Top 50 UCF Greatest Head Coaches: #50-41

Photo: Derek Warden

With UCF getting ready for its 3rd year as a member of the Big 12 (and in the Sun Belt in Men’s Soccer), it is only fitting that we do our third Greatest UCF Head Coaches list series, expanding the countdown to the Top 50 Head Coaches in UCF History.

Criteria used to create this list include:

• A coach’s impact on their respective sport and on the school
• Accomplishments during their tenure
• Accolades they received during their tenure

We made sure to include at least one coach from every current UCF sport.

Now, let’s begin the countdown:

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Our first spot on this list is a tribute to what could have been. This pair of UCF coaches made an undeniable impact during their short time

with their respective programs, but their tenures as Knights were ultimately cut short due to circumstances beyond their control.

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T-#50 Jerry Richardson (Women’s Basketball)

Courtesy of the UCF Archives

Jerome Cleon “Jerry” Richardson took over a UCF Women’s Basketball team in 1992 that had yet to post a winning record since moving up to Division I in 1984.

In four seasons on the job, Richardson led the Lady Knights to their first winning record of the D1 era, going 15-14 (7-8 ASUN) in 1995-96. That same season, a #6 seed UCF went on a run in the ASUN Tournament to take the Championship, its first D1 conference title, punching their first ticket to the D1 NCAA Tournament in program history.

That season would ultimately be his last, as Richardson was killed at 40 years old in the wee hours of Aug. 30, 1996, in a car accident in Orange County involving a stolen car that sped through a red light, according to the Sep. 3, 1996, edition of the Central Florida Future.

UCF is not what Richardson’s most remembered for, however. Before coming to Orlando, Richardson coached the Girls Basketball team at Shiprock High School (NM) on the Navajo Reservation. He led the Lady Chieftains to four state championships (1988, 1989, 1990 and 1992), which became a rallying point for the Navajo Community.

The story of Richardson and the Lady Chieftains inspired a 2001 documentary, Rocks With Wings, and a 2003 ShowTime television movie, Edge of America, which won a Peabody Award in 2005. Actor James McDaniel, who played the character based on Richardson, won a Daytime Emmy for his performance in 2006.

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T-#50 Dale Wilson (Men’s Golf)

“Central Florida Future, Vol. 20 No. 11, September 29, 1987” (1987). Central Florida Future. 728. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/centralfloridafuture/728

Taking over as the UCF golf coach just before the spring of 1987, Marlin Dale Wilson mostly worked with the men’s team while his assistant Mike Schumaker (remember that name) worked with the women.

Thanks to his international recruiting efforts in Britain, Europe and South Africa, Wilson built a program that reached its first NCAA Division 1 Regional in 1989, but the rise continued into the 1989-1990 campaign, where the Knights won six tournaments, including five straight, both marks that have not been replicated in program history since.

The Knights made their first NCAA D1 Championship appearance in 1990 and were voted the nation’s most-improved team by the GCAA. UCF Hall of Famer Cliff Kresge became the first male Knight golfer to earn a D1 All-American honor, making the second-team, and Wilson himself was named the Regional Coach of the Year.

Momentum continued into the start of the 1990-91 season, with UCF getting two wins that fall. However, entering the spring of 1991, Schumaker took over coaching the men’s side after Wilson fell ill, as the Central Florida Future described.

Andrew Rice went on to earn All-American Second-Team honors that season with Malcom Joseph and Hans Strom-Olson getting named All-American Honorable Mention.

Wilson ended up never reclaiming his job, his four-year tenure coming to an abrupt end. He passed away from congestive heart failure in April 1998 at the age of 66, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

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#49 Lynn Bria (Women’s Basketball)

Lynn Bria was not supposed to be the head coach of the UCF Women’s Basketball program. She was initially going to be Jerry Richardson’s assistant, his recommendation for her being one of the last administrative decisions he made before he passed away, according to the Central Florida Future.

Instead, Bria was named the interim head coach for the 1996-1997 season and remained at the helm for two more seasons until 1999.

Bria led the Knights to TAAC (now ASUN) regular season and tournament titles in the 1998-99 season, earning the program’s second NCAA D1 Tournament berth in program history. She was also named the 1998-99 TAAC Coach of the Year.

Following that season, she left the Knights to take the head job at Ohio before returning to Florida as the head coach of Stetson in 2008, where she’s been ever since.

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#48 - Mike Kruczek (Football)

RVR Photos-Imagn Images

After serving as the offensive coordinator and QB coach for UCF from 1985-1997, Mike Kruczek was named UCF’s head coach in 1998 when Gene McDowell was forced to resign due to a cellular phone fraud scandal. Kruczek’s run as coach benefited from the fact that he inherited future NFL Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper as a recruit.

In his first season, he led the Knights to a 9–2 record and had a verbal commitment to play in the first Oahu Bowl. However, when Miami upset undefeated UCLA, the resulting domino effect left the Knights out of what would have been their first bowl game ever. Another highlight was an upset win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2000, which gave UCF its first victory over a program from a BCS conference.

