AJ Blazek joined the UCF staff in December 2025 ahead of the 2026 football season.
Blazek has been an offensive line coach at the Power 4 level since 2021 and has more than two decades of coaching experience. He joins the Knights after two seasons with Wisconsin and was at Vanderbilt for three campaigns prior to that. All told, Blazek has 24 years of coaching experience under his belt with other stops including Rutgers, Iowa, North Dakota State and more.
A former All-Big Ten Center, Blazek helped Wisconsin’s offensive front to an impressive season in 2024, allowing just 13 sacks which was fewest in the Big Ten and 10th at the FBS level. The Wichita, Kan. native won a national championship with North Dakota State in 2019. The Bison set a school-record with 4,601 rushing yards that season while going 16-0 to capture their eighth FCS title in a nine-year span.
Blazek began his playing career by earning All-America and Academic All-America honors at Butler Community College. He spent the 1997 and 1998 seasons there before spending the following two at Iowa. A two-year letter winning center with the Hawkeyes, Blazek earned All-Big Ten Conference honors his senior season and earned a pair of Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors. He was a co-captain during his 2000 campaign. Before beginning his journey as a coach, Blazek played two seasons for the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football league, earning the 2001 Walter Payton Award for community service.
Blazek earned a degree in health, leisure and sport studies in 2002 and added a graduate degree in recreation and sport administration in 2004, both at Iowa.
AJ Blazek Coaching History
| YEARS | SCHOOL | POSITION |
| 2026-present | UCF | Offensive Line |
| 2024-25 | Wisconsin | Offensive Line |
| 2021-23 | Vanderbilt | Offensive Line |
| 2019-20 | North Dakota State | Offensive Line |
| 2017-18 | Rutgers | Assistant Head Coach & Offensive Line |
| 2016 | Rutgers | Offensive Line |
| 2014-15 | Western Illinois | Run Game Coordinator & Offensive Line |
| 2013 | Western Illinois | Offensive Line |
| 2010-12 | Winona State | Co-Offensive Coordinator, Offensive Line, Tight Ends |
| 2009 | Winona State | Offensive Line |
| 2006-08 | Fort Hays State | Offensive Coordinator |
| 2005 | Fort Hays State | Offensive Line |
| 2002-04 | Iowa | Graduate Assistant |