Mike Bianchi: If O'Leary gets UCF into the Big 12, he should be AD for life

[jostar1]

On the surface, it makes little sense to turn over a financially strapped, multimillion-dollar athletic program to an old-school football coach who's probably never balanced a budget in his life.
If the Big 12 decides to expand — and that possibility seems to be more realistic than ever — who better to sell UCF to the football big boys than the only person at UCF the football big boys have ever even heard of:

George O'Leary.

O'Leary is not a schmoozer nor a glad-hander. He's not a guy who forms committees to get things done. He's a football coach, and a darn good one. He's coached at the highest levels of the sport, and he's respected for coaching players who win games, stay off police blotters and earn degrees.

And this is why he is UCF's new athletic director. Because when he addresses one of those conference expansion committees, his name carries clout and cache. Who are the big-boy football schools going to listen to — George O'Leary or some anonymous assistant AD from Duke who just got hired to run UCF's athletic program?

O'Leary told me Wednesday that he has a folder on his desk titled "expansion," and it contains all the pertinent statistical data — TV market size, graduation rates, recruiting base, etc.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...oleary-mike-bianchi-0703-20150701-column.html

 

[huskyniner]

Puke.

 

[WestHartHusk]

On the surface, it makes little sense to turn over a financially strapped, multimillion-dollar athletic program to an old-school football coach who's probably never balanced a budget in his life.
If the Big 12 decides to expand — and that possibility seems to be more realistic than ever — who better to sell UCF to the football big boys than the only person at UCF the football big boys have ever even heard of:

George O'Leary.

O'Leary is not a schmoozer nor a glad-hander. He's not a guy who forms committees to get things done. He's a football coach, and a darn good one. He's coached at the highest levels of the sport, and he's respected for coaching players who win games, stay off police blotters and earn degrees.

And this is why he is UCF's new athletic director. Because when he addresses one of those conference expansion committees, his name carries clout and cache. Who are the big-boy football schools going to listen to — George O'Leary or some anonymous assistant AD from Duke who just got hired to run UCF's athletic program?

O'Leary told me Wednesday that he has a folder on his desk titled "expansion," and it contains all the pertinent statistical data — TV market size, graduation rates, recruiting base, etc.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...oleary-mike-bianchi-0703-20150701-column.html

I am pretty sure one of those things doesn't matter.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It also helps tremendously when the main football reporter for the Orlando Sentinel is a cheerleader for your program.

Something UConn hasn't ever had.

Bianchi is very influential throughout the South as a football person. Having him in your back pocket is big for UCF.

They'll never be Harvard, Michigan or Vandy, but they are definitely a "buy" due to current status and growth potential. UCF in a P5 conference will permanently bury Miami as a power.

 

[whaler11]

I'm pretty sure they would make him AD for life if he asked already.

 

[CL82]

Hell, if he got us in the B1G, I'd make him AD for life.

 

[whaler11]

Hell, if he got us in the B1G, I'd make him AD for life.

If someone gets UConn into the Big Ten, I will mow their lawn every week for eternity*.

*Lawn may be mowed by hired third party.