Terry Mohajir serves as UCF’s Vice President and Director of Athletics, where he has demonstrated exceptional leadership in hiring championship-caliber coaches, securing funding for state-of-the-art facilities, and establishing resources that enable UCF’s student-athletes to thrive both on and off the field. Under his leadership, UCF guarantees job placement or graduate school admission for every graduating student-athlete – an unparalleled commitment in today’s collegiate athletics landscape.
Mohajir (pronounced mo-HAH-zure) joined UCF Athletics on Feb. 9, 2021, following eight years as Arkansas State University’s Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics. Before Arkansas State, he held leadership roles at Kansas, Florida Atlantic, and Missouri-Kansas City, leaving a legacy of success at every stop. He has also served on numerous committees, including the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
Since joining UCF, Mohajir has overseen significant milestones, including the department’s historic transition into the Big 12 Conference in 2023-24, solidifying the Knights’ place among national powerhouses.
Transformative Leadership and Revenue Growth
Mohajir has spearheaded numerous initiatives that have revolutionized UCF Athletics, driving both transformative leadership and unprecedented revenue growth. Central to this success was the 2022 announcement of a 13-year, $125 million partnership with Playfly Sports, which leverages their multimedia rights expertise to grow the UCF brand regionally, nationally and globally. This milestone was complemented by a $19.5 million football stadium naming rights agreement with FBC Mortgage, branding the Knights’ football venue as FBC Mortgage Stadium starting in the 2022 season. Additionally, the extension of the basketball arena’s naming rights with Addition Financial secured $20 million, further solidifying UCF Athletics' financial foundation.
Under Mohajir's leadership, UCF Athletics has raised $157.6 million in gifts and commitments (as of January 2025), including four historic pledges of $5 million or more. These efforts reflect an ambitious fundraising strategy, highlighted by $21 million in major charitable pledge commitments, more than 500 major gifts, and surpassing 420 members in the Shareholders Society. Licensing revenue has also reached new heights, growing from $650,000 pre-COVID (FY20) to over $1 million in FY24, further bolstering the department's financial stability.
These strategic initiatives have allowed Mohajir to expand the department’s annual operating budget from $74 million in 2021-22 to an anticipated $117 million by 2025-26. The additional funds have fueled key projects, including securing an unprecedented $90 million Tourism Development Tax (TDT) commitment from Orange County for the construction of the new Roth Tower and launching Mission XII, a roadmap for UCF’s successful transition into the Big 12 Conference.
On the ticketing front, UCF Athletics has experienced remarkable growth, with five consecutive years of football season ticket sellouts and record-breaking ticket revenue across all sports, exceeding $20 million annually since 2022.
Faciltiy Enhancements & Vision for the Future
Mohajir’s 2021 presentation to the UCF Board of Trustees of a vision and action plan for the future of the Knights’ football campus proved to be a noteworthy precursor to the Big 12 announcement. That vision – now known as Mission XII – includes significant proposed new elements that will enhance the Knights’ ability to compete for football championships and benefit student-athletes and coaches in areas including injury care and prevention, hydrotherapy, recreation and premium seating. The campus will include creation of Nicholson Plaza, a football “town square” outside the southwest corner of the football stadium, with the highlight of that location to be McNamara Cove with a recovery river. That will be accomplished by moving one existing football practice field (west field) to the other side of the second (east field), creating additional space for Nicholson Plaza.
All those improvements will further refine a state-of-the-art plan for football facilities and support services within a concentrated locale on the northeast side of the UCF campus. The intent is to create a dedicated football campus that will consolidate the Knights’ facilities in the areas of housing, nutrition, sports medicine, sports performance, academics and career services.
Those proposed additions combine with several new elements added in the months after Mohajir came on board: replacement of existing synthetic grass in Nicholson Fieldhouse, outside painting of Nicholson Fieldhouse, all-new theming in the UCF football office areas and hallways and new seating and graphics in the Knights’ team meeting room. Additional improvements for other sports included a new video board and audio system for baseball, artificial turf upgrades at John Euliano Park, new player lockers and a new stadium audio system for softball and renovated locker rooms for the volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball programs. An additional series of planned facility upgrades and improvements will affect every other UCF sports program.
