You’ve got mail

It’s been an eventful week in Knight Nation, and it had nothing to do with the men’s basketball losing streak, the hot start for baseball, or the multiple on-campus tournaments hosted by softball. Nope, the news of the week was dominated by an email. If you were living under a rock or enjoying some time off of the grid, let me fill you in quickly.

On the afternoon of February 17th, a large group of football season ticket holders (allegedly 600 accounts per Terry Mohajir) received an email informing them that they were losing the ability to move seats based on a high number of ticket resales in the previous year. The letter went on to indicate that further sanctions were possible, including the loss of discounts or the forfeiture of tickets.

Literally minutes after the release of this email social media became flooded with comments and complaints, with many folks sharing their personal stories of giving tickets away to friends and family, not reselling for profit. The situation became even more strange with the inclusion of an appeals process that was shrouded in mystery and, of course, an ask for more generous donations.

In true Knight Nation fashion, the outrage only grew more significant over the next 24 hours, with many threatening to cancel their season tickets and donations to the program. Compounding all of this was complete and total silence on the situation by the UCF Athletics administration.

Some 24 hours after the initial email, UCF Athletics released a letter by VP and Athletics Director Terry Mohajir, who acknowledged that UCF had "missed the mark” in their communication:

What then followed was a bizarre walk-back strategy, which left many with more questions than answers. For example, Mohajir indicated that they had identified actual ticket brokers who were selling seat. However, UCF has chosen not to cancel those orders to alleviate the alleged 2,500 seat waiting list. In this case, why not remove “bad” customers and replace them with “good” customers? [Editors Note: Mohajir made reference to the 2,500 waitlist number also including current ticket holders who want to move to a new seat location, which would indicate that the waitlist number is not solely reserved for first time season ticket inquiries].

Ok, so now that you are caught up let’s dive deeper into this fiasco, which, in my opinion, isn’t solely about season tickets and brokers.

First, I’ll start by saying that this entire ticket email situation was totally avoidable and unnecessary. Full Stop. From start to finish, the UCF Athletics Administration did a poor job of execution, communication, and explanation. The lack of transparency and the early inaction caused confusion and uproar. The murky appeals process asking some long-time and die-hard season ticket holders to prove themselves worthy of tickets was tone-deaf and misguided. The walk-back and explanation strategy was awkward and confusing, and despite attempts to reach the fanbase directly, UCF leadership came across as more out of touch and unprepared. All told, UCF needs to have better oversight and planning from start to finish, and they are going to have to own the fact that they whiffed on this one.

However, I think this uproar and angst didn’t really have as much to do with tickets at the end of the day. Instead, I think this event proved to be the accelerant for an unspoken but palpable sense of a disconnect between the UCF Athletics Administration and the fanbase.

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘death by 1000 paper cuts’? That is the perfect way that I would sum up how this situation came to a head. There have been a handful of minor annoyances or grievances (and before any random free message board poster gets himself bent, let me reiterate that the majority of these items are indeed minor) that have made some noise over the past year, but each scenario individually hasn’t really been enough to blow up into a full on meltdown. But, if you add them all up, and throw in the completely idiotic email communication, well, now you are cooking.

Some examples: the Frankie Valli song, removing gold from certain jersey combinations, concession fails during events, audio/lighting issues at the Bounce House, announcing the end of the Kingdom NIL long before other schools, Gus Malzahn’s buyout, and perhaps most importantly, going 4-8 and 6-7 in football over the past two seasons.

All of this is to say, I think the UCF Athletics Administration needs to find ways to connect with the fanbase at large, and not just Shareholders or donors (though I understand why this is part of their strategy). Turn this embarrassing situation into a launchpad for increased communication, outreach, and connection with the fans. But do it in a way that is real, not in a way that feels like a forced and unorganized necessary evil. Here are some simple ideas to help get the ball rolling, many of which have worked here previously:

• Bring back the Charge On tour events in areas outside of Orlando, like actual South Florida, Tampa, and Jacksonville, as opposed to New York and Chicago

• Remember ‘Lunch with George’? Bring that back once a quarter, but rotate with UCFAA leadership as opposed to coaches to get diverse content and connection

• Grant the media access to interview players and coaches on more broad occasions. Allow the fans to get to know the folks inside the program. We might learn some fun things, like this gem from 2016

