reservation for six in the cabanas in 2017./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd after all the reminiscing on UCF football and basketball, we get into looking ahead to this season of UCF football with Coach Malzahn and some of his predictions for the season. Knights, I hope you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re ready for this one./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Broadcasting at UCF, you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been identified as like “The Voice of UCF.” The thing that people /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 I know for me, before meeting you personally here /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 I identify you. I know your voice. When I see it on television. When I hear it in commercials I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m like “There he is. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s him.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Yeah, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s cool to be recognized as that./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nI joke and say, “It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the only skill I have, so I better be good at it.” No, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m honored when people connect me and they hear my voice go, “Oh, UCF and everything.” It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a privilege to do what I do. So I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m honored when people come up and say, “Oh, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve listened to you. Or, I went to school at UCF and now my son or daughter goes to UCF.” I love that. It means a lot to me. So I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m grateful when people do that. And I love doing what I do./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re checking out at the Publix. Do you have people say, “Do I know you from somewhere?”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re the voice of every conversation or lately what I get is, “Are you the guy on TV?”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd I go, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201cYeah, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m UCF.” They go, “No, the guy selling cars and stuff.” Again, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m honored by that. I think it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s fantastic. And yeah, I love to meet people that say they appreciate your work./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: I watch a lot of late night television, like talk shows, so you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re always the lead in into it. And I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m like, “There he is. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the guy.” Like SNL is about to be on and you show up before it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s incredible. You work 30 years at a market and someone goes, “Yeah, they know you for a 15-second TV commercial.” But that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s okay. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s good./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Hey, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s better to be recognized for that for something else. So broadcasting, what got you into it?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nWhat was the draw for you into the broadcasting world?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Well, like a lot of people my age growing up, I was supposed to play professional baseball or basketball or football. I was supposed to be one of those stars and I was really good at baseball and thought that would be the path for me, but I started working in radio when I was 14 and was fortunate to have that opportunity and enjoyed it a lot./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd then when I got injured playing baseball and realized that perhaps was not going to be an avenue, then I pursued that path. And when I went to college, continuef to advance in it and being involved in sports was great for me. And just thought that was a good path and was fortunate to get some great opportunities and some wonderful people that helped open some doors for me. And I made the most of it working in radio and TV./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: It seems as though a lot of people, they maybe they have one idea, then they fall into another. One thing that we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve spoken a lot about on the podcast is the path can be uncertain, there are so many avenues that you can end at something that you find that speaks to me, sticks with me./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nWhen did you realize that you were like, “Oh, I have this voice.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: I was working in a radio in high school and I had a few people in the business a long time that said, “That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a pretty good voice that if you really want to make this a career, you got a chance to do that.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo then when I went to college and started working in radio and television it felt like this could be something for me and the voice thing was going to work and it just grew from there. I had an incredible passion for sports and then when I got a chance to call games, which was always what I wanted to do. Once I felt like, okay, broadcasting is going to be a path and whether it was being a reporter or hosting a talk show, but then calling games and then just the rush of doing that became really something./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
I said, “I want to see if I can make a career out of this.” And was fortunate to have some opportunities to develop./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s so interesting to see that, these things so young, these little things you dabble in and how they can just blossom./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. I grew up in a house where sports was so much a part of our life./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMy dad played minor league baseball for a couple of years. And I was born in New York. Our family, big New York sports scene fans. So the Yankees and the Giants, the Rangers, the Knicks and everything, and grew up listening to baseball on a little A.M. Transistor radio. And I idolized my dad and my older brother, who unfortunately passed away years ago. In my house you had to know the starting lineup /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 not just of the Yankees, you had to know of the names and numbers of almost every player in Major League Baseball. My brother would quiz me and go, “Okay, here/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the box score. Give me the 1974 lineup for the Chicago Cubs./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201d And I was 7 and I think I knew it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
So that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s where that passion came from. And then when you listen to games, cause now I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m going back to when ESPN didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t exist. So there was like one baseball game a week on TV that I got to watch. So you grew up listening to people call games and those magical voices at a time that A.M. radio was the thing. And you could be in New York and possibly pick up WGN in Chicago and hear a Cubs game or KMOX in St. Louis and hear the Cardinals./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And I think that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s where it began to develop. And as I got older and our family moved to Florida, I still loved the concept of perhaps getting involved in broadcasting. So I, like a lot of kids, you do mock games. You pretend, you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re at the plate and you hit that game-winning home run. So I guess that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the roots of it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: I bet that transferred over really well, memorizing all those cause then you have to memorize baseball, men/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s soccer, women/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s soccer, volleyball, football /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 of all the players here at UCF and the major names within the conference NCAA sports as a whole to be familiar with the name that somebody throws out to you./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. Every sport is unique in the way you broadcast it. And there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a certain I think presentation you strive for. Like football broadcasts for about six, six and a half hours. Basketball is different because it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a faster pace. Baseball/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a storytelling sport because there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s so little action in the course of what could be a three, three and a half hour game. So you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re sharing stories, whether it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s about the players or about your life and things that you connect with eliciting audience./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo every sport/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s unique and the way I prepare for broadcasts may be completely different than somebody else. And there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s no right or wrong way. