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Why is Gus Malzahn retiring? Florida State OC leaving FSU after one year
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- Why is Gus Malzahn retiring? Florida State OC leaving FSU after one year
One of the more accomplished offensive minds in college football over the past 20 years is calling it a career.
Florida State offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn — who previously served as the head coach at Auburn , Central Florida and Arkansas State — is retiring, the university announced on Monday, Feb. 2.
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The 60-year-old Malzahn just completed his first year as the Seminoles' play-caller.
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Florida State head coach Mike Norvell has promoted co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Tim Harris Jr. to fill the vacancy.
"After 35 years, it's time for me to step away from coaching," Malzahn said in a statement . "I am excited to spend more time with my family and focus on the next chapter of my life. I want to thank Coach Norvell for giving me the opportunity to coach at such a prestigious program. I will continue to follow Florida State, and I believe great things are ahead for the program under Coach Norvell's leadership and for the offense under Tim Harris."
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Though the Seminoles struggled as a team in Malzahn's lone season in Tallahassee, finishing 5-7 after a 3-0 start, most of their problems weren't on offense. Under Malzahn's watch, the Seminoles averaged 33 points per game, the 22nd-best mark among 136 FBS teams. Unsurprisingly for a Malzahn unit, Florida State excelled on the ground. Its 472.1 yards per game were the sixth-most in the country and its 218.7 rushing yards per game were the program's most in a season since 1995.
Malzahn is most known in the sport for his eight seasons as the head coach at Auburn, where he went 68-35. The highlight of that run came in his first season in 2013, when he led a Tigers program that went 3-9 the previous season to an SEC Championship and a berth in the BCS national championship game, where they lost 34-31 to (oddly enough) Florida State. That season, he won several major national coach of the year awards.
He had previously been the offensive coordinator for Auburn's 2010 national title team. Behind Heisman Trophy winner and future NFL MVP Cam Newton , a Tigers offense that didn't feature much NFL talent beyond its prodigious quarterback averaged 41.6 points per game (fourth in the FBS) and 284.8 rushing yards per game (tied for fifth in the FBS).
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After being fired at Auburn in 2020, Malzahn went to UCF, where he went 28-24 in four seasons from 2021-24 before stepping down to become Florida State's offensive coordinator. He began his college head-coaching career at Arkansas State, where he went 9-3 in his lone season in 2012 before returning to Auburn.
Malzahn, who went 105-62 as an FBS head coach, was previously the offensive coordinator at Arkansas and Tulsa before arriving at Auburn in 2009.
Before entering the college ranks, Malzahn was a wildly successful high school coach in Arkansas, winning three state championships.
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee — who played for Malzahn at Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas and later was his offensive coordinator for four seasons at Auburn — lauded his former coach in a post on social media, saying Malzahn "transformed how the game is played across the country at the high school level."
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"You've always won — I'm not sure any one offensive coach has had more impact on the game in our country for the past three decades," Lashlee wrote . "Most importantly, you had a lasting impact on the players you led. I'm thankful I'm one of the many who got to call you 'coach'. You truly used your impact in a positive way."
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Why is Gus Malzahn retiring?
In a statement , Malzahn said he is "excited to spend more time with my family and focus on the next chapter of my life."
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Though he's retiring at a relatively young age, he was well-compensated for much of his college coaching career. After the 2017 season at Auburn, he signed a seven-year, $49 million extension. When he was fired by the university three years later, he was owed $21.4 million, which was the largest buyout in college football history at the time. He was expected to make $1.5 million in his first and ultimately only season at Florida State.
Gus Malzahn age
Malzahn, born Oct. 28, 1965, is 60 years old.
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Who is Tim Harris?
Harris is being elevated to offensive coordinator after spending the 2025 season as Florida State's pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach.
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Harris followed Malzahn from UCF, where he was the Knights ' offensive coordinator during the 2024 season. That unit averaged 30.4 points per game, ranking it in a tie for 49th among FBS teams. He had been UCF's co-offensive coordinator from 2021-22 before leaving for one season to be the running backs coach at Miami.
According to his biography on the Florida State website , he'll continue to serve as the Seminoles' wide receivers coach.
Like Malzahn, Harris got his start in the high school ranks, spending six seasons at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami. In his first and ultimately only season as head coach there in 2014, he guided the program to a 14-0 record, a Florida 4A state championship and a No. 2 national ranking by USA TODAY.
"Coach Harris has a complete understanding of the offensive scheme, and his ability to effectively share that knowledge with his players will continue to be a benefit for our offense," Norvell said in a statement .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Gus Malzahn retiring? FSU OC says 'it's time for me to step away'
