History of the Knights

The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I (FBS for football) as a member of the American Athletic Conference. UCF was invited to join the Big 12 Conference on September 10, 2021, and accepted the invitation later that day. It is anticipated the Knights could join as soon as the 2023–24 athletic year pending negotiation of departure terms with the American Athletic Conference.

UCF, its athletic program, and the university's alumni and sports fans are sometimes jointly referred to as the "UCF Nation," and are represented by the mascot Knightro. The "Knights of Pegasus" – as the nickname was originally called – was a submission put forth by students, staff, and faculty in 1970 who wished to replace UCF's unpopular original mascot, the Citronaut, which was a mix between an orange and an astronaut. The Knights were also chosen over "Vincent the Vulture," which was a popular unofficial mascot among students at the time. From 1993 through 2007, the teams were known as the Golden Knights. In 1994, Knightro debuted as the Golden Knights' official athletic mascot. Since 2014, the Citronaut has made a limited return for some "throwback" games.

UCF's main rival is the University of South Florida Bulls, which are located 98 miles southwest of Tampa. The first meeting between the two schools was a men's basketball game in 1972, where the South Florida Golden Brahmans beat the Florida Technological University Knights of the Pegasus 115-96. The close proximity and the schools being founded around the same time (South Florida in 1956 and Central Florida in 1963) made the schools naturally become rivals. The two schools became conference foes for the first time in 2013 when UCF joined the American Athletic Conference.

College Sports Established
1975

Location
Orlando, Florida

College Name
University of Central Florida

Collegiate History
1973 - Present / NCAA Division 1

Conference History
2013 - Present / American Athletic Conference
2005 - 2013 / Conference USA
1992 - 2005 / Trans America Athletic Conference/Atlantic Sun Conference
1990 - 1991 - American South Conference

Nickname
Knights - The university's first mascot was the Citronaut, which was designed by Norman Van Meter, the brother-in-law of FTU's then-president Charles N. Millican. The Citronaut made an official appearance on a university publication, the cover of the 1968–69 student handbook. The sports teams were originally known as the "Knights of the Pegasus" – UCF's first official mascot – beginning with their first intercollegiate competitions in 1970. The moniker was switched to "Golden Knights" in 1993 as a solution to poor merchandise sales.[7] The mascot of the athletic teams is Knightro, a black knight with gold armor. The university has asked to be identified as UCF when being referenced as opposed to Central Florida. Television networks and other media outlets, most notably ESPN, have been slow to adopt this policy.

In 2007, UCF made major changes to its athletic program. A new "athletic village" on the north end of campus known as Knights Plaza was developed. It included new sports facilities such as the new UCF Arena (later CFE Arena and now Addition Financial Arena) connected to the existing Venue at UCF and a new 45,000-seat football stadium originally known as Bright House Networks Stadium and now as Spectrum Stadium, a new softball complex, and the only Division I indoor football practice facility in the state. This made UCF the first school to ever open a new stadium and arena at the same time, for the 2007-08 season.[8] It also includes Jay Bergman Field and UCF Soccer and Track Stadium. The area was built in a downtown style with four towers of student housing including approximately 1000 beds, retail and restaurant areas, and a new pedestrian mall connecting the front of the new arena to the student union. To mark the start of the new era, the teams names were reverted to "Knights" from the "Golden Knights" on May 4, 2007.

NCAA Championships
Baseball 0

Men's Basketball 0

Women's Basketball 0

Football 0

Soccer 0