UCF coach George O'Leary steps down from interim AD role
UCF head coach and interim athletic director George O’Leary will step away from his athletic director role.
O’Leary announced the news at his Monday press conference and said it was his decision.
O’Leary assumed athletic director duties on an interim basis in June after Todd Stansbury left to take the AD job at Oregon State. Previous reports indicated that O’Leary wanted to take the full-time athletic director gig, but it appears the school plans to look elsewhere.
UCF President John Hitt said last month that the school planned for O'Leary's tenure as AD to run through December.
O'Leary replaced Todd Stansbury, who left to lead Oregon State's athletic department this summer. UCF President John Hitt told the Orlando Sentinel last month O'Leary's term would run through December, and then the school would evaluate his performance and to see if the football coach still wanted to pursue the job full-time.
UCF has hired a national search firm agency to fill the position.
UCF has struggled mightily on the field this season and dropped to 0-6 with a 40-13 home loss to UConn on Saturday. The Knights face undefeated Temple in Philadelphia on Saturday.
O’Leary, 69, has been UCF’s head coach since 2004. He told reporters that he will decide after the season if he will return in 2016.
"I'll let him know after the season(on planning to continue coaching next year)." -George O'Leary #Fox35 pic.twitter.com/TYNpfEEbIR
— Adam Shadoff (@FOX35Adam) October 12, 2015
In conjunction with O'Leary's decision to step aside, the school said Brad Stricklin will assume the interim athletic director position.
Assuming the role of Interim Athletics Director will be Brad Stricklin, Executive Senior Associate A.D., CFO.
— UCF Knights (@UCFKnights) October 12, 2015
For more UCF news, visit UCFSports.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
