UCF basketball has a serious player retention problem. In the era of NIL, Coach Johnny Dawkins has been on the hot seat for what feels like an eternity, but let’s make one thing clear: he’s not the problem. Year after year, he continues to bring in top-tier talent and develop players who quickly become stars. The issue isn’t recruiting or coaching; it’s keeping those players once they blossom.
Look at recent examples. Jaylin Sellers, Keshawn Hall, and Mustapha Thiam were all big-time contributors for UCF, yet all three left. Sellers might have exaggerated an injury to gain another year of eligibility and transfer for a better NIL deal. Hall received a major offer from Auburn, and Thiam departed for greener pastures at Cincinnati. These aren’t cases of players not fitting the system or struggling for minutes; they were thriving under Dawkins before the lure of money and opportunity elsewhere pulled them away.
To his credit, Coach Dawkins has done his best to replenish the roster, bringing in Riley Kugel, who has been nothing short of sensational. Still, it’s hard not to imagine what could have been if UCF had managed to retain Sellers, Hall, and Thiam alongside Kugel. Hall has been insane this season, averaging 24.3 PPG and 11.0 RPG. It has me dreaming of what could have been. That group could easily have made the Knights a top-10 team in the country, with the depth, experience, and scoring punch to challenge anyone.
UCF’s administration needs to take a hard look at how to hold on to its players. Coach Dawkins is developing talent at an incredible rate, but unless the school adapts to the modern NIL landscape and finds ways to support its athletes financially and personally, the program will continue to lose its best players just as they hit their stride. The problem isn’t on the sidelines. It’s in the system surrounding the program. Dawkins has proven he can coach and develop; now UCF needs to prove it can keep up with the new college basketball reality.