• ‘Strollin with Sami’ was another fun and engaging way to get to know players and coaches off the field, and while the Sami in this case has moved on to new career adventures, the concept was always solid. Use the in-house creatives to help drive the message by doing what they do best

• Create a 10 member focus group of common fans (not just shareholders) to use as a sounding board for upcoming events or communication. Let this group provide some feedback and perspective to help support or shape ideas or changes

• Focus on your operations - make sure you dial in the details and get the small, but important stuff, correct. Sloppiness and incompetence won’t help build a connective tissue with the fanbase

I’m sure there are countless other ideas that could be added by people smarter and more creative than I am, and I hope UCFAA finds a way to hear those ideas. Either way, the UCF Athletics Administration has an opportunity to re-frame the narrative and prove that this situation is the exception, not the rule. Let’s hope they take heed. Oh, and getting some wins on the board wouldn’t hurt either.

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The streak is over

The past four weeks for UCF Men’s basketball have been eventfully uneventful as the Knights dropped seven straight conference games and saw their opponents average 87.5 points a contest. The product on the court led to a lot of chatter off the court, especially surrounding Johnny Dawkins’ long-term future with the Knights. These whispers clearly got to the current team, as evidenced by Keyshawn Hall’s unsolicited tweet:

As of this writing, there has been no formal update on Dawkins’ status, but we do know he has a contract that runs through the end of the 2027 season. Another interesting note, the buyout for 2025-26 is $0, meaning both sides could have some decisions to make in the near future. And yes, I said both sides, as Johnny might want to control his own fate in this situation.

Either way, the Knights finally got a win over Utah, which ironically enough, led to the dismissal of their head coach.

If you need UCF Knights merchandise, then you need to hit up Alumni Hall. Whether online or in-store, you’ll find a large selection of all things UCF. Don’t forget, they always have 2 for $38 Champion T-Shirts as well.

The best of the rest

Never a dull moment around UCF, means never a dull moment for the Sons content machine. Here is what you may have missed:

Christian Simmons and Bailey Adams talk about ticket-gate, and attractive road trips, on a new Pegasus Podcast:

Eric Lopez and Trace Trylko put a bow on the ticket story, and looked at the UCF coaching staff in a new Around The Kingdom

Sons of UCF interns Nick Williams and Andrew Greig have been camped out at John Euliano Park covering UCF baseball, and they filed these reports:

Baseball superfan and Sons contributor Michael Theed also wrote an in-depth recap of opening weekend, which you can find on the Sons website

UCF freshman running back Taevion Swint held an NIL event at Portillo’s, where he met fans and donated proceeds back to his high school community:

Sons of UCF LIVE featured an interesting conversation with the Director of the Influencer Counsel (NIL) Dan LaForest and our own Ben Hazel on UCF hoops. You can check that out here

If you want unique college sports apparel made by fans for fans, check out Charlie Hustle. They have exclusive designs and products, and you can get 15% off non-sale items using the promo code TEN12NETWORK

Today I learned

The UCF Football coaching and support staff was announced for 2025, and it features several UCF alums, including Jordan Johnson, Travis Fisher, Ryan Callaghan, Drico Johnson, and Demetrie Brim. If you add assistant coaches McKenzie Milton and Sean Beckton Sr, this staff will have a very familial look to it.

Recently, the media also got to meet with Scott Frost and the coaching staff at a quasi-media day, and based on the interviews I’ve seen, I think there are a few coaches that you all will really like. We’ll be releasing the interviews in full over the next two weeks, but I’ve been posting snippets on our twitter account. Here are a few examples:

If you missed the post-session wrap-up, you can also find that on our YouTube page:

If you ever want to catch up on the audio versions of anything the Sons do, follow this link and find your favorite platform

That’s all folks

Programming note for the upcoming weeks: Trace and I have some work travel coming up (not together; we work at different places), so you’ll be seeing some other faces on our shows and platforms. We’ll try to keep the schedule as normal as possible, but sometimes life gets in the way.

I also appreciate your patience over the past few weeks, as I have been dealing with some things in my family that needed my attention. As much as I love what we do at the Sons, sometimes I have to remind myself that this is just a hobby.

In closing, we are grateful for everybody who supports what we do here at the Sons. We’ll try to keep on doing it for as long as we can.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

Charge On.