New UCF football coach Danny Barrett has Palm Beach County ties.
Lake Worth High School graduate Danny Barrett was named UCF”s interim head coach Monday. (Photo provided)
Barrett, who was named the Knights’ interim coach on Monday after long-time coach George O’Leary retired, is a Boynton Beach native and Lake Worth High School graduate.
A former quarterback, he played college football at the University of Cincinnati and then spent 15 seasons in the Canadian Football League, where he threw for 23,419 yards and 133 touchdowns with four teams.
Barrett turned to coaching after his playing career ended.
He was an assistant with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders and BC Lions before taking over the head coaching position with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2000. Stints with Buffalo (assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach) and Bethune-Cookman (quarterbacks coach) followed.
He was hired at UCF in 2011, and served four seasons as running backs coach before taking over as quarterbacks coach this season.
The 0-8 Knights play at Cincinnati on Saturday.
“It is a bittersweet moment,” Barrett told reporters at a press conference on Monday. “You never want to get a position because of someone else giving up the position. You want (to earn it). Going back to Cincinnati, this will be the first time going back since I left that university, playing a game in that stadium since 1982. I’m excited about that. Our players will be excited about that”
