George O'Leary

George O'Leary
O'Leary in 2007 pictured during UCF's home opener
Biographical details
Born (1946-08-17) August 17, 1946 (age 78)
New York, New York, U.S.
Alma materNew Hampshire
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968–1974Central Islip HS (NY) (AHC)
1975–1976Central Islip HS (NY)
1977–1979Liverpool HS (NY)
1980–1984Syracuse (AHC/DL)
1985–1986Syracuse (DC/DL)
1987–1991Georgia Tech (DC/DL)
1992–1993San Diego Chargers (DL)
1994Georgia Tech (DC/DL)
1994Georgia Tech (interim HC)
1995–2001Georgia Tech
2002Minnesota Vikings (AHC/DL)
2003Minnesota Vikings (DC)
2004–2015UCF
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2015UCF (interim AD)
Head coaching record
Overall133–101 (college)
37–8–1 (high school)
Bowls5–6
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 ACC (1998)
2 C-USA (2007, 2010)
2 AAC (2013, 2014)
4 C-USA East Division (2005, 2007, 2010, 2012)
Awards
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (2000)
ACC Coach of the Year (1998, 2000)
C-USA Coach of the Year (2005, 2007, 2010)
AAC Coach of the Year (2013)
AFCA Region I Coach of the Year (1998)

George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 2015. He was famously hired in 2001 to be the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish but resigned after five days for lying on his resume. O'Leary was an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) from 2002 to 2004, and an assistant coach for the Syracuse Orange and San Diego Chargers.

During his twelve-year tenure with the Knights, O'Leary guided the team to the fourth-best turnaround in NCAA history (2005), and led UCF to one of the biggest upsets of the BCS era in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. Following an 0–8 start to the 2015 season, O'Leary resigned as UCF's head coach.[1][2]

  1. ^ Green, Shannon; Bianchi, Mike (October 25, 2015). "UCF football coach George O'Leary is retiring". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  2. ^ "George O'Leary steps down as UCF Knights head coach". ESPN. October 25, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.