UCF has become one of the clearest examples of how quickly college basketball has changed under NIL, and Johnny Dawkins has been right in the middle of it.
The Knights have seen major roster turnover in both football and men’s hoops thanks to the transfer portal and the shifting eligibility landscape, and Dawkins has had to build again after last season’s breakthrough. He put together an all-new group, guided UCF to its best Big 12 season, and finished the job with a March Madness berth.
Now the challenge is repeating that kind of success with yet another revamped roster. Multiple key players moved on through graduation or transfers, leaving Dawkins to assemble a largely new team once more.
Dawkins addressed the NIL era on Oct. 5 during an appearance on the Take Da Bait Show, and he made it clear that the constant change hasn’t altered how he sees his role.
"For me, it's easy because my mission stays the same," Dawkins explained.
He added that revenue sharing and the other new layers of the sport have made him happy for his players, and he said he plans to keep pouring into them.
That player-first approach has helped build Dawkins’ reputation throughout his coaching career. It’s also part of why UCF appears to have confidence in him for the long haul. In late May, the school gave him a 3-year extension that runs his deal through the foreseeable future.
The new contract includes gradual salary increases over the next four seasons, with Dawkins set to make $2.1 million in 2025-26, $2.5 million in 2026-27, $2.6 million in 2027-28, and $2.7 million in 2028-29. It also comes with incentives tied to an at-large bid to March Madness, advancing to certain rounds and winning championships.
"Johnny has led our men’s basketball program with outstanding poise and class," UCF director of athletics Terry Mohajir said in a statement following the extension. "The stability and continuity he has provided have been, in my opinion, a major reason for the program’s growth.
As a result, we’re excited to extend his contract. He is a strong leader and an outstanding role model for our young men."
The recognition kept coming in early April, when Dawkins was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year. The award goes to the top head coach in Division I college basketball, and Dawkins became the only UCF coach in program history to win it.
He beat out several future hall-of-famers for the honor, including Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and UConn’s Dan Hurley.
Angela Lento, vice president of College Insider, Inc. and a member of the Jim Phelan award voting panel, said on the award’s official website that Dawkins’ work at UCF deserved more attention.
“I don’t think enough has been made about the job Johnny Dawkins did this season at UCF,” Lento said. “He assembled a roster that included some good players from mid-major programs and had a terrific season in the best conference in college basketball. If UCF won just a few more games, Johnny Dawkins would have been a finalist for every head coaching award.”
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UCFs Tight End Picture Just Changed In A Big Way
Caden Piening has quietly become one of the most important pieces in UCFs passing game, and his latest outing only strengthened that case. Against Oklahoma State, the tight end turned in a season-high performance with seven catches for 60 yards and a touchdown, giving the Knights a reliable target in a spot that has not always produced much consistency.
For UCF, the bigger significance is where Piening now sits in the tight end hierarchy. He has outplayed co-starter Dylan Wade this season and is drawing notice as a player with NFL upside, which gives Scott Frosts offense a different kind of dimension moving forward. Frost has been encouraged enough by what hes seen to point to the kind of growth that can change a position group, and that leaves Piening as one of the more interesting players to watch as the season goes on. [Read more 🡒]
UCF May Have Found The Receiving Spark It Needed Most
UCF has spent much of the season trying to sort out its passing game while working through injuries, so any sign of a reliable new target matters. Against Oklahoma State, Hornes gave the offense a needed lift with his route-running and ball skills, and his emergence added another layer to a receiving group that has been searching for consistency as the Knights move toward the second half of the schedule.
Hornes has been on the radar for a while, long before Saturdays breakthrough. He arrived with the kind of recruiting profile that suggested he could eventually become a difference-maker, and his early production is at least a reminder of why UCF invested in him. For a team looking to stabilize the offense, the bigger question now is whether this was a one-game spark or the start of something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]