In total, UCF has invested over $26 million in facility upgrades across all sports during Mohajir’s tenure, including enhancements to FBC Mortgage Stadium and the groundbreaking on the new Roth Tower, set for completion in 2026.
On-Field Success
UCF Athletics has flourished under Mohajir with 14 American Athletic Conference championships between 2021-2023, equaling the previous five-year total. Teams have made 18 NCAA Championship appearances, with highlights including a Sweet 16 run in men’s soccer, an NCAA Super Regional in softball, and the Knights’ first No. 1 national ranking in men’s soccer in 2023. The UCF Cheerleading team also claimed its fourth national title in 2024.
Five days after his appointment as UCF Athletic Director, Mohajir hired Gus Malzahn, who had previously led Auburn to the Bowl Championship Series title game following the 2013 season. In his first season at UCF in 2021, Malzahn’s squad sizzled down the stretch, winning six of its final seven games and securing a 9-4 record, capped by a Gasparilla Bowl victory over Florida. UCF continued its success in 2022 with another nine-win season, an appearance in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game—its first appearance since 2018—and its seventh consecutive postseason invitation, this time to the Military Bowl. In 2023, UCF once again earned a spot in the Gasparilla Bowl, extending its streak to eight consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance.
Following Malzahn’s departure at the end of the 2024 season, Mohajir conducted an exhaustive and comprehensive search for UCF’s next head coach. After interviewing several top candidates, he selected Scott Frost, one of the most successful coaches in UCF history, who was introduced on Dec. 8, 2024. Frost previously served as UCF’s head coach from 2016-17 where he led the Knights to an undefeated season in 2017, an American Conference Championship and a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn before leaving to take the head coaching job at Nebraska.
Other on-field accomplishments at UCF include:
- Hosted the largest crowd in FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff history, with over 2.6 billion online and social media impressions for UCF’s game against Colorado in 2024
- 2023 and 2024 hirings of new UCF head coaches in baseball, rowing and volleyball
- NCAA first-round wins in women’s basketball & women’s tennis, volleyball and women’s soccer and another regional runner-up finish in softball
- First-team 2022 All-America recognition for Jada Cody in softball and McKenna Melville in volleyball
- First-team All-America honors for Rayniah Jones in the 2021 NCAA 100-meter hurdles outdoors, the 2022 NCAA 60-meter hurdles indoors and the 4x100 relay outdoors; Jones also garnered All-America honors at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships and won her 10th All-America honor with third-place finish in 100m hurdles
- First-team All-America honors for Asherah Collins in long and triple jump, becoming the first Knight in program history to garner AA honors in both events
- Eight teams cracked the top 25 in 2022-23 and more than half of UCF’s teams cracked into the top 25 in 2023-24, the first season in the Big 12
- In 2023-24, UCF was one of only three schools among the 2024-25 Big 12 conference members to qualify for the postseason in football, men’s basketball and baseball (Arizona, Kansas State)
- UCF was the only school among the four Big 12 newcomers in 2023 to make a bowl game
Other notable achievements during Mohajir’s tenure in Orlando include:
- An initial facilities audit that resulted in early improvements to baseball, softball and women’s basketball venues, $12 million in summer 2023 updates to Addition Financial Arena, the Venue and Knights Plaza, as well as state-of-the-art lighting and connectivity updates at FBC Mortgage Stadium entering the 2023 season
- Creation of a plan to combine multiple UCF collectives into the Kingdom to support NIL (name, image, likeness) efforts for Knight student-athletes
- Transitioning The Kingdom NIL to in-house revenue sharing (beginning July 2025), as UCF Athletics will be assuming direct leadership through a newly created unit focused on Strategic Competitiveness; this transition ensures that all UCF sports programs will benefit from rev share
- Rebranding of the Knights’ ongoing athletics fundraising and giving platform as the ChargeOn Fund
- Helping raise more than $11 million in commitments in his first year in Orlando, translating to year after year record fundraising and donor participation since Mohajir came on board
- Establishing excellence funds for all UCF sports programs
- Attaching his imprint to the Knights’ future football schedules with creation of a series with Florida
Arkansas State
During his more than eight years at Arkansas State, Mohajir achieved a series of significant accomplishments. He spearheaded record-breaking fundraising efforts, overseen major facility upgrades, and nearly tripled the athletics budget, which contributed to the school’s unprecedented success both academically and competitively. Under his leadership, the football team won four Sun Belt championships and played in a bowl game every year.
