George O'Leary

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George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a retired 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 hired in 2001 to be the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish but resigned after five days.

O'Leary served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) from 2002 to 2004, as well as an assistant coach for the Syracuse Orange and San Diego Chargers. O'Leary led the Knights to the fourth-best rebound in NCAA history (2005) and triggered UCF to one of the most significant upsets of the BCS era in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.

O'Leary resigned as UCF's head coach after an 0–8 start to the 2015 season.

Personal life

O'Leary was born in Central Islip, New York, on August 17, 1946, and graduated from Central Islip High School in 1964. O'Leary is married to Sharon O'Leary (née Schnellenberger) and they have four children; two daughters, Chris and Trish, and two boys, Tim and Marty. Marty was a senior free safety on the 2001 Georgia Tech team that his father coached.

In 1968, O'Leary earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from the University of New Hampshire.

O'Leary taught drivers education classes when he wasn't coaching football or as a gym instructor.

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Coaching career

He began teaching at Central Islip High School in New York from 1968 to 1974, and was their assistant coach from 1968 to 1974. He was the head coach at Central Islip from 1975 to 1976. He served as the head coach at Liverpool High School in New York from 1977 to 1979. O'Leary set a 37–8–1 record during his time at both high schools, winning more than 82% of his games.

He began his education as a Syracuse defensive line coach. He served in this capacity from 1980 to 1984. Between 1985 and 1986, O'Leary assumed the additional challenge of being the Orange's assistant head coach. From 1987 to 1991, his next job was at Georgia Tech, where he was both their defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. The team finished 11–0–1 in 1990 and captured the national championship, beating Nebraska at the Florida Citrus Bowl. O'Leary began coaching with the San Diego Chargers in 1992 and 1993, following his time with the Yellow Jackets. In 1994, O'Leary would return to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as both the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, as well as eventual head coach.

After winning the 1990 national championship, O'Leary took over the program as interim head coach with three games remaining in the season. He was later named head coach before the 1995 season. O'Leary converted the program into a consistent champion after two years, leading the team to victory in the 1997 Carquest Bowl in Miami. The 1998 O'Leary team went 10–2, defeating its archrival University of Georgia for the first time in 7 years, as well as the University of Notre Dame in the 1999 Gator Bowl. The team went to a bowl game every season for the remainder of his time at Georgia Tech.

In 2000 and 2000, O'Leary earned the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award, as well as the ACC Coach of the Year Award in 1998 and 2000. O'Leary led the Yellow Jackets to a 52-33 (612) record during their seven-year tenure at Georgia Tech, including five bowl appearances. Georgia Tech had five winning seasons in six years from 1995 to 2001, including the 1998 ACC Co-championship and a New Year's Day appearance in the Toyota Gator Bowl. During his tenure, O'Leary's Georgia Tech teams won at least seven games four times, including a 10-win season in 1998 and a nine-win streak in 2000.

The Georgia Tech football program used ineligible players while O'Leary was head coach during an NCAA investigation after he had left Georgia Tech and Chan Gailey was the head coach. These infractions were due to the school's academic staff's lacks, who had incorrectly accounted for student-athletes' credit hours and were not attributed to O'Leary or his employees. On appeal, the first request that Georgia Tech vain the performances of the football team for games in which these ineligible players participated was reversed. In addition, Georgia Tech was put on probation and outright scholarships as a result of the cheating.

In 2001, O'Leary left Georgia Tech to take over as the head coach for the University of Notre Dame.

However, inaccurate information was discovered in his published biographical sketch just a few days after he was hired. O'Leary had earned three letters in football at the University of New Hampshire, according to the biography, but the university informed the school that he had not even participated in one game.

O'Leary resigned immediately, which Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White turned down, but then asked if there were any other inaccuracies when it was revealed. He later revealed that he did not have a master's degree from "NYU-Stony Brook University": this was a non-existent school founded after two separate colleges more than 50 miles apart (he had attended only two classes at Stony Brook and never graduated). Notre Dame resigned immediately as this error was revealed, prompting O'Leary to resign.