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s just diving into the event /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 it really is a production and everyone/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s unique./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Yeah, definitely. So when you came to Orlando in 1989, which was a big year for Orlando sports. Orlando Magic right then, and then headed into that decade, UCF football became larger and larger. The Magic, you know with Shaquille O/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019Neal, Penny Hardaway, their playoff run in the mid /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201890s./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t the World Cup come here in /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201894?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s right. The World Cup. Wow. And the Olympics are right up in Atlanta right?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201896 in Atlanta. But we had Olympic soccer in Orlando./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s right. Wild. But during that, you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re here and you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re working to create one of Orlando/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s first all sports stations. What can you tell me about those days? Remember going back to there, getting it off the ground./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: I moved to Orlando in May of /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201889. Really taking a gamble. There was a job offer to me at a company called Florida Radio Network, which was just that. It was radio department that was distributing news and sports and features to affiliates around the state. And there was an opening to work in sports. But I came up here, I did some sports updates. I did news and a whole bunch of other things. And I took the job for $13,600 and it was just, okay, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to go do something, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s go do it. Came up here with very little and didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t make a lot of money, but I had a blast and then was fortunate to have an opportunity to do the sports talk show that was on the local A.M. station./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd it was the summer before the Magic were going to start. And the guy that had been doing that show took a job in Washington and they gave me a one-month trial. And then when they said I was going forward they gave me $20 a show, and I thought an extra hundred bucks a week, I am living the big life./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And yeah, that was the year the Magic started, in that fall and Orlando, it was different today. Now that today/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s worse. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m just saying back then, when the Magic rolled out it was like, “Wow, there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a pro sports team in this town.” There was a very unique connection with the fan base and the expansion team./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And then to be able to get Shaq, and then Penny, it was special cause it happened so quickly. But every home game was a big event. Going downtown if you went to the Magic game and then you went out afterward, or even before to get dinner, it was a big event /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 win or lose. Cause it was just, wow./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re coming to Orlando. That was a really big deal. And that was a fun, fun time in Orlando. And there was UCF, that was that football program and that athletic program and that university, that was nice, but it was the commuter school./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
When I came here to everybody said, “Oh, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a nice little commuter school.” I think when I came here, I think enrollment was like 16,000. And then when I started doing games in /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201895, I think it was like maybe 22, 23. And people are like, “Oh that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s really big.” And now look where we are /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 over 70,000./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s beautiful to see the growth of it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo when you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re here in Orlando, we have the Magic growing, UCF growing, do you look down to Miami or to Tampa and you say, “They have scenes there that are established.” And you say, “I want to stick to Orlando to watch it grow and flourish and develop.” Which it has now /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 Orlando City, UCF being this national brand here./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Yeah. Orlando was unique, as I said, because basketball was so new. And as somebody that moved to Florida, when I was 7 in 1974, you got to remember back then the Dolphins were new. That was it for pro sports. People didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t follow pro sports, college sports was bigger./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nThe closest baseball team was the Braves in Atlanta. There was no NBA. And then things began to develop. Heck, when I grew up in South Florida the most popular baseball team was the University of Miami/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s baseball team. When they won their first college world series, that was a major, not sports, that was a major news story. When they won their first national championship in football that was a big story. So I watched all these cities grow and as far as Orlando, the Magic kind of put it on the map. We became this international city that was known for more than just theme parks./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And all of a sudden you saw this sports explosion. I remember the bid process to get the World Cup here in /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201894. It was a really big deal. When Orlando landed that people were like, “Wait a minute. What?” And it was a vision by a lot of people, the mayor back then, and the kind of sports commission that was in place then./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
So it was a really big deal to watch it grow over those years to where now you see the success of Orlando City and obviously what UCF has become. And it still has a chance to grow. I know the pro sports landscape, the way Tampa is aligned makes it maybe difficult to envision another pro team, but who knows. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll see what the future holds, but it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been fun in the 30 plus years I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been here to watch it change./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Back in those early days, late /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201880s headed into the early /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201890s, what do you think was the success that you got this thing up off the ground and now seeing it flourish?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: As far as the radio station?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Yeah. When you were there, what did you think was the success for that?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Radio was changing and the sports radio format exploded. It used to be that major cities had sports radio stations, and then it began to grow as a few networks popped up along the way. And the timing was right. I was one of several people that helped formulate the first all-sports station. We put it on the air in fact, on New Year/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s Day. And we had some success early, some bumps along the road, but I think that there was a passion because Orlando is still is relatively unique. