Many of you know that I am a Producer and PA Announcer, and four years ago, I got the opportunity to join the Cure Bowl team to bring my talents to Orlando to produce the Cure Bowl. It was then that I got to know the wonderful people at the Orlando Sports Foundation, namely the head honcho, Alan Gooch.
AG and his team are a tremendous bunch, and work year-round not only to execute a College Football Bowl Game, but also to raise money for breast cancer research. As many of you know, this cause hits very close to home as I, myself, am a #survivor.
S2 E1 – What’s it all about?
In the kickoff to Season 2 (S2 E1) of Bright Ideas, I sat down with Alan to talk about college football and team building, both on and off the field. We spoke about his time at the University of Central Florida as a player, coach and administrator, as well as how he matriculated through the ranks.
College football is a way of life for the Gooch family, and he and his wife, Linda, are all black and gold all the time – a fact I try to (but they won’t let me) forget! Linda is no stranger to football as she played intramurals at UCF. For over 40 years, Linda has coached the 5-time National Champion Spirit Squads from UCF. As AG puts it, “We’re both out there to win the game.”
Though he didn’t stray far from Oviedo, as CEO of the Orlando Sports Foundation, Alan works in Downtown Orlando. The OSF has raised over $4.3M for cancer research and has been the largest private donor to the UCF College of Medicine over the last 10 years. In addition to The Cure Bowl, The OSF hosts Race2Cure, March2Cure and Cure All-Stars among other fundraisers throughout the year.
Alan is passionate about the Cure and the Cure Bowl as he sees it as a wonderful coming together of teams united against one cause. Even the participating teams drop their colors and don the hot pink Cure Bowl helmets for the game.
We talked about the importance of Bowl Season, and what these games mean to the players, coaches, staff, fans, bands and local communities. According to Alan, we’ll know there are enough bowl games when TV ratings start to dip.
“Cancer touches all of us,” Alan said. “And it doesn’t discriminate. It’s bigger than all of us.”
As much as #cancersucks, it’s great to be a part of this game and I highly recommend you become part of something bigger than yourself by getting involved with the game! Check out some ways to do so below!
Connect!
Connect with Alan and follow the Cure Bowl on LinkedIn to stay up to date on this year’s game!
Get Involved by visiting TheOSF.com
About Alan Gooch – The Official Bio
Alan Gooch began his career coaching college football in 1983. Coach Gooch spent 21 years as a member of the football coaching staff at the University of Central Florida. During that time, he served in several capacities until completing his collegiate coaching career in 2003 as the interim head coach at UCF. Alan Gooch of UCF and Gary Gibbs (Oklahoma) are the only two Division I-A college coaches, ever to rise from player to assistant coach and finally head coach without leaving their alma mater. Coach Gooch’s ties to the University run beyond his coaching years. He is a former football player/letterman for the Knights, a UCF Alumni board member and a 3-term UCF lettermen club President. He won the UCF Alumni Service award in 1998 and is a two-time graduate, having earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UCF.
In his tenure at UCF Coach Gooch also served eight years as the recruiting coordinator during UCF’s moves from Division II, I-AA and I-A.
At a White House ceremony in April 1998, Coach Gooch and Dwight Collins were recognized by President Clinton and the National Consortium for Academics and Sports. Later that same year, Alan Gooch along with Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina and Eddie Robinson of Grambling University were selected as finalists for the 1998 National Student-Athlete Day GIANT STEPS Award in the category of Collegiate Coach. Coach Gooch finished as runner up behind Coach Eddie Robinson of Grambling University who won the award. Also in 1998, the American Football Coaches Association honored Alan Gooch as the Inaugural NCAA division I-A Assistant Football Coach of the Year at the national convention in Dallas.
Upon leaving coaching in 2004 Mr. Gooch accepted a position as Executive Director of the UCF Athletic Department’s Golden Knights Club. In 11 months, the GKC doubled its annual fund from $625,000 to $1,200,000 million. In 2005, after 25 years of service to the university, Alan left UCF and entered private business opening Florida operations for an Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm. In 2007 Mr. Gooch opened his own commercial real estate firm, Tizon Commercial, LLC.
Alan Gooch was inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2007 he was named “Educator of the Decade” by the UCF College of Education. Later that same year Mr. Gooch accepted a position as President and General Manager of the AFL Orlando Predators Football Team. In 2008 Mr. Gooch led the two-time AFL World Champion Orlando Predators to their 20th straight playoff appearance.
Currently Alan Gooch is the CEO and founding board member of the Orlando Sports Foundation and Executive Director of the Cure Bowl. Mr. Gooch led the partnerships with both CBS Sports Network and ESPN Events for the Cure Bowl in its 10 year history. The primary goal of this foundation is to support cancer research through an NCAA Bowl game. In ten bowl games, the Cure Bowl has raised $4.2 million dollars for cancer research. Alan is married to Linda Gooch, UCF’s longtime Cheerleading coach of 42 years, who has won five national championships ‘2003, 2007, 2019, 2020, 2024.
Missed Season 1 of Bright Ideas?
Check out Season 1 and meet Mahriah Tucker, Jinita Thakkar, Matthew Porter, Autumn Sullivan, Dianne Wintermute, Josy Martinez, Jonny Torres and Carye Farrell today!
Engage with Bright Ideas!
I hope you enjoy Episode 1, and as always, please feel free to join the conversation in the comments! If you’d like to be involved with #BrightIdeas or know someone who would make for a great guest, please get in touch!