George O’Leary

Induction Year: 2001

Category: Football, Coach

Location: Central Islip

George O’Leary is one of the most well-known coaches to ever come from Long Island. He is originally from Central Islip.

He is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 2015.

O’Leary was an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League from 2002 to 2004, and an assistant coach for the Syracuse Orange and San Diego Chargers.

During his twelve-year tenure with the Knights, O’Leary guided the team to the fourth-best turnaround in NCAA history (2005), and led UCF to one of the biggest upsets of the BCS era in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.

He began his coaching career at Central Islip High School in New York, serving as their assistant coach from 1968 to 1974. From 1975 to 1976, he served as the head coach at Central Islip. He then became head coach at Liverpool High School in New York from 1977–1979. During his time at the two high schools, between 1975 and 1979, O’Leary amassed a 37–8–1 record, winning more than 82% of his games.