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a melting pot still have a lot of people, people like yourself, that were born here were unique in the sense, cause a lot of people came from New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and so forth that had moved here and it made it unique because if you were going to talk pro football, there are fans of the Steelers and Packers and Eagles and Giants and all sorts of things. And still today it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the same way./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo I still think that was always unique about Orlando sports wise for college. The Gators were the dominant team, but again, when people moving from other places. You had Ohio State fans and Michigan fans and people like that. But now you fast forward with the growth of UCF. Now there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a lot more black and gold around town./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Now there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s more Orlando City magnets on cars and things like that, which is great. It shows you how we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve evolved and how the market has grown. And you talk about TV market being a top 20 market, and probably the next decade, it will easily move inside the top 15. This is a major city./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Oh, yeah. Big time. A lot of it is very generational. You know like what I was saying with my parents and their experiences with the Magic. I have experiences with the Magic. When I was younger if you pass the FCAT you got a free ticket to the Dwight Howard era games. And I regret not going to more of those looking back then now, you know how it is./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nI was just at the Amway the other night for the draft and it was fantastic./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
You have yet to miss a UCF game. Correct?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Are you jinxing me now? No, this will be year 27 and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve done now over well, over 300 football games./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Respect for that. As I said, I have been, I remember the Citrus Bowl days headed on to, back at Bright House Stadium, headed onto what it is./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve missed a game or two. As a student I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been fortunate to go to a number. But in those, have you had any close calls where you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like, “Maybe I won/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t make it to this game?”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: No. In football, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been fortunate from a schedule standpoint that nothing takes a priority over UCF game day./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nTravel wise, I don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t think we ever got to a point that it was like, “No we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to get there.” I do think over the years, I think there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a couple of games that I did get to on a day of the game but it was never a race to get to the stadium for kickoff. So I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been fortunate when it comes to football, and I broadcast again, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve done two games in Hawaii. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve played a regular season game in Hawaii and the bowl game in Hawaii. I went to Ireland for the game against Penn State. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m fortunate between the football, basketball, baseball, and other events I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve done, I broadcasted over 250 campuses across the country. So I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been in, some of the most iconic football stadiums at Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan and Alabama to some of the most scenic places./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Everybody should have BYU as a bucket list trip because it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s absolutely gorgeous to watch a game there. Stanford, New Mexico people may not think so, but the mountains are great. Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, is a beautiful stadium. So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s not all the glitz and glamour of these major places. There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s some great campuses. There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s some that I don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t have a desire to get back to but for the most part, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s great. I love the opportunity to go to a new place and broadcast./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: And soon those people come to Orlando and they say you got a bucket list. Don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t just go to, Lake Buena Vista, go to Disney, and Sea World make sure you get out and see the city downtown./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nHead out /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: And it never fails when people come for the first time to experience a game day at UCF. I used to play for years. I still do. And I play this game when I travel. People see the UCF logo that I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m wearing and some will still go, “Oh, UFC.” And you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like, “No, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s UCF.” And they go, “Oh yeah, I think I know them.” And I always play the game is, ” Do you know how big our school is? The enrollment .” And they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like, yeah, “I think it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s pretty big.” and I usually set them up and go, “Florida is like 53,000. So how many you think UCF is?” ” Oh, then it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s probably like 30.” And then when you go, “No it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s 60 or 65 or 70.” Then they don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t believe you. Then they Google it and they go, “Oh, wow. I didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t know that.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd the same thing happens when people come and visit our campus on a game day and they didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t realize that, “Oh, wow. I didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t think this was going on.” From all the pregame tailgating and Memory Mall and the fans outside the stadium. And then inside into experience, when the team comes out and, moments before kickoff and things like that./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s great because they become walking billboards. When they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll go tell people, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201cyou won/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t believe what it was like at that place,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201d because until you experience it it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s hard to understand. And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s great. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s part of the growth of our brand. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s still is the message being sent out there./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s an Orlando event. A UCF game day is an Orlando event. Summer 2019, I was fortunate enough to get to visit Toronto and cities in Alaska, had a UCF hoodie on. People said “UCF.” People in Alaska. I met a bus driver in Alaska. He said, “Hey UCF, I have a friend who goes there. I know.