Entering his sixth season at the University of Central Florida, George O'Leary has led his football Knights to two Conference USA Championship games, including the 2007 C-USA league championship and a historic trip to the prestigious AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29 in Memphis, Tenn.

O'Leary is a veteran program builder. Both on and off the field, he has succeeded in turning UCF football into a model college football program. UCF is now a place the top prospective student-athletes want to visit and for competitors to acknowledge.

Like any coach, wins are what matter most, but certain things have to fall in line for one to be successful. A major piece of that 2007 season success was the move into the brand-new on-campus Bright House Networks Stadium at the start of the campaign.

Building a stadium on-campus had been discussed several times before O'Leary arrived at UCF, but it was not until his arrival that UCF made this great step forward.

With his efforts and those of the UCF Athletics Association and University administration, the time frame for completion of the 45,000-seat venue saw a significant change from a once-estimated 10 years to a completion date right before this season's first home game - 18 total months.

A record number of fans have attended UCF home games in its inaugural season on-campus. They have watched UCF go a school-record 10-3 this year and claim its first C-USA league championship with a 44-25 win over Tulsa in the recent Bright House Networks Conference USA Football Championship. The Knights, who won their second division title this year, will make their second appearance in a postseason bowl game in the last three seasons.

UCF also enjoyed similar success during O'Leary's second season in 2005, when he engineered the fourth-best turnaround in the history of college football. It was just one year removed from a winless debut in 2004 that O'Leary coached the Knights to an impressive 8-5 record that included an East division title after going 7-1 in league play. UCF not only appeared in the inaugural C-USA championship game but hosted it as well, then qualified for the first bowl berth in program history, a trip to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. The Knights were just the sixth team in NCAA history to go to a bowl a year after going winless.

The turnaround was nothing short of amazing and the college football world took notice. O'Leary was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in addition to being named National Coach of the Year by CBSSportsLine.com and SportsIllustrated.com.

Facing an 11-game schedule with just four home games, O'Leary's UCF squad also became just the fourth team in NCAA history to earn a bowl berth while playing seven road games in an 11-game schedule.

O'Leary has reshaped the UCF football program in every facet - from improved academic results in the classroom to overall team discipline on and off the football field.

Since moving to Division I-A status in 1996, the Knights posted their highest fall semester GPA in 2004 with a 2.857. Under O'Leary's direction, the team's overall GPA has been on a steady rise, including a team record 3.035 overall GPA during the 2007 summer semester. When he inherited the program in 2003, the GPA was at an all-time low of 2.018. Forty-eight Knights have graduated since his arrival and junior safety Sha'reff Rashad was named to the inaugural Conference USA All-Academic football team in 2006.

Rashad, who was one of 41 Knights to earn a spot on the athletic director's honor roll with at least a 3.00 GPA in the fall of 2006, earned the school's highest academic honor for an athlete when he was named the UCF Male Scholar Athlete of the Year for the 2006-07 academic year. Rashad became the second-consecutive football player to earn the honor after Dan Veenstra in 2005-06.

Prior to UCF, O'Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech from 1994-2001, serving as interim head coach for the final three games of the 1994 season. The 2000 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year at Georgia Tech, O'Leary was named ACC Coach of the Year for the Yellow Jackets in 1998 and 2000.

During his seven-year stint at Georgia Tech, O'Leary guided the Yellow Jackets to a 52-33 (.612) record, including five bowl appearances. From 1995-2001, Georgia Tech recorded five winning seasons in six years, including the 1998 ACC Co-Championship and an appearance in the Toyota Gator Bowl on New Year's Day.

O'Leary's Georgia Tech teams won at least seven games four times during his tenure, including a 10-win season in 1998 and nine wins in 2000.

Prior to coming to UCF, O'Leary served on the coaching staff of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL for two seasons. Prior to his departure for UCF, O'Leary served his last year with the Vikings as the team's defensive coordinator in 2003. In his first season with the Vikings in 2002, O'Leary guided the defensive line into becoming the strength of the Minnesota defense. As assistant head coach, he was a sounding board for first-year head coach Mike Tice for such things as practice planning and team issues among others.

Under O'Leary's direction, defensive tackle Chris Hovan emerged as one of the top players in the game at his position. He finished the season with a team-high 36 quarterback hurries and was selected to the Sports Illustrated All-Pro team. The Vikings rushing defense moved up to 10th in the NFL (was 30th in 2001) behind the strong play of Kenny Mixon, who finished the season with a defensive line-high 82 tackles.

Prior to his stint with the Vikings, O'Leary left Georgia Tech and was named head coach at Notre Dame in December 2001.

One trademark of O'Leary's tenure as a head coach has been the quality and experience he has had on his coaching staffs. While at Georgia Tech, O'Leary had three assistants work under him that later garnered head coaching jobs. Ralph Friedgen (Maryland), Randy Edsall (Connecticut) and Ted Roof (Duke) all served under O'Leary at Tech.

O'Leary served as the defensive line coach for the San Diego Chargers in 1992 and 1993. In 1992, the defense had 51 sacks, which at the time was the fourth best in team history. The Chargers won the AFC West in 1992 with an 11-5 record.

O'Leary's first stint at Georgia Tech came from 1987-91 as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach. The team finished 11-0-1 in 1990 and won the national championship, defeating Nebraska at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

O'Leary received his first coaching job at the collegiate level at Syracuse (1980-86). He coached the defensive line and also was the assistant head coach his final two seasons.

He started his coaching career at the high school level. From 1968-76, he coached at Central Islip (N.Y.) High School (1975-76 as head coach) before taking over as the head coach at Liverpool High School (N.Y.). He posted 37-8-1 record in five seasons, including a perfect 10-0 season in 1979.

George Joseph O'Leary was born in Central Islip, N.Y. and attended Central Islip High School. He attended the University of New Hampshire and earned his degree in physical education. George and his wife, Sharon, have two daughters, Chris and Trish, and two sons, Tim and Marty. O'Leary has two grandchildren as Tim and his wife Jennifer are proud parents of Tate (born in 2006) and Cullen (born in 2008).