UCF Hires Josh Heupel as Next Head Coach

New UCF head coach Josh Heupel also announced his hire of Randy Shannon as defensive coordinator.

Central Florida has hired former Heisman runner–up quarterback Josh Heupel as its next head coach, athletic director Danny White​ announced Tuesday.

Heupel comes to UCF after serving as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Missouri for the past two seasons. He led the team to become 13th in the nation in total offense in his first year with the program from 124th the previous year. 

He was previously at Utah State in 2015 and worked at his alma mater Oklahoma from 2006–2014 as both quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He started off his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma before heading to Arizona for one season in 2005. Heupel was the 2000 Heisman runner–up, leading the Sooners to a national championship over Florida State that season. 

Heupel also announced his hiring of Randy Shannon as defensive coordinator. Shannon is coming off three seasons at Florida, serving as defensive coordinator and its recent interim head coach. He served as Miami's head coach from 2007-2010 after working as its defensive coordinator from 2001–2006. 

UCF's former head coach, Scott Frost, left the program Saturday after becoming Nebraska's new head coach. 

Frost led UCF to a 12–0 record on the season and a win in the American Athletic Conference championship game. Frost was in his second year with the Knights. Last year, he went 6–7 including a loss in the AutoNation Cure Bowl.

White said Frost and the entire current staff will coach UCF's bowl game.