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s funny and it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a credit, like Dr. Cartwright has even acknowledged it as well, the importance of an athletic program to this huge university and everything that we have going for it. So many wonderful things and the growth of our campus is incredible. But sports can help with that growth. I was fortunate, obviously to call every one of Tacko (Fall)/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s basketball games and to have him walk through an airport and to see people respond, not just because of his height, but then by the time he was a senior, to people know his story and have him meet people at an airport and speak in different languages because they knew that he was multilingual. And to take a photo, not because he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s this 7-foot-5 guy, but because that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s Tacko Fall. Like when we were in New York for the NIT finals and you walk down Broadway, which is every type of person in the world. But it wasn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t like, “Look at this odd guy.” It was like, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s Tacko Fall! So that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a sign of not just him, but also for UCF. And obviously the football success the last few years has also been a huge part of that growth of the brand. And you can go anywhere and people go, “Oh yeah, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s UCF.” That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s great./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Well Tacko recently on Jimmy Kimmel, it was so fun to see. And when I was at /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 to bring it back just to the Magic for a second, Tacko/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s first game for Boston, back in the Amway for a preseason game, I was there. Whole stadium, “We want Tacko. We want/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014” It was truly something./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: So as you said, UCF has had a lot of success, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve had continued success over the past years. Recently it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been a lot of eyes on us. Going back to your many years here at the university, what games stick out to you? What moments from years ago, recently, what can you just not get out of your head?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Wow. I guess I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m most known for the Mike Hughes kickoff return against South Florida in 2017 and reservation for six of the cabanas./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Where did that come from? That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s just top of the head?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Here/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s Hughes the 5, 10 15, 20 25, 30, 40 45 50. He/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s got a reservation for six in the cabanas. He/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s gone! Touch down, boom!/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nYeah. People ask, did have that written down? And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s not me./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
There are some announcers that may do that, and that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s fine. But I tell people what happened and with that play is Mike/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s back to return a kick and their kicker was really good at just kicking the ball in the end zone. And it was like, wait a minute, that ball is going to be returned./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
So that kind of caught me at first. Then Mike made a couple moves. And then, to me I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m watching and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m like, “Okay, he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s going to break free.” And then as he makes the last cut to get past the kicker, out of the corner of my eye, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m watching Knight fans celebrate. And I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m just seeing him run towards the cabanas./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s how that came about. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s like, he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s got a reservation for six in the cabanas because I saw that group jumping up and down and that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s how it happened. There was nothing else. And Mike did all the work. I just sat there, and called it. And yet I guess to some degree we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re forever connected over that, but there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been many great moments over the years./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
My first football game at UCF was Daunte Culpepper/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s first game in 1995. And I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve said this for all the years I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve worked /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s the greatest athlete I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve ever seen at UCF. Never seen an athlete like that. And we are blessed to have All Americans, Olympians and record holders, but Daunte was special. He was unique cause the time he came to UCF, as we were making that growth to become a Division I program, he was absolutely phenomenal. But there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been so many great moments over the years. The winner in Alabama, because of what it meant, to so many close calls of going on the road and playing all these teams and being in the game. And then to finally get one of those./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Obviously the 2013 team going to the first Fiesta Bowl was memorable. That team, big games there. The win at Penn State. Beating Louisville, the way they had the season going and getting to that first Fiesta Bowl. And Baylor was such an overwhelming favorite. And UCF just beat them in every part of the game./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Obviously the 2017 run. Look, the greatest eight quarters, the most exciting eight quarters of UCF football was the South Florida game followed by the Memphis game, which is like more than four quarters. So there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been so many wonderful memories, and even games that UCF didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t win to be able to go and broadcast from. You know were just a unique /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 a game that we did win, the first game at Navy. Just to go there and broadcast a game and have an appreciation for that campus and what it stands for./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
So I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been blessed to be part of some of those, in football, great moments. And the beauty about UCF is there are still so many other firsts to happen. So many places that have 100+ years of history, you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re trying to accomplish something that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been done. But we have so many wonderful firsts that are still out there. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s why I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m blessed, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m privileged to do what I do because I can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t wait for the next first to happen./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: You see so many people still talk about the Alabama kick, and you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re on social media and all these times these social media pages that are sharing highlights. You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll always find a UCF highlight in there. Blake Bortles amazing toss into the end zone. The Mike Hughes return. Oh my goodness. 2017, there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s one on YouTube. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s like UCF, USF all-time thriller 2017. It was like 100,000 views. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s incredible. Just the highlights of these games. I get chills thinking about it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve got a great fan base, so they love that./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll say, and then think about, like you said, what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s coming up, what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s ahead that a lot of these universities, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve had their moments of, “Wow, look at these guys.” And UCF hasn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t had that moment where this is the pinnacle./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Right./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: UCF is still climbing./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. I did an interview recently with somebody who asked me, “What makes UCF such a unique place?” They/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re asking about football. They, said, “What makes it such a unique place?”