UCF men’s basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins has agreed to a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the Knights through the 2028-29 season, Vice President and Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir announced on May 28.
Dawkins led the Knights to the NCAA Tournament this past season, marking just the second at-large berth in program history. The team opened the 2025-26 season with a 12-1 record, their best start under Dawkins. UCF finished Big 12 play with a 9-9 record, their best conference mark since joining the league ahead of the 2023-24 season. The team ended the year with an overall record of 21-12, making it their second consecutive season with more than 20 wins under Dawkins.
The Knights averaged 80.7 points per game during the campaign, which was both their highest scoring average under Dawkins and their highest in the Division I era. An 11-game winning streak from Nov. 11 against Florida A&M through Jan. 6 against Oklahoma State marked both the longest streak during Dawkins’ tenure and for UCF since the 2010-11 season.
UCF also tied a program record by securing three Top 25 wins during this period—defeating No.17 Kansas, No.11 Texas Tech, and No.19 BYU—bringing Dawkins’ career total at UCF to twelve victories over ranked opponents.
These accomplishments contributed to earning a No.10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they faced seventh-seeded UCLA in Philadelphia and lost narrowly by a score of 75-71. The tournament appearance was notable as UCF was one of only two teams nationally—alongside Miami—to reach March Madness without returning any scoring production from its previous year’s roster.
