When UCF’s social media team released its graphic announcing its new coach, it featured just one face — Gus Malzahn’s. But by choosing Gus Malzahn, UCF also chose Kristi Malzahn, a woman who had a huge impact on the Auburn program in the eight seasons her husband coached there.
Kristi was the first person Gus thanked in his opening press conference as UCF’s new coach. She also met with the players as soon as they arrived, and shortly after UCF started tweeting out photos of the two of them. While she may not make decisions about the X’s and O’s, she brought light and laughter to the players and families during her time at Auburn. If she plays a similar role at UCF, her presence will be felt throughout the program.
“She’s looking forward to being a team mom,” Gus said in his opening press conference.
Kristi only had daughters with her husband, but as a football coach’s wife, she’s had hundreds and hundreds of “sons.” Over the course of Gus’s coaching career, Kristi said he’s been very kind and has let her get involved with the team. It’s become their endeavor instead of his endeavor, and helps them deal with the long, odd hours.
“We do this thing together,” Gus said.
While Gus worries about schemes and strategies, Kristi worries about the team’s hearts.
“To me, the football takes care of itself,” Kristi said. “But I feel like our calling and our job is really about young men. It’s really, the X’s and O’s, yes, I know it’s important. Yes, I know we need to win. But more than that, I know that when I’m standing for accountability, it’s going to be how did I use my time and my influence with those kids. That’s what matters to me.”
Their partnership has paid off for them personally, but at Auburn it also paid off on the field, starting with Kristi’s involvement in the recruiting process.
When recruits and their families visited Auburn, they got to know the Malzahns and saw how the two, with their seemingly opposite personalities, complemented each other. Recruits’ moms can tell a lot about a coach in the way he interacts with his wife and his children, Kristi said. Some people can put on a show, but Kristi isn’t one of them. It doesn’t take long to figure her out.
“The first thing that comes to mind when you say Kristi is she’s just real,” Melody Shenker, Auburn tight end John Samuel Shenker’s mom, said. “There’s no pomp and circumstance to her. She loves your kids. She wants them to do their best. She loves her husband. She’s a mom.”
Tonia Britt, former Auburn linebacker K.J. Britt’s mom, described their first meeting as “radiant” because their personalities matched so well. Christy Troxell, offensive lineman Austin Troxell’s mom, said she felt comfortable from the start because Kristi was always “her sweet self.” Jennifer Frazier, tight end Brandon Frazier’s mom, is an athletic director and former coach. She’s already had one son recruited and has met many great coaches’ wives. But Kristi’s personality and ability to connect with people stuck out.
“I identified very quickly that she had great relationships with all the kids on the team,” Frazier said.
The players also realized quickly that Kristi would always be real with them. Former Auburn wide receiver Darius Slayton, who now plays for the New York Giants, remembers that Kristi’s recruiting “spiel” took a different direction than most. While others try to convince you how great you are and how much they need you, Kristi told him they wanted him, but they planned to win with or without him.
“I liked her saying that,” Slayton said. “I liked where that was coming from. I liked that energy.”
For Slayton, who flipped from Georgia the night before signing day, Kristi wasn’t a deciding factor, but she “certainly didn’t hurt Auburn’s chances.” And for moms, when it comes to choosing a school you’re comfortable leaving your son at, knowing there’s someone like Kristi there is a huge comfort.
Kristi never looked to be a substitute mom or a replacement mom, but she’s more like a second mom on the ground. If a mom needs her, they know how to reach her.
“She gave me her cell phone number,” Troxell said. “She said, ‘If you have any questions or if you think Austin just needs a mom hug, you call me, and I’ll make it happen.’ “
Once players committed, Kristi tried to prepare the moms for what to expect. It’s usually the players’ first time away from home, which can be as nerve-wracking for the moms as it is exciting for their sons. At first, they’re ready to get away. But after a few weeks, they’re ready for a home-cooked meal and some help with the laundry.
While players were at Auburn, Kristi was keeping an eye out for them. She checked in with their social media, kept up with their love lives and learned more about their dreams. Although they sometimes grumbled about her inquisition about the girls in their lives, they clearly appreciated her, Frazier said. On their visits to Auburn, it always seemed like the players genuinely wanted to talk to her and hang out with her.
Maybe it’s selfish, Kristi said, that she wants it to be personal and to really know who the kids are, but it also has an impact on the field and in the stands. Although Kristi spent a lot of time with recruits, the team parents enjoyed when she came over to the parent section at games. She’s “a hoot,” Brigette Brahms, center Nick Brahms’ mom, said. She jokes around, shares stories about her children and grandchildren and is just “her bubbly self.” She really helped create the feeling that the Auburn program was one big family.
“The more that we love them, the more they’re going to respond and absorb what you’re saying to them and hear you and know that you really do care,” Kristi said.
She loves hearing stories like how former wide receiver Sal Cannella wanted to start a fashion line and how Nick Brahms and kicker Anders Carlson wanted to be pilots. She makes sure Gus knows about those things, too. Once the players leave the program, she still follows them and revels in their successes.
For players, who spend time with their teammates and coaches and “men, men, men, men, men,” time with Kristi is a “breath of fresh air,” “a feminine presence,” and “a positive light,” Slayton said. He always knew that when she asked about his life, she genuinely wanted to know because she’s “always authentic.” Even now that he’s graduated, he still knows she cares.
“I went back last year for the Georgia game, and I saw her, and that was a lot of fun,” Slayton said. “She, jokingly said I was going to make her cry. But that’s just me thinking maybe I’m more special than I am. But the relationship is still there, and it will always be there.”
Occasionally, Kristi is called on to be more than a cheerleader. Shenker said she’s been very impressed with the impact Kristi has made with players who have dealt with tragedy. But whether the bond is forged in adversity or simply extends to a hug and a teasing question about a recent Instagram story involving a girl, Kristi is there for her “sons” now and as long as they need her, even after their Auburn careers are over and even after she and her husband become Knights instead of Tigers.
“I want them to know and be able to look back and go ‘She’s still ‘Mom’ to me,” Kristi said. “I think right now they might not see that there’s any benefit to it, but I hope maybe someday something that they’ve heard or said or just knowing that somebody cared will matter and make a difference.”
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