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd I said, “Imagine if you are able to go to work every day and they encourage you to be as creative as you can be. Just try stuff. Don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t worry about failing. If it doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t work, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll try something else and just think out of the box as you can.” If you think about that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what we become /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 different uniforms. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re pretty active on social media. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll get under the skin of our rivals and opponents. We don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t have a history that you have to act a certain way. We can go and be the life of the party where someone else goes, “I want to hang out with those guys cause they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re having the most fun.” I think that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s one of the biggest advantages that we have is that we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re still writing our history while others are upholding a history./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s why I think this is the best time at UCF. There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s still so many amazing things that are out there./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Very much agree. Someone shared with me once that UCF fans are so devout, as opposed to a lot of other teams in Florida, because most of the fans actually went there. The fans actually went there, the families that went there./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. And look, part of the enrollment growth at UCF did come from the other brands in this state that either A, maxed out on enrollment, changed whatever they thought their enrollment policies were and a generation looked at UCF /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 and I have a nephew that I think was part of that, where my brother went to Florida State, my sister-in-law went to Florida and he was likely going to go to one or the other. And then something happened. He came to UCF and he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s like, “All the buildings are new. All the dorms are new. What are these four-bedroom suites, as opposed to this aging double that I would live in a brick building that was built in the 1890s?” And other young people said, “Hold on, this campus is gorgeous. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s 40 minutes to the beach there. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s theme parks.” And then that enrollment explosion took place. He/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s got three kids that are going to grow up and likely become Knights. So you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re right. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s how all that developed. And we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re at the infancy of that. So as those thousands and thousands of alums begin to have families just imagine what happens to our fan base and the generations down the line./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: The marketing, they do it for us. People say, yeah, UCF exists rent free because it is such a, beautiful school, like you said, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s so creative. We have such an amazing social media team that works and gets the name out there. The faces out there, the people you recognize them./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: But again, we can do things that other schools would be a little bit uncomfortable with. Again putting Twitter handles on the back of jerseys at a spring football game made people, “Go wait a minute. What?” And don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t think for a second, some major brands are like, “That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s really cool, but we probably can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t do that because that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s not our zone./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s really cool about us is that we can try things like that. And our space uniforms are so cool. And everybody these days has multiple uniforms. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re among those that are like, “What are they wearing next?” When we rolled out our uniforms on game day that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a really big deal to our fans and a lot of other places like, “Oh, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s cool.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: You see there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a picture where it says like all the different uniforms and everybody would say, “This is my favorite. I like this combination, this helmet, these pants, these shoes. I have my personal favorite and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m certain, you could talk to people, they might have their personal favorites. They might not be for the same reason, you have a memory attached to it. Like you said, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a big deal when you see them coming out of the tunnel. I love it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo speaking of the players, what about off the field? Players that you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve gotten to know personally, how have your experiences been, speaking with the people behind the jerseys?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Yeah. I tell people all the time the best promoters of UCF are our students, our athletes, and the wonderful people in the campus. Their stories are amazing because there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s so many different stories of those that have traveled far and those that are here local, that grow up and want to be Knights. And I get it when I meet players that come back with their families and, say, “Wow Marc, I remember your calls or talking and listening to you or a conversation on a flight or something like that.” And some of those players were All-Americans have gone to play professionally and others were role players that hardly ever played. And it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s great to meet them because we have so many wonderful stories in all of our sports. And there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s some players that I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve really enjoyed getting to know over the years that have gone on to be successful./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nOne of the biggest hugs that I got recently /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 Latavius Murray, who starred here at UCF and is still having a great career in the National Football League. Every time, I get a chance to see and catch up with him to get a huge embrace and players that were part of those first teams. The first bowl team in 2005 and all those guys that went to the NFL. Brandon Marshall has gone to be one of the best receivers in the NFL. And any time I still see Brandon, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s as if he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a freshman again /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 and by the way that freshmen play defense. To remind people, we were so injured and thin at defensive back then that he and Mike Walker later, Mike Sims-Walker, played defense for us back then. But yeah, those are great to to meet people./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Like I said, I love meeting players who go, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201cI want to introduce you to my children./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201d It makes me feel old, but I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m honored when that happens. And those are great stories that you connect with those people and they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll be friends for life./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Do you have a moment or a memory that sticks out to you?