Big 12 Meetings, Orlando style

The Big 12 conference held its annual spring meetings in Orlando at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria hotel this past week. Coaches from men’s and women’s basketball, football, and athletics directors took part in week long sessions with Big 12 leadership, including commissioner Brett Yormark. As part of the festivities, UCF made head coaches Sytia Messer, Johnny Dawkins, and Scott Frost, along with VP and Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir, available for questions.

Let’s start our recap of these conversations with Terry Mohajir, who met with the media on Thursday afternoon for a 30 minute session that covered a variety of topics. Some interesting details emerged, including:

• The Bounce House would be renamed due to organizational changes within the parent company of current sponsor, FBC Mortgage

• The current construction project involving Roth Tower is tracking to be completed on time, and at this point will come in at, or under, budget

• It is fully expected that UCF will fund the full rev-share number of $20.5M when (or if?) the House settlement is approved

• Big 12 football coaches and AD’s support a 5AQ + 11 at-large playoff model

• Mohajir believes that the current UCF defensive personnel is the best he’s seen in his time at UCF

• Mohajir says that the expectation for men’s basketball is to make the NCAA Tournament this year. He believes that the program is much better than it was when he arrived

• UCF’s resources for men’s basketball are comparable to other Big 12 schools, according to Mohajir, and he believes that should allow UCF to be competitive

• Mohajir offered a non-committal answer when asked about Johnny Dawkins’ contract, which essentially has one option year remaining beyond this season

Perhaps the most interesting comment from Terry Mohajir came when asked about the departure of UCF basketball center Moustapha Thiam and assistant coach Mamadou N’Diaye, and their eventual signing with conference rival Cincinnati. Actually, calling Mohajir’s response a comment is inaccurate, largely because he paused for 13 seconds and looked visibly conflicted on how to respond at first. What came next was a mostly high road answer, highlighted by stating he did not seek any remedy from the Big 12 conference, and that “this has been going on in college athletics for half a century”.

If you aren’t sure what Mohajir is referring to by “this”, it is alleged that Thiam was shopped to schools by N’Diaye with the understanding that he be hired as an assistant coach (read more here).

Due to the allegations of impropriety, many within the fanbase have been clamoring for UCF to take a hard-line stance and fight back, either in the court of public opinion or the court of law. Mohajir’s comments, or lack thereof, clearly indicate that UCF is not interested in pursuing this situation any further. While this is probably a frustration for Knight Nation, Sons of UCF legal correspondent Michael Hoffman says there is likely a good reason for UCF to take this approach:

This isn’t to allege that UCF has anything to hide, but it’s probably worth pointing out that the same coach in the middle of this drama was employed at UCF for four seasons. What’s that old saying about a tiger not changing stripes?

Check out the full interview:

UCF Football coach Scott Frost also spent some time with the media and shared his thoughts on his first five months in the role. Here are some notables:

• Frost is glad the portal windows are closed because of the stress it causes. He is excited that he now has a finalized roster he can coach

• When asked about progress for this team, Frost commented that he wants to see the team in better condition

• With 60+ new players since January, Frost believes UCF has had the most roster turnover of any P4 school

• Frost is very happy living in Orlando and being back at UCF. He is looking forward to having his family join him full-time

• The QB competition is still wide-open, and the guy who gives them the best chance to compete will get the job

• While not specifically aware of his inclusion in the EA Sports College Football 2026 video game, Frost did share that he once appeared on the cover of a game back in 1998. Note: Matt Murschel from the Orlando Sentinel later reported Frost, along with coordinators Alex Grinch and Steve Cooper, will appear in the game

Check out the full interview with Scott Frost:

You can also watch the interviews with Sytia Messer, Johnny Dawkins, Bill Self, Kelvin Sampson, and Brett Yormark:

The law firm of Werner, Hoffman, Greig, and Garcia are the title sponsors of the Sons of UCF. With a combined 120 years of legal experience in veterans benefits and workers compensation cases, WHG’s knowledge and service are unmatched. Check them out if you need legal advice:

The Best of the Rest

Missed anything from this week? Get caught up now:

Trace Trylko and I dusted off the old Sons Today show, which will be a staple of our content strategy over the summer. It will air live on Thursday nights at 9pm, and if you missed last week, check it out here

The dynamic duo of Christian Simmons and Bailey Adams crafted a new episode of the Pegasus Podcast:

Around The Kingdom with Eric Lopez and Trace Trylko released a new episode this week

And don’t forget about Around The Kingdom Overtime, with me, Eric, and Trace. It’s available only in audio:

Alumni Hall is the go-to spot for all of your UCF merchandise needs. They have something Knights related for every occasion, and every member of the family. Check out their physical location at 4100 N. Alafaya Trail, or visit them online:

Today I Learned

There always seems to be a conversation about UCF’s financial health and where it stacks amongst the Big 12. This week, Jeff Fuller, a contributor to ESPN960 in Utah, shared these financial figures on Twitter:

The data shows that UCF’s revenue grew ~$5M over last year, which is less than the four schools in their 2023 entry class. This is relevant because all of those schools are still receiving modified shares until the 2025-26 athletic year under their entry agreement. UCF is also ranked 15th out of the 16 Big 12 schools, ~$122M behind conference leader Kansas.

During his media address at the 2025 Spring Meetings, Brett Yormark revealed that the conference would be distributing $558M to its member institutions. UCF is projected to receive ~$19M for its 2024-25 distribution.

Youth sports have become a year round endeavor, and if you are in need of gear for your squad, be sure to check out Florida Football Prep. They can also make sure you get your footballs in peak shape by using this conditioning process

Also, check out their podcast, The Quarterbacks Room, with JC and Miles

Cow of the Week… and more

This week, somebody accused us of creating a clickbait headline on the Around The Kingdom episode. It’s clear that person didn’t actually bother to watch the show to see that we were reacting to an actual quote from Scott Frost regarding Gus Malzahn. However, in 2025 it’s not surprising to see someone toss out an opinion without actual knowledge or information.

Anyway, if you want to see what clickbait actually looks like, check out this headline from a website called Essentially Sports.

Which was derived from this short we posted on YouTube:

All of this brings me to a point about the Sons and our content and strategy. First, I personally can’t stand clickbait and engagement farming headlines being used disingenuously. And despite the fact that multiple YouTube content strategy consultants have told me that punched-up headlines can fuel growth, I still resist going all-in on this approach.

Second, me and the folks who work on content for the Sons are really proud of what we do and how we do it. We try hard to produce fun, engaging, informative, and entertaining content consistently, and we hope that you like it and will keep coming back to watch or listen. What I do not feel the need to do is brag about what we’ve accomplished or make outrageous or dishonest claims about who we are. That means you’ll never hear us say we are number one, or the best, or the only, or that certain athletes love us, or that we have specific numbers of viewers or listeners, etc etc. It’s just not in my DNA to do that, so I’ll leave that for the other shows. What we will do is continue to put in the work, and hope that you will follow along.

Lastly, we do want to continue to find ways to grow what we do to reach more fans of UCF, the Big 12, and college sports. Over the summer, you might see us lean into more Big 12 focused content as a way to interact with some other schools and fans. UCF will always be our core, but we also want to use our platform to introduce more people to the Knights. If at any point you think it is too much, or if you have any feedback in general you would like to provide us, please feel free to send me an email: [email protected]. If you are reading this, I consider you part of our core supporters, and I welcome your perspective.

As always, have a great week, and take care of yourselves and each other.

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