Gus Malzahn examines extensive coaching tree

Gus Malzahn has now been a collegiate head coach for more than a decade, including stops at Arkansas State and now UCF in between a long run at Auburn, and he’s left behind a pretty impressive coaching tree in his wake.

Over the years, Malzahn’s tree has grown and features some well-known coaches throughout the college ranks, a few of which who really broke through on the national stage this past season. But according to the UCF head coach, an extensive coaching tree is just a sign of his elder age.

“[It] tells you I’m getting old,” said Malzahn joked with On3’s Andy Staples when the two sat down to chat on the UCF campus recently. More seriously, Malzahn says he’s just been lucky to cross paths with some special guys.

“But no, I’ve been real blessed to be in the right situation a lot [at the] right time to coach some big-time players. And those guys, you could all tell, they were going to make it. I mean, they were really good with kids, or great communication, [are] very smart; they’re workers. And so it was really just all of the above.

“I’m real proud of those guys. They’re doing extremely well. Chip Lindsey, he had a top-five offense in the country, too. So you know, there’s a lot of good things going with our former guys.”

Malzahn has a notable coaching tree that features names like the aforementioned Chip Lindsey, who just finished his first year as North Carolina’s OC, as well as Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz, and the head coach for the Florida State Seminoles, Mike Norvell, to name a few.

The two latter coaches mentioned, Drinkwitz and Norvell, have utilized the teachings from the UCF headman and have catapulted their respective programs into the College Football Playoff picture. Last season, both Florida State and Missouri earned New Year 6 bowl game bids after impressive campaigns in 2023. Some argue Florida State should have been in last year’s College Football Playoff field of four after finishing the year as undefeated ACC champions.

Malzahn may be proud of his former staffers turned big-time college football head coaches. Still, the Knights top football mind would love nothing more than to join them and compete for a national championship in 2024, helping UCF on another captivating run similar to the one the program experienced under Scott Frost in 2017.