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. The first thing that sticks out to me, the Griffin twins and Shaquem Griffin and to see the impact that he had on families of teams that we played on the road. I was able to witness families bring children that have some real difficulties in life /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 not able to walk or other issues that are gonna make their life a little bit more challenging. And to have him take the time, even though they may be wearing the colors of the team that he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s going to play in a few hours, and to sit down and look them in the eye and make them smile and make them feel like, you know what, you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re no different than me and if somebody else says you are different, understand that you can strive to be something./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAnd I got to watch both of those brothers realize the impact that they could have on people. And to see Shaquem sometimes bend down to talk to a child in a wheelchair or with braces and make them smile, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a lot more than the final score of a football game. And to see a mother in tears because they hadn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t seen their child/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s smile, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s powerful. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s far more than, who won and what was the stat sheet today? And I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll never forget seeing that multiple times watching him do that. I remember at the Peach Bowl there was a media session that I was at that he was a part of and we came out of that and there was a family right there with a young daughter that she was in awe being able to meet him. So you don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t forget stuff like that./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s bigger than the game./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah, Yeah, absolutely./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Yeah. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a beautiful story. You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re right that the students, student-athletes, they represent UCF so well, they take it with them and they are the brand. They are the face./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: And it doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t matter the sport. We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re in an era where I think people really, I hope they do understand, our student-athletes love to represent this university. I mean, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re incredibly passionate about winning championships and engaging with fans and giving back. And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a testament to our coaches. You have incredible coaches and we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been fortunate to have great athletic leadership, like we do now with Terry Mohajir and his staff and our players I think really feel that. And you see that./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nIn the field, no matter what the sport is I think our players like everything that we just talked about, like being a little bit different, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re on the edge and maybe the opponent doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t really like us and things like that. I think they embrace that situation and environment./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Since we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re here recording this, the practices for the fall season have begun./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yup./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: What/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s on your mind? What are your predictions for this coming fall? New leadership, same amazing players, and some amazing new faces coming in, too./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll be very exciting. Coach Malzahn has come in and I think he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been phenomenal at bringing his experience over the years as a head coach and setting up a culture and environment that he wants, accountability for the players and expectation of the players, competition, and things like that. But I think he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s also embraced everything we were talking about of what makes UCF unique. He came from a place with a lot of tradition, did things a certain way, and people kind of wondered is he going to understand what is that UCF image and that kind of attitude. And he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s actually really embraced it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nListen, who doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t want to come and play here in the sun, the fun that we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to have, this great campus, the theme parks, the partnerships we have there, the beach over here? And he wrapped his arms around that, jumped on social media, started telling everybody what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s so great about this. Use it in recruiting and I kind of wonder where that would be. And he blew me away with how much he said, “Listen, I get it. And I know what our advantages are without even playing a game.” So I think he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been great with that. He hired a really good staff./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Look, the expectations are high for UCF, and I think that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s good. The team has a chance to be really good. It brings back a number of key players from last year. We lost a lot of key players from last year/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s team. But Coach Malzahn has brought in a group of transfers that I think could have an immediate impact. Some freshmen that I think we brought in this class are going to step in and help./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
So I think we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to be a team that has a chance to win every game. Doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t mean you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re guaranteed to win every game, but I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m not quite sure there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a game you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like, “Hey, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re just that much better than us.” I think that you want to get to a level that you feel that way about your program and believe me, I remember the days you were like, “We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re here to pick up a check and stick around.” But this team has the chance to win every game./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And I will say this, that over the years, because of our accomplishments and our reputation, when we go on the road, everybody wants to beat UCF. Everybody wants to beat UCF. And you know what, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what you want. You want that where you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re the big ticket in town. When you come to town, People are like, “Oh I don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t like them. I want to root against them.” And you play a brand of football that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s also exciting. So I think it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s got a chance to be a really great 2021 season, but understand you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to get everybody/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s best game week in and week out./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what the fans want. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m certain for yourself to announce those are the most fun. The ones where maybe the nail biters, the one when you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re on your edge, you don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t know what to expect./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah, exactly. And who/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s going to make the big play? Who/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s going to become the highlight for that day? And I think we got a chance to have a lot of those big plays this year. Obviously, Dillon Gabriel/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a special quarterback and he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll have a big year. The entire offensive line is back. And even though we did lose some players, the backfield and wide receiver. We have a ton of talent there. I think the defense is going to be a lot better with some of the additions the coaches brought in./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nSo the stage is set and it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a huge first big game. Boise State/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a really good team, a heavy favorite to win their conference. Great. I mean they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re 20 years into this run of being a heavy favorite every time out, of double digit wins and things like that. So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a great matchup./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: That home opener in September. