His was the ultimate precautionary tale for job-hunters.

After all, most people probably won't recognize the names of any Central Florida players when they come to town Saturday, but more than a few will arch their eyebrows at the name of the coach.

This is how it is for George O'Leary anymore.

People no longer remember him as the former Georgia Tech coach who led the Yellow Jackets to five bowl games in seven years. Or for his 35 total years in coaching. Or for his most recent stint as defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.

No. That's the guy who lied on his resume and got caught.

The would-be coach at Notre Dame whose reign lasted a total of five days after it was discovered that he had made false claims about his education and background when applying for jobs in the past. That was nearly three years ago and it's still what the man is most associated with.

After being initially shunned by the college ranks after the scandal, O'Leary caught on in the NFL and had to again prove himself there before returning to the collegiate scene.

Like other former BCS-conference coaches involved in scandals, O'Leary was able to latch on at a mid-major school, like Mike Price has done this year at UTEP.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who has long known O'Leary from his days as a high school coach and with Syracuse, was glad to see him get another shot at head coaching.

"Nobody is perfect," Paterno said. "George made a mistake on a resume. I would hope that we don't excommunicate him. The days of the inquisition, I was hoping, were over. I was glad to see George get back in. George is a good person, he is a heck of a coach and I am delighted he is getting another shot."

Oh, but there was a slight caveat. Paterno is aware of O'Leary's coaching prowess, so for a few hours Saturday he won't be quite so delighted to have him on the opposing sideline.

"I may not be as happy about 5 o'clock on Saturday," Paterno said. "But up to now I am glad he is getting another shot."

O'Leary's first season in command of the Golden Knights comes at an odd time in the program's relatively short, eight-year Division I-A history.

Since recently joining the Mid-American Conference, the Knights are already poised to jump ship again -- this time to Conference-USA -- as a result of last year's conference-switching merry-go-round.

UCF was supposed to dominate the MAC upon joining, infusing the small mid-western conference with talent from Florida, but the Knights have struggled so far, finishing a dismal 3-9 last season.

O'Leary was brought aboard to change that. His experience, football knowledge and savvy helped land him the job and help with the Knights' transition between conferences.

But no one said it would be easy, even for a veteran like O'Leary.

UCF enters this weekend at 0-2 after games against Wisconsin and West Virginia in which it was outscored 79-26.

"I think the biggest challenge was just getting everybody on the same page anytime you have a transition," O'Leary said. "I think it's getting everyone on the system that you want to run, the program you want to run, and how you want to run it. I think there are a lot of things involved in that, but I think that's the biggest challenge."

O'Leary also mentioned the need to get back the athleticism that the program had back in 2002, when the Knights came into Beaver Stadium and gave the Lions a close game.

Back then, the Knights had a strong-armed quarterback in Ryan Schneider and a future NFLer in wideout Doug Gabriel on their roster.

There's no one like that this year.

It's a long road back for O'Leary and his Knights, but there's certainly one man who believes he can get the job done.

"I know George as a person and I know what kind of a job he did do at Georgia Tech," Paterno said.

"I do know that he will do a good job at Central Florida. That is all I do know."