"A coaching change would make the difference."

[Blue Horseshoe]

There's a very interesting quote about the hiring of a new coach in today's article..



SMU's Orsini helps UCF's O'Leary

Taking a chance on disgraced coach pays off for Central Florida


10:14 PM CDT on Friday, September 14, 2007
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

Texas coach Mack Brown was so curious about the new stadium that will greet his team at Central Florida, he researched it on the Internet this week.

SMU athletic director Steve Orsini already knows about the stadium. He'll embrace a different mindset today, even as he watches the Mustangs play at Arkansas State.

As Central Florida's athletic director for four years, Orsini planned the on-campus Bright House Networks Stadium. It was a gamble for a school with little tradition and less identity, even in Orlando.

And he rolled the dice even more, rescuing George O'Leary from football purgatory.

"There's a great sense of pride that I hold professionally in the role I played there," Orsini said. "When I got there in 2002, there were no plans like that."

Few connected with Central Florida were happy with the stadium situation in the aging Citrus Bowl, 15 miles away. Alumni and boosters wanted a stadium on campus in the east part of Orlando.

Orsini's vision was an athletic village concept. The $54 million new stadium, which seats 45,301, was the crown jewel.

An even bigger investment, Orsini admits, was the hiring of O'Leary, one reason Texas fans shouldn't overlook the game.

"A coaching change made the difference," Orsini said. "I give all the credit in the world to George O'Leary."

Orsini knew O'Leary from their days together at Georgia Tech, where Orsini was an assistant AD and O'Leary was resurrecting a program from a 1-10 flatline in 1994. O'Leary did such a good job, winning national coach of the year honors in 2000, that Notre Dame took notice and hired him to replace Bob Davie. Less than a week later, O'Leary was gone after irregularities surfaced in his resume.

"I think anything that happened there was self-inflicted," O'Leary said on a teleconference this week. "I think my mother said it right, that the Good Lord doesn't close a door unless he opens another. At one time during that whole thing, I was acting like some of the people I despise in feeling sorry for myself."

The best thing O'Leary did, he said, was to immediately get back into coaching, serving two years as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings.

Although others saw damaged goods, Orsini saw an opportunity to hire a coach that almost never would have come under any other circumstances to Central Florida, which began its program in 1979.

"I had no concerns," Orsini said. "I truly believed at the time, George O'Leary was by far the best coach available."

First, Orsini had to convince school president John Hitt to back the decision. A former lineman at Austin College, Hitt knew all about O'Leary's rise and fall.

Hitt told Orsini that he needed to look O'Leary in the eye and get a few answers. Satisfied, Hitt approved the hire, aware the school would be questioned about the message it was sending.

But O'Leary's personality and performance outweighed any public criticism. He took the Knights from 0-11 in 2004 to 8-5 the next season. Although Central Florida took a step backward with a 4-8 mark last season, it has already upset North Carolina State on the road this season.

Optimism has skyrocketed, the Orlando Sentinel reported this week.

When players toured the new stadium, the scoreboard read: "UCF 48, Texas 10."

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

interesting......thanks for posting

[FordtoTolbert]

..you got up at 5:45 this morning to post this? Why? It's game day, bro..save all this crap until 5 a.m. Sunday...thanks. GO PONIES!!