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T-#47 - Greg Lovelady (Baseball)

Photo: UCF Athletics

Lovelady guided UCF to the 2017 American Athletic Conference regular season title with a record of 40-22 (15-9 in conference), earning The American’s Coach of the Year award in the process. It was the Knights’ first conference championship for the baseball program since the 2004 ASUN championship, and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012. The Knights just missed making the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and 2019, as each time UCF was one of the first 4 left out of the field.

Lovelady was on track to bring UCF back to the NCAAs and likely contend for a second conference championship in 2020 as UCF was off to one of the best starts in program history with a 15-3 record, and ranked 12th in the country before the season ended due to COVID-19.

D1 Baseball projected the Knights to not only make the NCAA Tournament but host a regional for the first time in program history.

Lovelady was the fastest UCF Baseball Head Coach to reach 100 wins and currently is at 126 wins. Lovelady’s time with UCF ended after the 2023 season.

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T-#47 - Terry Rooney (Baseball)

Rooney guided the Knights to two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012, including a regional final appearance in 2012 in Coral Gables. He had an overall record of 261-209 at UCF.

Rooney was the 2014 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. But his best team was in 2012 when the Knights won 45 games for the first time since 2004, making it all the way up to 7th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, tying the highest ranking in program history. UCF also enjoyed its best season in C-USA with a program-record 16 conference wins and fell just one game short of the regular-season title while hosting Rice in a winner-take-all series.

Rooney left UCF after the 2016 season to become an assistant coach at Alabama. Currently Rooney is the pitching coach at South Carolina.

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#46 - Meg Colado (Volleyball)

Former Florida standout Meg Colado coached UCF Volleyball from 1999-2007, leading the Knights to three ASUN championships (2001-2003) and three NCAA Tournament appearances (2001-2003), including the program’s first Division 1 NCAA Tournament win over Cincinnati in 2003. Colado went 134-131 overall, and shepherded the Knights from the ASUN to Conference USA.

Colado, now Meg Fitzgerald, still lives in Orlando.

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#45 - Patricia Allison (Women’s Tennis)

UCF Athletics

Allison coached at UCF from 1999-2007, leading the Knights to three Atlantic Sun regular season championships (1999, 2000, 2002), two conference titles (2000, 2002) and two NCAA Tournament appearances (2000, 2002). She was selected ASUN Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002, and compiled a 102-65 overall record.

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#44 - Bobby Cashman (Men’s Tennis)

Bobby Cashman is the UCF Men’s Tennis program’s longest-serving head coach, from 2000 to 2016, amassing 212 wins, the most by a head coach in program history.

He led the Knights to three straight ASUN titles and NCAA Tournament appearances from 2003 to 2005, the first D1 Tournament appearances in program history. He was named the ASUN Coach of the Year twice (2003 & 2005).

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#43 - Emilee Klein (Women Golf)

Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Emilee Klein played in LPGA (1996-2004) before taking over UCF program where she was Head Coach from 2005-2009. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Klein became the head coach at UCF in 2005, where she spent four seasons, improving the program’s national ranking from 114th to as high as 35th in those four years. She led UCF to the NCAA Regional Tournament twice (2008, 2009), which was the first time the program made the NCAA Tournament since 2002. Klein helped raise funds for a new on-campus golf facility and created and developed The UCF Challenge Golf Tournament. Klein played on the LPGA tour (1996-2004), winning three times.

Klein left UCF after 2009, becoming the head coach at San Diego State, where she remained from 2009-2011. Klein also coached at Tulsa from 2014-2018.

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#42- Wayne Mendel (Men’s & Women’s Golf)

Jose Fajardo

“Central Florida Future, Vol. 14 No. 13, October 30, 1981” (1981). Central Florida Future. 449. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/centralfloridafuture/449

While Gerry Gergley may have gotten the men’s golf program started, it was Wayne Mendel who got it and the women’s program established.

In his first season on the job, he led the Knights to a second Sunshine State Conference title and eventually led the team to its first and only NCAA Division 2 Championship berth as a team in 1984, finishing sixth overall.

The earliest records of the women’s golf program date back to the 1982-83 season, putting Mendel as its founding head coach. The Aug. 27, 1982, edition of the Central Florida Future also mentions him as the program’s head coach.

During this inaugural season, he led the Knights to their first win in the 1983 Hatter Challenge. The following season, in 1984, Sharon Smith earned a spot in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship (all three divisions played in the same championship at the time) as an individual, making her the first UCF golfer to make it there and the only one to do so until Liz Earley did it in 1991.

Mendel helped usher both programs into their Division 1 Eras during the 1984-1985 season before Tony Lanham Sr., the father of the 1985 UCF quarterback, took over the program in 1985-86.

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#41- Gus Malzahn (Football)

Photo: Derek Warden

Gus Malzahn’s first two seasons as UCF head football coach in 2021 and 2022 produced back-to-back nine-win seasons and the sixth and seventh-straight bowl games for UCF, one of which was the iconic Gasparilla Bowl victory over Florida.

Malzahn was one of three finalists for the Steve Spurrier Award presented by the Football Writers Association of America for the best head coach in his first year at a school in 2021.

In 2023, Malzahn led the Knights into the Big 12 and became the only program out of the four that joined the conference to reach a bowl game in their initial season. Malzahn resigned after a 4-8 record in 2024, finishing with a 28-24 record at UCF.

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