In total, the Red Wolves captured 25 conference titles across all sports during Mohajir’s tenure. His efforts also led to over $90 million in facility enhancements, including the creation of a new premium football seating area, tennis courts, an outdoor track, and a state-of-the-art operations center for student-athletes, which features locker rooms, a weight room, training areas, a lounge, and coaches’ offices. Academically, the program saw consistent record-breaking GPAs, culminating in a Sun Belt-leading 3.211 GPA in 2019-20. Additionally, Mohajir made several notable football coaching hires, including Bryan Harsin, who went on to become head coach at Boise State and Auburn, Blake Anderson, who later became head coach at Utah State, and Butch Jones, who assumed the Arkansas State head coaching role in December 2020. Arkansas State’s overall excellence was further demonstrated by its ranking among the top 12 programs in the nation for five consecutive Excellence in Management Cup standings, recognizing the school's ability to maximize fiscal resources and achieve championship victories.
Academic Excellence
UCF’s student-athletes continue to set a high academic standard, achieving a record-setting streak of 34 consecutive semesters with a departmental GPA of 3.0 or higher, including 11 straight semesters above 3.3. The department boasts a 94 percent Graduation Success Rate, ranking among the top three in the Big 12. In the fall of 2024, UCF student-athletes recorded the highest departmental GPA (3.43) in program history.
During his tenure at Arkansas State, Mohajir fulfilled a commitment to ensuring that every graduating student-athlete secured a job opportunity or admission to graduate school. For his final six years there, the Red Wolves achieved a 100% success rate in this initiative. He has since implemented the same program at UCF under the Knights Leadership Academy, with every graduate since 2021 benefiting from the program.
Mohajir served as a member of the prestigious College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee from 2019-21, and he has served on the NCAA Division I Championships Cabinet and the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee. He was appointed to the NCAA Division I Football Ad Hoc Recruiting Working Group which was formed to conduct a comprehensive review of Division I football recruiting legislation. In 2020 he was named one of the top five non-Power 5 athletic directors by Stadium, based on the success of head coaching hires in football and men’s basketball.
Mohajir previously was senior associate athletic director for external relations at the University of Kansas in 2011-12 and senior associate director of athletics for external relations at Florida Atlantic University in 2004-11. He served as assistant director of athletics for external relations at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1997-2004 and was a defensive quality control analyst, assistant offensive line and game-day special teams coach with Kansas football in 1993-97.
Mohajir earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management with a minor in business marketing from Arkansas State in 1993 and a master’s degree in sports management/psychology from Kansas in 1997. He was a starting safety on Arkansas State’s football team from 1990-92 – including the Red Wolves’ first season competing at the Division I/Football Bowl Subdivision level in 1992.
The Overland Park, Kansas, native is married to the former Julie Hammond, and they are parents of three children – Maria, Molly and Marco.
Terry Mohajir Through the Years:
| 1993-97 | University of Kansas | Assistant Offensive Line Coach/Game Day Special Teams Coach |
| 1997-2004 | University of Missouri-Kansas City | Assistant Director of Athletics/External Events |
| 2004-11 | Florida Atlantic University | Senior Associate Athletics Director/External Relations |
| 2011-12 | University of Kansas | Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Chief Marketing Officer |
| 2012-21 | Arkansas State University | Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics |
| 2021-Present | UCF | Vice President/Director of Athletics |
Updated: February 2025