Professional sports leagues in the United States distribute talent based on which teams need it the most to maintain competitive balance. Draft orders are set by giving the worst teams the highest draft picks, or in the NBA’s case, the best chance at a high draft pick. College sports are a different animal; players choose where they want to go, and, generally speaking, those players want to go to winning programs. The rule of thumb in college sports is that success breeds success.

That’s part of what makes building a program so tricky. It’s a lot easier to sell coaches, recruits, and fans on something they can already see for themselves. Selling them on a vision— on potential— takes a level of buy-in that most are unwilling to give on faith alone. It can help, though, if you can find someone with credibility to join your cause. For UCF, that someone was George O’Leary.