Terry Mohajir had a good idea of what to expect as UCF embarked on its first year in the Big 12.
The Knights athletics director had spent time in the league, first as a coach at Kansas and then as an administrator.
“It was an overall solid season for the first year in the Big 12 and we learned a lot,” Mohajir recently told the Sentinel. “I had a decent idea since I worked in the Big 12 twice. Some of our sports were a little stronger than the others, but it was pretty solid overall.”
UCF began preparing for the Big 12 almost a decade ago. The school aggressively pursued a spot after the league announced it planned to add new members following a round of conference realignment in 2013.
While the Knights didn’t make the cut then, the foundation was established, helping the school finally earn a bid in 2023.
Still, UCF didn’t disappoint in its first season.
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“We were one of only three schools in the new Big 12 whose top three revenue-generating sports went to the postseason,” Mohajir said of the football, men’s basketball and baseball programs.
The only current members to accomplish the feat were Arizona and Kansas State.
The football program, which finished 6-7 overall, reached the postseason for a school-record eighth consecutive season when it qualified for the Gasparilla Bowl in December. The Knights were the only newcomer (BYU, Cincinnati and Houston) to qualify for the postseason.
The men’s basketball program finished the season 17-16, the seventh time in the last eight seasons under coach Johnny Dawkins that the Knights had a winning record. They won seven conference games, including a program record three victories against ranked opponents: No. 3 Kansas, No. 23 Oklahoma, and No. 23 Texas Tech.
Under the guidance of first-year coach Rich Wallace, baseball earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. They finished 37-21, capturing six Big 12 series wins.
“Everyone involved with this university should be proud that we can go into the Big 12 in the first year and have three teams make postseason play in some form or fashion,” said Dawkins. “It speaks volumes of what this program can do here.”
Said football coach Gus Malzahn after last season: “Going to the Big 12 has been a game changer for us. This is a program that many people see on the rise. All we needed to do was get to a Power Five conference [now Power Four with the dissolution of the Pac-12] and we’ve done that.”
Other programs, such as men’s and women’s soccer, men’s tennis, rowing and softball, finished in the top half of their conference standings. More than half of the programs earned a spot in the top 25 at one point this past season, led by men’s soccer, which earned the school’s first No. 1 ranking.
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This feat is even more impressive because of the many new or young coaches.
“We had a lot of coaching transition,” Mohajir said, referring to new hires in volleyball (Jenny Maurer), men’s tennis (Lloyd Bruce-Burgess) and rowing (Mara Allen).
Softball continued to perform at a high level, with the Knights earning their fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cheerleading Team won the Division I-A Coed Cheer National Championship for their fourth national title.
Success on the field has led to record ticket sales for many sports, including football, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball.
Off the field, the move to the Big 12 has paid financial dividends in several areas, including fundraising.
UCF Athletics has seen record donations and gifts for the third straight season. The number of major gift donors increased from 106 in 2019 to 400 in 2024. The department projects the total number of donors surpassing 13,000.
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Mission XII, the athletic department’s fundraising arm for its move to the Big 12, has helped increase the operating budget from $72 million in 2022 to $90 million this fiscal year. The fund also has helped provide $12 million in upgrades to Addition Financial Arena and the Venue, improving connectivity, stadium lights and LED boards at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
The most significant gain, however, has been made in facility upgrades, particularly the multi-phase football campus project, with the cornerstone being the nearly $90 million renovation to the Roth Tower connected to the football stadium.
The project, funded by the Orange County’s Tourism Development Tax, will expand the existing structure, approximately 58,000 square feet, to accommodate 1,236 club seats, 34 loge boxes, 34 sky-bays and 25 luxury suites.
“This tower will be the best piece of real estate we have right now,” said Mohajir. “This will help us generate even more resources because of the funding model.”
Phase II, as it’s referred to, is expected to begin construction after the upcoming football season, with expectations of completion by the start of the 2026 season.
Meanwhile, Phase I of the project features building the Sharon and Marc Hagle Gateway, which is already underway.
The area, next to the football stadium, will serve as an entryway to the athletics campus with the construction of the long-awaited McNamara Cove — a recovery river with hydrotherapy pools — and the Taylor A. Gerring Football Center, a standalone football operations building.
Matt Murschel can be reached at [email protected]
