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 and was also recently named to the Greater Orlando Sports Commission’s Executive Board of Directors, further strengthening his leadership presence within the region’s sports landscape.
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
Under Mohajir's leadership, UCF Athletics has raised nearly $230 million in gifts and commitments (as of June 2026), including an all-time high $52.8 million in gifts and commitments in FY25. For five years in a row, UCF Athletics has raised more than $40 million, never previously done in department history. In March 2025, UCF launched the Competitive Success Fund, a specialized philanthropic revenue-sharing initiative within the ChargeOn Fund designed to support the recruitment, retention and development of elite student-athletes while helping position the Knights for long-term success in the evolving collegiate athletics landscape. These efforts reflect an ambitious fundraising strategy, highlighted by record breaking major gift activity, the highest donor count in UCF Athletics history, and surpassing 500 members in the Shareholders Society. Licensing revenue has also reached new heights, growing from $650,000 pre-COVID (FY20) to more than $1.6 million in FY25, further bolstering the department's financial stability.
Mohajir has spearheaded numerous initiatives that have revolutionized UCF Athletics. 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 (now Acrisure Mortgage), branding the Knights’ football venue as FBC Mortgage Stadium starting in the 2022 season, and later rebranding the stadium Acrisure Bounce House in July 2025. Additionally, the extension of the basketball arena’s naming rights with Addition Financial secured $20 million, further solidifying UCF Athletics' financial foundation.
Mohajir also has positioned UCF as a national leader in the evolving Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) landscape. And as collegiate athletics also entered the revenue-sharing era following the House settlement, Mohajir guided UCF to fully fund the maximum allowable student-athlete revenue-sharing amount while also expanding scholarship opportunities across Olympic sports. He has also helped cultivate one of the nation’s most robust NIL ecosystems by leveraging Orlando's thriving business community, connecting student-athletes with more than 50 corporate partners and creating innovative opportunities that enhance both competitive success and student-athlete earning potential. Through a strategic combination of donor support, corporate partnerships and institutional investment, Mohajir has established a sustainable model that positions UCF to compete at the highest level of college athletics.
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 multiple sports. During the 2025-26 academic year, men's basketball, baseball and softball each established new program records for total and season ticket revenues, while football and softball generated the second-highest total ticket revenues in program history.
Facility 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.
Additional upgrades under Mohajir include replacement of the Nicholson Fieldhouse turf, new football facility branding and meeting room enhancements, a new baseball video board and audio system, turf upgrades at John Euliano Park, new softball lockers and audio system, and renovated basketball and volleyball locker rooms.
In total, UCF has invested over $26 million in facility upgrades across all sports during Mohajir’s tenure, including enhancements to Acrisure Bounce House and the groundbreaking on the new Roth Tower, set for completion in 2026.
On-Field Success
UCF Athletics has flourished under Mohajir with 20 conference championships, including 14 American Athletic Conference championships between 2021-2023, which equaled the previous five-year total. Since joining the Big 12, the Knights have recorded four Big 12 championships, two each in women’s tennis and rowing, and a Sun Belt title in men’s soccer. UCF teams have made 34 NCAA Championship team appearances since 2021, including a Sweet 16 run in men’s soccer, two NCAA Super Regional appearances in softball and men’s tennis, 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.
This past year in 2025-26, UCF made history with 11 of its 16 varsity sports qualifying for NCAA postseason competition. The 68 percent of teams qualified ranked seventh among the 16 Big 12 schools in only their third year in the conference, while seven of UCF’s eight spring sports were ranked at one point, the highest percentage of ranked teams among Big 12 schools. In March, men’s basketball returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 with a second straight 20-win season, and Mohajir rewarded head coach Johnny Dawkins with a new three-year contract extension.
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, the first season in the Big 12, 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 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, 2024 and 2026 hirings of new UCF head coaches in baseball, rowing, volleyball and women’s basketball
- NCAA first-round wins in women’s basketball, women’s tennis, volleyball and women’s soccer and another regional runner-up finish in softball
- Eight teams cracked the top 25 in 2022-23 and more than half of UCF’s teams ranked in 2023-24
- School record 11 of 16 teams qualifying for NCAA competition during the 2025-26 athletics season
- Seven of eight spring sports ranked in 2026, the highest percentage among Big 12 schools
- Thirty-four (34) NCAA appearances, including 25 since entering the Big 12
- UCF postseason participation across football, men’s basketball and baseball after its first season in the Big 12 conference in 2023-24
- 10 NFL draft picks since 2021, including first-rounder Malachi Lawrence in 2026 (Cowboys)
- UCF was the only school among the four Big 12 newcomers in 2023 to make a bowl game
- An initial facilities audit that resulted in early improvements across multiple venues
- Creation of a plan to combine multiple UCF collectives into The Kingdom to support NIL efforts
- Transitioning The Kingdom NIL to in-house revenue sharing beginning July 2025
- Rebranding of the Knights’ athletics fundraising platform as the ChargeOn Fund
- 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 (2012-2021)
During his more than eight years at Arkansas State, Mohajir achieved a series of significant accomplishments. He spearheaded record-breaking fundraising efforts, oversaw major facility upgrades, and nearly tripled the athletics budget, contributing to 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.
Academically, the program saw consistent record-breaking GPAs, culminating in a Sun Belt-leading 3.211 GPA in 2019-20. Mohajir also made several notable football coaching hires, including Bryan Harsin, Blake Anderson and Butch Jones.
Academic Excellence
UCF’s student-athletes continue to set a high academic standard, achieving a record-setting streak of 37 consecutive semesters with a departmental GPA of 3.0 or higher, including 14 straight semesters above 3.3. The department boasts a 94 percent Graduation Success Rate, ranking among the top three in the Big 12.
Mohajir has continued his commitment to post-graduate success through the Knights Leadership Academy, ensuring every graduating student-athlete has a pathway to a career or graduate school.
Mohajir served as a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee from 2019-21 and has held multiple NCAA leadership roles.
He 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/FBS 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: June 2026