ORLANDO, Fla. -- The billboards started popping up across Florida one month after Gus Malzahn arrived at UCF. His picture is on them, mid fist-pump, along with a big UCF logo and this message:
"The future of college football is in Orlando."
The campaign extends into Georgia, too, a not-so-subtle blitz intended to drive home one overriding point: UCF football, a program unafraid to make bold and brash proclamations, now has a new coach to match the messaging.
We're there... pic.twitter.com/bfdOCmXP8M
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) March 5, 2021
No one ever mistook Gus Malzahn for Steve Spurrier -- except for maybe the visor -- so the quick shift from a coach reluctant to say much at all given the circumstances at his old job at Auburn to one with much more to say at his new one is a little jarring at first.