"Due to a selfish and thoughtless act many years ago," O'Leary wrote on a tweet that day.

O'Leary attributed these inaccuracies to resume padding that had followed him throughout his career, and he confessed to writing a resume that contained misinformation regarding my completion of course work for a master's degree and also my participation in football at my alma mater. These misstatements were never removed from my resume or biographical sketch in later years."

Head coach Mike Tice, who played for O'Leary at Central Islip High School in the 1970s, hired O'Leary as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive line coach. In 2003, O'Leary was promoted to defensive coordinator. Since being ranked 30th in 2001, he was credited with the 2002 Vikings defense to 10th in the NFL.

In 2004, O'Leary left the Vikings to become the head coach at the University of Central Florida. The Knights' first season in school history featured their lowest record in school history with a 0–11 record.

After joining Conference USA in 2005, the team recovered. The team ended the season with an 8–3 record (7–1 in C-USA). UCF defeated Rice to clinch the C-USA East Division, earning the right to host the first-ever C-USA Championship Game, a loss to Tulsa that was played in front of more than 51,000 people. After losing to Nevada after UCF kicker Matt Prater missed an extra point in overtime, the team will then proceed to play in the Hawaii Bowl, barely losing to Nevada. A year after losing, the Knights were just the sixth team in NCAA history to go bowl. In addition to being named National Coach of the Year by CBSSportsLine.com and Sports Illustrated.com, O'Leary was named Conference USA Coach of the Year. www.ohio.com. Faced with an 11-game schedule and just four home games, O'Leary's UCF squad became just the fourth team to earn a bowl berth while playing seven road games in an 11-game schedule.

UCF made an effort to upgrade the athletic facilities on campus during O'Leary's reign. On ESPN, the Texas Longhorns defeated the Texas Longhorns by a 3-point defeat on September 15, 2007. O'Leary was instrumental in the construction of state-of-the-art practice fields and an indoor football practice facility. UCF defeated ACC team NC State 25-23 to open the 2007 season on the road. This was the first victory over a BCS conference team in O'Leary's heyday. UCF won the C-USA East Division after a 64–12 loss to cross-state rival USF, and then won the right to host the C-USA East Division for the first time in the first season at Bright House Networks Stadium. The Knights will face the University of Tulsa again in a rematch of the 2005 Conference Championship game. This time, however, O'Leary will lead the Knights to their first-ever Conference Championship, a feat that will guarantee the Knights a ticket to the 2007 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. This was the second time in school history (the first one was under O'Leary in 2005) and the second in three years.

Ereck Plancher, the running back, died as a result of conditioning drills on March 18, 2008. Four UCF football players surveyed by Coach O'Leary verbally insulted Plancher during the workout and kept pushing the young man to perform, despite the fact that Plancher was in no shape to continue. In a post-workout huddle, O'Leary blasted Plancher. Planchers collapsed shortly after the workout and was immediately attended by UCF athletic trainers. He was then taken to a nearby hospital, where he died about a half hour later. Players who were at the training session at which Plancher became sick and after which he died were interviewed by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program on November 2, 2008; they said the session was longer and more rigorous than O'Leary and other UCF Athletics officials who had reported publicly that the session was longer and more rigorous than O'Leary and other UCF Athletics officials. O'Leary and other coaches had initially warned players not to assist Plancher when he became acutely distraught, according to them. According to UCF medical records, Plancher's coaches and trainers knew that Plancher had a sickle-cell trait that could result in injury and even death during high intensity workouts. A jury found the United UCF Athletics Association not guilty of responsibility in Plancher's death after a 14-day trial in 2011. Each of his parents was awarded $5 million by the jury. The award was then reduced to $200,000 by the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which found that the UCF Athletics Association is subject to sovereign immunity under Florida law.

