In an interview with Warchant, Gus Malzahn confirmed he considered retirement before taking the Florida State offensive coordinator job in December. "I was either going to the beach and retiring or I was coming here. It was one or the other," he told the site.
FootballScoop's John Brice first reported the possibility of a Malzahn retirement on Nov. 18, writing he was "well positioned to retire if he chooses to do so." CBS also wrote about Malzahn's possible retirement two days later, floating Deion Sanders as a hypothetical replacement.
That Saturday, Nov. 23, Malzahn denied he was considering retirement, saying, "I don't know where that came from. I'm not retiring."
However, Malzahn now says he considered walking away toward the end of his fourth and final season in Orlando. Following two 9-win seasons to open his tenure, UCF slipped to 6-7 in 2023 and then 4-8 last fall. The Nov. 23 quote came after the Knights dropped a 31-21 decision at West Virginia, their seventh of eight losses in a 9-game stretch to end the year following a 3-0 start. Overall, Malzahn says, UCF struggled to compete upon moving up from the American to the Big 12; the Knights are 5-13 in two seasons of Big 12 play after going 11-5 in their final two seasons in the AAC.
“Those were thoughts there towards the end,” Malzahn told Warchant. “There’s no doubt about that. It just wasn’t working there, and it was pretty obvious. You know, I think we only had half a share for two years. We were playing catch-up. And in the future, I think they’re going to be really good. But it was just time.”
Now, the 59-year-old Malzahn is working for the 43-year-old Mike Norvell, his one-time GA at Tulsa. Heading into his 35th year in coaching, the vast majority of Malzahn's career has been as a head coach: he was the head man for 14 of his 15 seasons as an Arkansas high school coach, spent six seasons as a coordinator at Arkansas, Tulsa and Auburn, and then spent the last 13 seasons as the head coach at Arkansas State, Auburn and UCF.
Though he admitted it took some time re-adjusting his focus and his routine to coordinating rather than head coaching, he welcomed the reduction in scope with no longer having to manage all that comes with being a major college football head coach in 2025.
“It’s a completely different job description,” Malzahn said. “Being a coordinator, you’re focused on just half the team. And really just the football aspect of being in charge of one side of the ball. So it’s a completely different job description. You spend more time with your players and focus more on the football aspect than you can as a head coach. There’s a lot more football with being a coordinator.”
As coordinator, Malzahn's primary objective will be to design an offense that can live up to his quarterback's billing and/or keep him upright from all the opponents he insulted.