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m counting the days. The energy there is going to be like nothing else. Coming out of last season where limited capacity of fans to have the whole place back and bouncing./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. We think that there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll be a record demand for student tickets and everything, and you can feel that now. Obviously the stadium is selling out and it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll be a special place because we know when that place is packed the crowd can make a difference. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s one of the reasons why it is hard for us to get home games. Everybody/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s asking about schedules and it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s hard to get teams to come here and play because the reputation is it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a tough place to go win./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: They know. They/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re aware of the energy that the students, that the fans bring./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Absolutely./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s no place like it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nIn your perspective, we were talking about football here, so far what have your impressions been? Terry Mohajir and Coach Malzahn./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Marc Daniels: Terry is one of the most energetic people you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll ever come across./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nIt/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s hard to spend 10 minutes and not leave excited with an adrenaline rush of, “Okay, what can I do?” So I can see why his personality is contagious. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve been so impressed the way he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s come in, and also has embraced the culture of UCF, see what the vision is, add to it his own ideas on how to help the UCF brand grow, and so he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s been great. He, I think was the right person, the right time for UCF. And I think loves what the UCF opportunity is. So he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s brought in some great people that have worked with him before, as well as embracing some of the people that have been here./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
One of the management things I love about Terry is that he encourages creativity. Give me some ideas, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s go get some stuff done, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s go have some fun, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s be successful and let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s go do it. You know, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s not procrastinate, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s go do something. I love that about him./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And same when Dr. Cartwright came in with a vision and a challenging first year, obviously with COVID, and fortunate to get a little bit of time with him and to hear him talk about the vision for UCF, I mean as big as we are now, and where he wants to take it. So to have that type of leadership is great and not saying, “Hey, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll live off the success of the past. We want to keep growing.” So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s awesome./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
And like I said, I think Gus has been great to come in and also welcome that personality. And then there are great coaches and athletics /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 and I hope people have had a chance if you haven/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t to meet all of our coaches. We have an amazing group of people that is really special to have at UCF. And I know Terry recognized that quickly coming here. We do compete for championships all the time and it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s because the loyalty of a lot of these coaches that say, “Hey, this is a great place to be at.” So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a really good vibe right now./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: From the interviews that you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve done with both of them, and from my speaking with President Cartwright, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve seen this overarching theme of group think. That I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m not 100%. I want to hear from everybody. I wanna hear from all of y/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019all what you have to say. Who can contribute? So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s not just this one-track mind, cause you all know something that I don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t, let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s work together and go forward with it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Again, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ve had a chance to talk with Dr. Cartwright a couple of times. But the feedback I get from others is exactly that, that he is all ears. And absorbs that and then says, “Okay, what do we all think is best for us?” and then I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll take the leadership and then we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll go from there. I think Terry has been the same way./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nTerry certainly has a vision of what he wants UCF to be, but realizes he needs other people to come aboard for the ride. And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s again, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s part of the great thing about UCF is that we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re paving the roads of our future. And both of those individuals in their leadership role realize if we lock arms and keep growing, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re going to be unstoppable. Which is great because, you know, you always wonder, people coming from other places had their habits of doing things and do they get what we are, but yet they bring an expertise that says, “Here/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s how we can get there even faster and be even bigger.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: One thing I appreciate about both of them, and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll go back to this transition for the new coaching staff and the new athletics director, it happened very fast. There was some speakings of it, but it happened very fast. And from the moment that I saw that video of Terry Mohajir doing the pushups on the plank on top of the crowd, if you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re familiar, I said /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: At Arkansas State./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: At Arkansas State, yes. I said, “That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s UCF.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: That or the TikTok videos with his kid. Yeah, because you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like, “Okay, that guy, yeah with us and everything is going to fit and everything.” And like I said, his energy is fantastic. He just has a great passion that it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s hard to be around him and not feel the same type of passion, which is great./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: What I love so much about UCF through the brand, and the idea, and the coaching, and the student-athletes they have personality and a sense of humor about themselves./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: They understand. They take their job seriously, but not themselves too seriously that they can understand that it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s OK to crack a joke every now and then, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s OK to bring your personality to the table. And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what I love seeing every time with all these people. It makes the students feel more involved with it that they say, “They/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re like us. They understand and they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re not stern in their ways, that they can let loose a bit.