With UCF revival, O'Leary gets our nod for coach of the year

If you're looking for a tiebreaker in your coach of the year balloting, we refer you to Williams-Brice Stadium on Sept. 1. Steve Spurrier and South Carolina defeated George O'Leary and Central Florida in the season opener 24-15.

Case closed considering this was a rare head-to-head matchup of two 2005 feel-good stories. Spurrier won his first game after being away from college for three years. Central Florida lost its 16th consecutive game that night.

George O'Leary turned Central Florida around from winless laughingstock to potential C-USA champ. (Getty Images)

"First five minutes of the game ..." O'Leary said, remembering how his Golden Knights were blitzed 14-0 in what was actually the first 7½ minutes of the game.

Not many people remember that Central Florida took over that game, actually owned the line of scrimmage and momentum when it ended. The Knights outscored the Gamecocks 12-0 in the fourth quarter and were driving for another score when the game ended.

"If the game went a little longer we had a shot. I kept telling them, if we stay the course we'll be fine," O'Leary said. "If I said 'stay the course' last year, they would have looked at me like I had four heads."

One snow-covered dome (the color of O'Leary's hair) now rules Knights Nation. For that he is CBS SportsLine.com's coach of the year.

Central Florida (8-3) is not only in the first Conference USA championship game, it stands at the brink of history. Win that game and the Knights will tie for the biggest one-year turnaround in NCAA history -- from 0-11 to 9-3, 8½ games. Hawaii holds the record, going from 0-12 in 1998 to 9-4 in 1999.

And Central Florida still has a bowl game left to break the record.

Don't feel bad if you lost track of UCF (the school prefers initials, please, just like USC). The losing streak actually reached 17 before a victory over Marshall on Sept 24. Since then the Knights have won seven of eight, clinching the Conference USA East Division on Saturday at Rice.

"Even Saturday, we were down by 11," O'Leary said, referring to a stirring 31-28 comeback. "I always check their eyes. I never saw any doubt they weren't going to come back."

Spurrier and Joe Paterno might have pulled off nice little turnarounds. O'Leary slammed the program in reverse and started it in a new direction within a year.

"I'm not about promoting myself," O'Leary said.

But isn't that how this whole thing started? O'Leary was promoting himself a little bit too much four years ago with a trumped-up resumé that Notre Dame deemed unacceptable. The former Georgia Tech coach went to the NFL for a couple of years, then emerged to remake his career in Orlando.

No one could have fathomed a horrible bust followed by this boom.

"If I had one word to describe it, it's probably 'resilience,'" he said.

That and the $750,000 per year the school committed to O'Leary over five years to lead it into the big time. A new state-of-the-art practice facility went up. A new 45,000-seat stadium will open in 2007. The roster was built mostly with young Floridians. More are sure to follow.

In making a case for O'Leary, you have to make a case against the other candidates at some point.

Paterno went from a losing season to 10-1. But it was more what he didn't do that helped Penn State clinch its first BCS bowl berth. He didn't meddle. He didn't insist that coaches run his antiquated offense. Like a parent watching his kids grow up, he let go.

JoePa said as much Saturday night.

"They run the team anyway," Paterno said, referring to assistants Dick Anderson, Ron Vanderlinden and Galen Hall, all former head coaches.

Spurrier did take over a bowl-eligible team from 2004, let's not forget. But Lou Holtz left him an undisciplined bunch that was about to go on probation.

Like O'Leary, Spurrier ran off most of the malcontents and maximized the remaining talent. But other than UCF, Spurrier beat exactly one team (Florida) that currently has a winning record.

Charlie Weis? It is still Notre Dame, not exactly a used-car lot when it comes to talent. And Tyrone Willingham didn't leave the cupboard bare. True, Weis is a master motivator and even better play caller, but he was also the first Notre Dame coach to lose his first two home games since the 19th century.

If the Irish beat Stanford on Saturday, they will have exactly three more wins than last year.

Poll Who's your pick for coach of the year? 38% Joe Paterno   20% Charlie Weis   20% Pete Carroll   13% George O'Leary   9% Steve Spurrier   Total Votes: 26948

Central Florida is only the fourth I-A team ever to play seven road games in an 11-game schedule and go to a bowl game. That after being the only winless team in I-A last year. The magic continues. At 37,000 feet Saturday night, the team plane's pilot came back to tell O'Leary that UTEP lost, meaning UCF will host the conference championship game.

UTEP needs only to beat SMU on Saturday to set up that Redemption Bowl. Mike Price vs. O'Leary -- two former disgraced coaches playing each other for a championship.

"I'll mention it to him," O'Leary said. "People are bringing it up."

O'Leary is building the Knights the same way he did at Georgia Tech from 1994-2001. They're physical, run the ball and stop the run. UCF went from 114th in total offense to 48th this year. Scoring defense improved from 100th to 63rd. The Knights are fourth in turnover margin compared to 80th last year.

And they're young -- real young.

Five true freshmen and at least four redshirt freshmen start.

Corner Joe Burnett is probably going to be Conference USA freshman of the year. He's tied for the league lead in interceptions (five) and leads in punt returns. From the tiny town of Eustis, Fla., about 30 miles northwest of Orlando, Burnett spurned Auburn because he wanted to stay close to home.

Guard L.J. Anderson wasn't that highly regarded. The redshirt freshman's only other offer was from South Carolina State. Anderson is starting on the same line with 18-year-old true freshman Patrick Brown. The school claims that Brown is the youngest starting left tackle in the country.

O'Leary shrewdly recruited leading rusher Kevin Smith. Smith had been a star running back at Miami (Fla.) Southridge as a junior but was switched to defensive back as a senior when a new coach came in. After getting seven carries as a senior, Smith fell off some radar screens. Not O'Leary's.

"Thank God they played him at safety," he said.

And there is absolutely no bull---- at UCF. O'Leary doesn't allow dreads or braids. He left three players at home for the Rice game, one of them a starting linebacker, because they were late for meetings during the week.

Those players missed the ultimate celebration at 37,000 feet on Saturday. The hard ass who used to have four heads juked and jived his one and only snow-covered dome to some unknown beat.

O'Leary danced.

More than any other coach in the country, he was allowed to get his freak on.