O'Leary Statue Unveiled

ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – In a private ceremony Friday evening, a statue of former UCF head football coach George O'Leary was unveiled outside Bright House Networks Stadium.
 
The statue was donated by a group of donors, who wanted to honor O'Leary for his accomplishments while serving as the Knights' head coach. Those accomplishments were many, on and off the field.
 
"George created an expectation for success both on the field and in the classroom," UCF President Dr. John C. Hitt said. "He put UCF football on the map."
 
While his teams were often successful on the gridiron, O'Leary immediately instilled a culture of academic success within the football program upon his arrival in 2004. In the most recent NCAA reports for Graduation Success Rate – which looked at student-athletes who enrolled during O'Leary's tenure in 2009 – UCF football student-athletes were graduating at a rate of 91 percent. That ranks No. 7 in the nation among NCAA FBS football programs. It also ranks No. 1 in the State of Florida and No. 1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Knights football program also ranks highly in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate rankings, coming in at No. 11 among NCAA FBS programs and No. 1 in Florida and The American – once again the student-athletes contributing to these rankings were brought to UCF by O'Leary and his staff.
 
On the field, O'Leary led UCF to four conference championships and seven bowl games in his 12 years as head coach. His 2013 team finished with the school's highest national ranking ever, being listed as the No. 10 team in the nation by the Associated Press. He also led UCF to a national ranking at the end of the 2010 season, when the Knights were rated No. 21 by the AP. During his UCF tenure, he was named conference coach of the year four times and earned national coach of the year accolades in 2005.
 
In addition to the statue being unveiled Friday night, Coach O'Leary will also be recognized on the field at halftime of Saturday's game vs. Tulsa. Saturday's recognition for the former head coach will center around his contributions to UCF and the establishment of an endowed scholarship for UCF student-athletes in his name.