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. And it stretches far beyond athletics. There are some historical sites on this campus, but it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s interesting. You could walk on some campuses in the state or across the country, and someone can tell you the story of that building from 1797. You can walk across some bodies of water and someone say, “I remember fighting to get a duck in that pond right there because that was so important. And that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s, what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s unique about UCF.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s I love it. So now, Marc, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m going to turn the tables on you and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m going to shoot you some lightning round questions./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m ready./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: You ready?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Let/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s do it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Alright. Alright. Here we go. Football or basketball?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Neither, I can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t pick one or the other. You can/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t do that. Football is unique because, again, the presentation from a broadcast standpoint, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s six, six and a half hours. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s an entire week really preparing for broadcast. Basketball it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a two and a half hour broadcast. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s fast pace and from one game you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re onto the next game. They/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re each unique in their own way./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Good answer. Citronaut or Knugget?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Oh./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: I know. I know. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s almost blasphemy, but what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s your answer here, Marc?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Wow. I do like Citronaut a little bit more. Knugget/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s adorable, but Citronaut is /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014 so many people ask, “Why don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t we switch that?” I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m like, “No, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s what makes Citronaut unique is that, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s there, it comes once in a while and everything and it just kind of goes away.” But again, that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s also part of, what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s really cool about us. You can have all those things. I do love Knugget, but Citronaut is pretty cool./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: How can you not love both? We/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re simultaneously Knight Nation and /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2018Naut Nation./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Ready?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yup./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Vacation or staycation? We do live in Orlando./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s probably staycation. Just because of my schedule, my wife and I don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t do many trips. So it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s more staycations, maybe a day trip somewhere and everything because I do travel a lot. If given some free time to relax and not do much it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s probably a staycation. There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s a lot of great places around here and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m a theme park guy too./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: During the athletic seasons, do you say, “Alright, nobody planned a wedding, nobody have a baby. Busy, Saturdays, game days./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: I got married in June and my daughters were born in March in May. So you know /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Not a Saturday in October right? Not a Saturday in October. Alright, night or morning?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Wow, morning and I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll tell you why, because I love getting up and saying, “What is today going to be about?” And go tackling the day./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Alright, I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m going to reality TV or dramas?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nI/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019ll answer reality TV because I think junk for the brain once in a while is healthy. And it is a little guilty pleasure with my wife sometimes watching some of the reality TV that she may watch. But I say this as someone that was in the audience at the first ever Survivor final./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
Alex Cumming: Really?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: So that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s where it started. Yeah, my wife and I went to Hollywood for the first one, when Survivor was Survivor and we were in the studio audience for the first ever final. So I guess that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s where the reality TV bug started. I never want to be on one of those shows, would never do any of those shows, but then I get a chuckle out of it. And scripted reality TV is hilarious and I just find it totally funny. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s fantastically bad./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Big time. I totally agree. Are you a savory or sweet man?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Used to be, but sweets for the most part are gone. This is somebody that lost 70 pounds a few years ago, so now I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m a nutritious nut. Once in a while, I would treat myself. But sweets used to be one of the downfalls. Sweets are great, but I just don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t do it as much./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: I hear that. Now you/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019re traveling a lot. Window or aisle seat?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Claustrophobic, so I have to sit in the aisle./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Oh./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Yeah. The aisle/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s really big. You do not want to be on a flight with a window with me cause you likely wouldn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t get me on that flight. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019d wait until the next flight. Yeah. And it wasn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019t always the case. It actually happened on a flight back from a UCF basketball game. And I just had a moment where a panic attack and it was, “Whoa.” And since then I have to sit in the aisle. Yeah. Plus I want to be near the beverage cart. It/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s just so much fun/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: Reaching over people that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2014/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: Well there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019s nothing like watching a group of individuals just respond to, “Wait a minute. Is that a bag of pretzels and a half a can of soda? Because I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/u2019m lined up for that.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nAlex Cumming: “For me?”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/nMarc Daniels: “I have a choice? Unbelievable.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/122397/n
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