yellow Jackets to five straight bowl games and left to become the head coach at Notre Dame.

O’Leary would never coach a game for the Fighting Irish, though.

Inaccuracies in O’Leary’s biography, which he blamed on “resume padding,” overstated his accomplishments as a football player and student. He resigned from the position and instead spent two seasons as an assistant for the Minnesota Vikings.

That all led to his stint with UCF. After a winless record in his first season with the team in 2004, O’Leary turned the program around in a hurry with an 81-49 record in the next 10 seasons and a Fiesta Bowl victory in January 2014.