In 2008, O'Leary led the Knights to an eight-loss season. Many people were left wondering if O'Leary's time at UCF was coming to an end after the losing season, as well as the uproar surrounding Ereck Plancher's death, led to rumors that O'Leary's time at the university came to an end. For the 2009 season, O'Leary stayed and made significant improvements to his coaching staff. During the 2009 season, O'Leary led UCF to bowling privileges for the first time, and the Knights won their first match against a nationally ranked opponent on November 14, 2009. At Bright House Networks Stadium, 13 Houston 37–32. The Knights were bowl eligible and defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl, losing 45–24 for the third time in five years.

Following a nationally televised 40–33 road win over Houston in 2010, the Knights were ranked for the first time in school history. After winning 5 straight games and establishing an 11-game conference winning streak, UCF was ranked in all three major college polls published on November 7, 2010. In the AP Poll, the Knights were ranked 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and 25 in the Harris Poll. UCF finished 27th in the BCS rankings, just shy of achieving the top. UCF's 2010 regular season ended with a 10–3 record after triumphing the Conference USA Championship over the SMU Mustangs, 17–7, and earning the Knights' second invitation to the Liberty Bowl. The Knights ranked 25th in the final BCS standings, marking the first time UCF has been ranked in the BCS standings. In the AP Poll, UCF finished 24th in the Coaches Poll, 25th in Harris Poll, and 28th overall, ranked 26th. George O'Leary was named C-USA Coach of the Year for the third time during his time at UCF. He led the Knights to a 10–6 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC and final rankings of 20 and 21 in the Coaches and AP Polls respectively. The bowl win and 11 total victories were two more firsts for the Knights, kicking off the Knights' most productive year in team history.

UCF finished with a losing record and were not bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. Following an inquiry into recruiting abuses in the men's basketball and football programs in 2011, the NCAA announced sanctions on July 31, 2012, in addition to penalties that UCF had already self-imposed. In comparison to a $50,000 fine, five years of probation, shrinking of football scholarships, and tighter deadlines on visiting football, the NCAA has placed a one-year football ban for the 2012 season. UCF appealed the postseason ban, and the ban was lifted in April 2013.

The Knights defeated Penn State 92,855 in Happy Valley in 2013, when they were in their first season in the American Athletic Conference. UCF defeated No. 1 three games later in the season. On the road in Louisville, there are six of them. UCF won competition against UConn and Houston, earning their first top-five ranking in school history following the Cardinals' homecoming upset. After an 11-1 record in the regular season, O'Leary and the Knights earned a spot in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl against No. 1. The first BCS berth for both schools and the first major-bowl appearance for the Knights was the six Baylor Bears, as the first major-bowl appearance of any sort for the Knights. UCF was the biggest BCS Bowl underdog in history going into the game. Despite this, the Knights defeated Baylor by a score of 52–42, led by junior quarterback Blake Bortles, who threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns, plus 93 running yards, and another score. Following the season, O'Leary signed a four-year deal extension and UCF again took the American Athletic Conference, this time sharing the title with Cincinnati and Memphis. O'Leary resigned as UCF's head coach after starting the 2015 season with a 0–8 record and briefly serving as interim athletic director of the university.

On and off the football field, George O'Leary restructured the UCF football program in terms of improved academic success in the classroom and overall team discipline. UCF reported its top two fall semester team grade point averages after O'Leary's arrival. In 2004, the Knights set a new school Division I-A record with a 2.78 team GPA but then fell 2.8 percent to a new low of 2.808 team GPA in the fall of 2005. The most active football squad in the state of Illinois was in 2005, when UCF's Honor Roll, a 39 student-athlete. Academic honor roll awards were given to 82 percent of O'Leary's first recruiting class. During the fall 2004 semester, 40% of the squad earned a 3.0 GPA or higher.

The Knights' academic success continued during the Fall 2007 season, when the Knights had a season-average GPA of 2.753. The Knights' cumulative GPA increased to 2.838. In addition, 44 members of the roster had a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Knights' cumulative grade point average increased to 2.969 in the fall 2008 semester and was as high as 3.5 in the 2007 summer semester. For the fall 2009 semester, the overall team cumulative GPA was 2.99. According to UCF's associate director of Academic Services for Students, all UCF football players are required to attend ten hours of study hall a week, with at least two hours completed each and every night.

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