Josh Heupel walked into a room of UCF players on Tuesday, Dec. 5, to introduce himself. After the customary, "I can't tell you how excited I am to be here," opening line, he called UCF the "most attractive job in America."
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Heupel's acceptance of UCF's offer to replace departing head coach Scott Frost meant a fourth different school in four years for the 39-year-old South Dakota native. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Oklahoma in 2004. He was tight ends coach at Arizona in 2005 and returned to Norman in 2006, where he remained for nine seasons, rising to offensive coordinator before Bob Stoops fired him after the 2014 season.
One year as associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Utah State was followed by one year as offensive coordinator at Missouri, where his head-coaching stock soared thanks to a quick rebuild of the Tigers' offense.
Heupel jumped on the UCF offer, which meant after spending 10 of the first 11 years at one school, he'd be on the move for the third time in four years and at a fourth different school in the last five years.
"I think this is a place where you don’t have to bounce anymore," he told HERO Sports this week. "This is home. This is part of maybe the most unique opportunity in college football. Largest university and fastest-growing city in America."
Historically, retaining a young, first-time head coach is not easy for a program like UCF in a conference like the American. Since 2016, half of the conference's programs have replaced a coach who departed for a Power Five program, including five in the last two years.
"I think you add all those things up and this is an extremely unique opportunity to continue to grow a brand that as hot as any brand in America," added Heupel. "There’s been a lot of players and coaches that have come before me that have made this job as attractive and as unique of an opportunity as it is.
"You get a chance to kind of put your own stamp on a legacy here."
That stamp includes his wife Dawn and children Hannah and Jace, who moved to Orlando two days before Christmas.
"[They have] absolutely loved being here and that’s not because the kids get to go to Disney World on the weekend.
If Heupel isn't just blowing smoke — and frankly, it doesn't seem like he is — and he wins a lot of ballgames, his kids will be going to Disney World on the weekend for a long, long time because their dad found the "most attractive job in America."
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