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UCF Hires Athletic Director from Arkansas State with a History of Success

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Terry Mohajir, the University of Central Florida's new vice president and director of athletics, has excelled at hiring coaches who win championships, raising the money for first-class athletics facilities and support resources necessary to be nationally competitive, and fulfilling a promise to guarantee a job or graduate school admission for every student-athlete who graduates.

Mohajir (pronounced MO-HODGE-ER), most recently Arkansas State University's vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics, is one of 13 members of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, and he was named one of the top five non-Power 5 athletic directors in the nation by Stadium.
 
UCF will welcome Mohajir to campus on Wednesday and Knight Nation is invited to watch an introductory news conference at 12:15 p.m.
 
"Terry is a high-energy leader who has demonstrated success in raising a school's national profile by hiring high-quality coaches and developing outstanding facilities that enhance the experiences of student-athletes, fans and donors," said UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. "Most importantly, he cares deeply about student-athletes' success in competition, in the classroom and after they graduate."
 
"I'm excited for the opportunity to build on the tremendous momentum UCF's talented student-athletes, coaches and staff have established with the enthusiastic support of Knight Nation and so many generous donors," Mohajir said. "There's no doubt in my mind that together we will continue to construct the best athletics program in the country by providing exceptional resources and services to our students. I'm ready to Charge On with Knight Nation."

Mohajir's first job at UCF will be to hire a head football coach, and he has already started that process. He is known for hiring innovative, offensive-minded coaches.

He has established a variety of leadership and professional development programs for student-athletes, including creative offerings such as faculty-led study abroad programs.

While at Arkansas State, Mohajir's accomplishments include:

  • The school's football team winning four Sun Belt Conference championships and playing in a bowl game every year in his first eight seasons. Overall, the Red Wolves have won 25 conference titles in all sports during Mohajir's tenure.
  • More than $90 million in facility enhancements, including a new premium football seating area, new tennis courts, a new outdoor track and a state-of-the-art operations center for all student-athletes that houses locker rooms, a weight room, training area, coaches' offices and a lounge for all student-athletes. The operations center was funded entirely with $29 million in private money. 
  • Delivering on a guarantee that every student-athlete who graduates earns a job or admission to graduate school. The Red Wolves have achieved the 100 percent guarantee every year for six years. Student-athletes also consistently achieve school-record GPAs, culminating with a Sun Belt Conference-leading 3.211 GPA in 2019-20.

Mohajir is already at UCF full time. He will meet this week with many of our head coaches, staff and student-athletes. As part of these meetings, he will be seeking input about the qualities people want to see in a head football coach.
 
Mohajir, who was a starting safety on Arkansas State's football team and an assistant football coach at the University of Kansas, will aim to build on UCF Athletics' accomplishments, including:  

  • UCF's student-athletes have earned an overall GPA of at least 3.2 for eight consecutive semesters and at least 3.0 for 26 consecutive semesters.
  • Every UCF team competing in head-to-head sports posted a winning record the past three seasons – the only program in the country to accomplish that feat. 
  • UCF Athletics broke records with more than $35.5 million in gift commitments and $17.4 million in cash gifts during the 2019-20 year – a testament to the generosity of UCF donors. 

Mohajir previously was senior associate athletic director for external relations at Kansas and senior associate director of athletics for external relations at Florida Atlantic University. He also has served as assistant director of athletics for external relations at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and assistant offensive line and game-day special teams coach with Kansas.
 
Mohajir earned a bachelor's degree in sports management with a minor in business marketing from Arkansas State and a master's degree in sports management/psychology from Kansas.