UCF basketball coach Johnny Dawkins signs 2-year contract extension

ORLANDO, Fla. – Johnny Dawkins is staying in Orlando.

UCF announced Friday that the men’s head basketball coach has inked a two-year contract extension that would keep him around until the 2026-2027 season.

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“I want to thank our President Alexander N. Cartwright and Vice President and Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir for their confidence in me to continue leading this program,” Dawkins said in a statement. “We had some success in our first season in the Big 12, and I’m excited to continue building on that for the future. This is a special place for my family, and I’ve loved coaching UCF from day one. I’m always going to pour my whole heart into this University.”

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Dawkins led the Knights to a 17-16 overall record in its inaugural Big 12 Conference season, which included a postseason berth in the National Invitation Tournament.

In that first Big 12 season, UCF earned eight wins against conference opponents, including three ranked teams: No. 3 Kansas, No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas Tech. Overall, eight of UCF’s 10 wins over ranked opponents came under Dawkins’ leadership.

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“UCF had only accomplished multiple wins over top-25 foes in the same season once before, which was also under Dawkins’ leadership during the 2018-19 season that ended in an NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance,” UCF Athletics said in a statement.

Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said he’s excited for what’s to come as the Dawkins era at UCF continues.

“If you were one of the record-setting number of people who attended our home games this season, you saw first-hand how we competed under Johnny’s leadership in our first season in the nation’s toughest basketball conference,” Mohajir said in a statement.” Johnny has done a great job leading this program and we’re excited he will continue to be our head coach. As part of Mission XII, we have and will continue to fundraise and invest in basketball in all four tracks (personnel, operating, recruiting and facilities) to increase our budget into the top half of the league for sustained success.”