The Big 12 embrace, how basketball fits in 🏀 and Coles' climb back 📈
UCF is starting to embrace their future in the Big 12, with the logo on recruiting pamphlets and billboards popping up around town. This is BIG.
UCF alums had a pretty nice weekend in the National Football League! Always good to see our #BuiltByUCF crew crushing it on Sunday’s.
Gabe Davis scored the first touchdown of the season for Buffalo in a loss to the Steelers.
Mike Hughes clinched Kansas City’s win over Cleveland with a game-sealing interception.
Latavius Murray scored a big touchdown for the Ravens in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game against the Raiders.
Today’s read is 4 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: Primed and ready, Big 12 💪
UCF did a very good job of playing coy when it came to the Big 12 announcement, patiently waiting for the Board of Trustees to approve the Power 5 invitation before embracing the switch on social media.
Now, they’re not as in-your-face about the invitation as Cincinnati, who trotted out onto the field on Saturday flying a Big 12 flag, but since 3:28 p.m. on Friday, UCF has slowly begun to integrate their plans to join the Power 5 on social media, with billboards and in recruiting. It’s a defining moment for the university and they’re embracing it as such.
Here’s the scoop: UCF made it official on Friday, finalizing their intentions to join the Big 12 conference. They likely won’t change leagues until July 1, 2023 at the earliest, but the move will have ripple effects on everything in the months ahead, including recruiting, donations and national relevance.
"Even the Bounce House will get more bouncy and vibrant…the first day of competition for the Knights in the Big 12 can’t get here soon enough.” - Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby
Let’s start with recruiting, because the Big 12 invite is something that’ll inevitably boost the caliber of athlete UCF is able to land. The Power 5 gap has been the lone drawback for UCF over more nationally-recognized programs.
Considering their competition timeline is 2-3 years away, anyone that’s a part of the 2022 class will inevitably be suiting up against Big 12 opponents during their time as a Knight.
UCF head coach Gus Malzahn was asked about the feedback from recruits following Friday’s Big 12 news 🗣️
"Before it even came out officially, recruits were contacting us, just excited about it,” Malzahn said. “It's a game changer for us. We ran into the battle of, 'Hey coach, we love everything about you. But you're not Power Five.' We fought that the past four-or-five months. That's no longer the case. That will be a game changer."
And they’re going to force-feed the Big 12 move on the recruiting trail, as evidenced by this pamphlet to Orlando-area offensive lineman prospect Roderick Kearney, who holds offers from FSU, Florida and Miami, among others. The Big 12 logo is everywhere, including the “championship banner” in the backdrop.
It’s going to be fascinating to watch UCF’s profile on the recruiting trail continue to skyrocket with the brand backed by Power 5 resources. The biggest change at first will likely be in recruiting.
I like the way our friend Chris Vannini penned it for a piece in The Athletic, specifically focusing on recruiting:
The Knights will attack the Big 12 with the same relentlessness they’ve attacked everything else. Once Oklahoma is gone, UCF should be able to contend for the conference championship. Its recruiting rankings, which were always near the top of the AAC and in the 40s or 50s nationally, are on par with the remaining Big 12, and now the Knights can sell another major conference in the Sunshine State like Florida, Florida State and Miami.
UCF’s grip on national relevance will only get tighter, because they refuse to have it any other way. They’ve been forcing the sport to pay attention for quite some time - and their rocket to the top of the sport has been nothing short of remarkable. In a span of less than three decades in the FBS, they’d have climbed from the MAC to the Big 12, having shared a conference with schools from 22 states.
Enrollment has exploded to more than 70,000, which provides a young and quickly growing alumni base. The growth was so quick the school got itself in trouble. In 2019, UCF’s president and board chair resigned amid an investigation into the misuse of funds for unauthorized school construction projects.
But it was all worth it for this moment. The facilities, the self-proclaimed national championship, the online fan army, the hiring of Gus Malzahn — it all got UCF to the big-boy table.
Give me a Knugget🐴: UCF (opened in 1968) is the youngest school in the Power 5 by a wide margin. The next-youngest school is Houston (1927).
Can UCF men’s basketball hang in the Big 12? 🏀
The move to the Big 12 has ripple effects across multiple sports, but besides football, none benefit more than hoops.
Fill me in: Losing Oklahoma and Texas does hurt the league on the hardwood, but adding burgeoning clubs like Cincinnati, Houston, BYU and UCF will help a conference that’s been ranked No. 1 by KenPom six times and No. 2 twice since 2014.
Per The Athletic, the Big 12 has put 67 percent of its teams in the last seven NCAA Tournaments, highest of any conference over that timespan.
The Big East is second-best at 51 percent.
There was also a good zinger from a conference coach thrown Texas’ way.
UCF won a tournament game in 2019, Cincinnati won one in 2018 and Houston is coming off a Final Four.
“All of them have done something Texas hasn’t done in the last seven years,” he said, meaning win a NCAA Tournament game.
UCF does weigh the conference down, compared to the addition of the other members, who have been historically good at basketball. UCF has just five NCAA Tournament appearances ever and one win to show for it, but four coaches that The Athletic spoke to did show the Knights some love.
“Basketball-wise, clearly being in the conference they’re in (AAC), they’ve taken a backseat in recruiting compared to the power (conference) schools in the state — Florida, Miami and Florida State. Now they’re on equal ground and in a great location.”
Here’s a look at each school in the new Big 12, ranked by NCAA Tournament appearances. Clearly, you can see the drop off at the bottom of the list.
Kansas: 51
Cincinnati: 33
Oklahoma State: 32
Kansas State: 31
BYU: 30
West Virginia: 30
Houston: 22
Iowa State: 20
Texas Tech: 19
Baylor: 13
TCU: 8
UCF: 5
There’s going to be growing pains for UCF joining this conference, but they’ll certainly attract a higher caliber of player now that they’ll be on a level where exposure factors in, because it matters in that sport. It’s up to Johnny Dawkins to try and drag this program into relevancy in a sport that they’ve long been inconsistent in. It might take a few years, but there’s promise.
The Coles comeback story 🙏🏻
If there’s an underdog to root for on this UCF squad, it’s running back Trillion Coles, who scored twice in Saturday’s win over Bethune-Cookman after missing all of last season following a devastating Achilles injury.
Coles is from the 407, so it makes it that much sweeter to watch him earn playing time. The redshirt junior, hailing from Bishop Moore, is just two weeks removed from earning a scholarship after waking on in 2018.
“Coles did a really good job,” Malzahn said postgame. “He went in there, caught the ball well and protected. He had great pad level and made a lot of people miss. I was very impressed with him.”
What a comeback 🙏🏻: Coles played sparingly in 2019, but missed all of last year with a ruptured Achilles tendon. He shared more about his comeback and how much the support of his teammates and Malzahn meant to him along the way.
Knights of the Roundup
⚽ Men’s soccer’s Alessandro Campoy scored four goals against FGCU on Saturday, one of four Knights ever to score four or more in a single game. The last time it happened was back in 1998, when Heikki Ritvanen did it twice. He earned AAC honors for his efforts.
🏐 McKenna Melville also received love from the conference after leading UCF to a huge pair of wins this weekend, including beating FSU in a thriller, notching 73 kills in total.
🏃 UCF’s cross country team are in the regional rankings for the first time since Sept. 19, 2016.