Feb. 22, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With goals of furthering his coaching career and getting back to his native Florida - not always in that order - Danny Barrett was still shaking his head on Tuesday as to how things have a way or working themselves out sometimes.
Barrett was hired on Monday to be UCF's new running backs coach, replacing George Godsey, who left to take an offensive coaching position with the New England Patriots. Barrett, a native of Boynton Beach, was in UCF's football offices almost a year to the day he was hired by the Knights, seeking a coaching job. After spending a year as a highly successful offensive coordinator at Bethune-Cookman, Barrett landed a spot on UCF's staff.
UCF coach George O'Leary advised Barrett last year that he should seek out a job in the Sunshine State at a smaller school if he ultimately wanted to land a higher profile position at an up-and-coming program like UCF. On Tuesday, that dream came true and Barrett said he couldn't be happier about the opportunity.
``(He and O'Leary) talked about career options and he mentioned to me about getting back into the state of Florida. This is where all of the coaches come to recruit and, plus, it's home,'' Barrett said. ``His advice confirmed what I was believing, and now it's worked itself out. You never know, but it's amazing the way things work out. You get a call to see if you want to come over and be a part of this and there's nothing but excitement from me and my family.''
Barrett said a big part of that excitement comes from joining an 11-3 UCF squad that won the Conference USA crown and beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. Also, he is taking over a position where the Knights are loaded with talent. C-USA title game and Liberty Bowl MVP Latavius Murray is back as is preseason All-C-USA back Brynn Harvey, who missed all of last season with a knee injury. Also having Ronnie Weaver and the expected return of Jeff Brinson (ACL injury) should give the Knights an embarrassment of riches at running back.
``You can never have enough good talent. It's not about X's and O's as much as it is about the guys stepping on that football field,'' Barrett said. ``I'm grateful for this opportunity and then to be coming to a place where you already have so much experience at a position. Basically I'll be leaning on those guys to help me in the initial phases here. We'll be helping each other out.''
O'Leary said Barrett's wealth of experience at the college and professional levels made him an appealing hire for the Knights as running backs coach.
``I am happy to hire a coach of Danny Barrett's experience and knowledge,'' O'Leary said. ``I look forward to having him on staff here at UCF.''
Barrett was an honorable mention All-American quarterback at the University of Cincinnati in 1982. He went on to play 163 games for four teams in the Canadian Football League, passing for 23,419 yards and 133 touchdowns.
From there, he moved into coaching and worked his way up from being a quarterbacks coach, an offensive coordinator and ultimately the second black head coach in CFL history.
He then spent three seasons as a quarterbacks coach at Buffalo under head coach Turner Gill. Gill left for Kansas prior to last season, and Barrett landed the offensive coordinator position at Bethune-Cookman.
``Being in this profession long enough you know you are going to have to move at some time. I stayed in contact with people in the profession who know what I'm all about,'' said Barrett, who is married with five kids and his parents still live in Palm Beach County. ``Now, it's worked itself out being a better situation. Being a head coach is something that I ultimately want to get back to, but being back in Florida is great. To be at two different programs in less than eight months and learn some different things from different people, it adds something for my career development and helps me advance toward my goal of being a head coach again.''
He's eager to learn and work under his former CFL adversary, UCF offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe. Accumulating knowledge under a coach like Taaffe will only help Barrett grow as a coach, he said.
``I've always admired Coach Taaffe's work ethic and he's got a great offensive mind. Any time you can work for a guy who has been the Coach of the Year back-to-back in a professional league, it speaks for itself,'' Barrett said. ``Like I told my wife, I'm living the dream and it's great to be a part of something like this at UCF.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.