Former UCF AD Steve Sloan, who switched football to Division I, has died at age 79

Steve Sloan, who helped UCF football transition to a Division I program, died Sunday in Orlando. He was 79.

The Texas native served as UCF's athletic director for nine years (1993-2002) and helped the Knights transition from NCAA Division I-AA to Division I, or Football Bowl Subdivision. During his tenure, UCF teams won 36 Atlantic Sun Conference championships and 26 NCAA Tournament berths.

“Steve brings extensive sporting experience as a player, coach and administrator. “He is a great individual with an impressive record of accomplishments and a commitment to academic excellence, which we believe makes him the perfect person to lead us into a new era of UCF athletics,” said former UCF President John Hitt, when Sloan was hired on July 21, 1993.

Sloan was credited with scheduling high-profile games for UCF, which helped increase the Knights' national recognition. He also promoted fundraising, which in turn helped stabilize the sports department.

After a brief stint as a DI football independent, UCF joined the Mid-American Conference in 2002.

Sloan began his college athletics career as an All-American quarterback at Alabama under legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He played behind Joe Namath in his first three seasons before leading the Crimson Tide to the 1965 national championship in his final season.

After a brief professional career with the Atlanta Falcons, Sloan returned to the University of Alabama, where he was on Bryant's coaching staff from 1968 to 1970. He left Tuscaloosa to become offensive coordinator at Florida State under Larry Jones before moving on to Georgia Tech and finally Vanderbilt, where he became the Commodores' head coach in 1973–74.

Sloan left Vandy to take the head coaching job at Texas Tech and led the Red Raiders to a 23-12 record from 1975 to 1977. He left Lubbock for Ole Miss, where he led the Rebels to a 20-34-1 record in five seasons (1978-1982) before transferring to Duke (1983-86).

After his time with the Blue Devils, Sloan took on an administrative role as athletics director at Alabama from 1987 to 1990. He left the Crimson Tide program to become AD at North Texas (1990-92) before coming to UCF in 1993.

After leaving UCF, he returned home to serve as AD at the University of Chattanooga from 2002 to 2006.

UCF's media room at FBC Mortgage Stadium is named after Sloan and his wife, Brenda.

Sloan is survived by his wife and son Stephen Jr.

Matt Murschel can be reached at [email protected]