As UCF football coach Gus Malzahn sat in a hospital room around-the-clock for two weeks, he had a lot of time to think and had many conversations with God.
As Kristi, his wife of 34 years, lay there in intensive care for 12 days in January, Gus was there by her side the entire time, wondering, worrying, hoping and praying she would survive.
“There were times I was scared to death I was going to lose her,” Gus says now. “I kept praying and I knew others were praying, too. We were overwhelmed by family, friends and fans who were sending their prayers our way. I believe Kristi is with us today because of the power of prayer and, of course, the doctors and nurses at Orlando Health were amazing.”
If UCF were putting out an injury report today, Kristi would be listed as “back practicing.” Gus was giddy when she was out running errands earlier this week and even more ecstatic Saturday when she attended her first UCF practice since the mysterious medical journey began. To this day, Gus says, doctors still don’t know where the aggressive infection started or why it ravaged her body.
Gus says the infection wasn’t COVID-related and can only guess as to its origins. It could have been as simple as the day Kristi got a manicure, one of her fingernails became infected — and maybe that’s what triggered a chain reaction within her body. But, again, that’s just a guess.
When she started running a fever for a couple of days, it was assumed she just had some sort of bug. But as the fever lingered and she became dehydrated, Gus took her to the emergency room to get some fluids pumped into her system. She was admitted into the hospital almost immediately.
“Kristi’s tough and she rarely gets sick, and that’s another reason we were so worried,” Gus says.
It didn’t take long for Gus’ worry to turn to alarm. As the infection spread, Kristi’s health deteriorated and her condition was downgraded to critical. Gus told UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir that he needed to stop being a laser-focused football coach for a while and become a 24/7 hospital husband.
Kristi always has been there for Gus and Gus was damn sure going to be there for Kristi. They met while attending a tiny Christian high school in Fort Smith, Arkansas. His best friend was dating her best friend, but she was a freshman and he was a senior and they didn’t start dating immediately.
Gus went off to college where he became a walk-on receiver at Arkansas and then transferred to nearby Henderson State. Kristi graduated from high school and had her first date with Gus when he came home from college one weekend. The rest is romantic history.
“I knew from the beginning that she was the one for me,” Gus says.
As you might expect, Gus — known for revolutionizing the hurry-up, no-huddle offense — did not waste any time. Kristi followed Gus and enrolled at Henderson State, where Gus quickly proposed to her outside the door of her dorm room.
“In hindsight,” he says, “I wish I had done something more romantic.”
Not that it mattered to Kristi. After all, she’s more practical and no-nonsense than he is. Which is why she’s been there every step of the way through the Malzahn family and coaching odyssey that has included two daughters, four grandkids and coaching stops at three different high schools and six different colleges.
Don’t kid yourself, Kristi is not just a passenger on the Gus Bus; she is the navigator, the co-pilot and even the mechanic who keeps it running smoothly. While Gus has concocted game plans and called plays on the football field, she’s built a national championship program at home. She’s done it all through the years — raised the girls, walked the dogs, planned the weddings and conducted team Bible studies with the coaches’ wives. All the while, she’s been Gus’ sympathetic sounding board after the losses and his celebratory dining partner at their traditional Waffle House post-victory meals.
“We’ve done this together,” Gus says. “Always have and always will. She’s been team mom at everyplace I’ve ever coached. She sometimes knows more about what is going on in our players’ lives than I do. She’s such a great complement to me. She’s not afraid to tell it like it is.”
Like when Gus was at Auburn in 2013 and the Tigers had just beaten Nick Saban’s No. 1-ranked Alabama team on the immortal “Kick Six” that would propel Auburn into the SEC title game and then a national championship matchup against Florida State. When a reporter asked Gus after the dramatic Kick Six Iron Bowl victory if it was the biggest win of his life, Gus went into a meandering answer, employing the requisite amount of boring coach speak.
Finally, Kristi had heard enough and blurted out from the audience: “Gus, just say yes and get on with it!”
Back in 2010, when Gus was the offensive coordinator at Auburn with Cam Newton quarterbacking the team, the Tigers won their first national title in more than half-a-century when they beat Oregon 22-19 on a last-second field goal.
After the postgame celebration was complete and Gus and Kristi returned to their hotel room, Kristi’s first words to her husband were: “22 points — really?”
“She will definitely hold me accountable now,” Gus says and laughs.
When Gus left high school coaching and started getting higher-profile college jobs, it was Kristi who kept his ego in check. She told Gus flat-out that big-time jobs weren’t going to corrupt their small-town values.
“She said straight up, ‘College football is not going to change who we are. We’re a high school-coaching family and that’s how we need to act,’ ” Gus recalls. “She was right. College football is a different deal than high school. Some people aren’t as honest in college whether it’s in recruiting or how they treat kids. Kristi’s had to wake me up and remind me of that a couple of times along the way.
“Being a college football coach can make you feel more important than you really are,” Gus adds. “Kristi has never let me go down that path.”
Even when she lay unconscious in the hospital, Kristi was helping Gus become a better version of himself. It was then when he swore to himself and to his God that Kristi’s battle was going to be make him a man she would be even more proud of. When you come thisclose to losing your best friend, your soul mate and the love your life, you start thinking like the great Tim McGraw song “Live Like You Were Dying.”
“And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying.”
“Almost losing Kristi has changed everything about my outlook and my perspective,” Gus says. “It’s made me want to be better husband, a better dad, a better granddad, a better coach and a better leader. I’m one focused dude when it comes to being a football coach and I still will be, but something’s changed. This has made me want to be more caring on the personal side of my relationship with my players and coaches.”
The Gus Bus rolls on as it always has.
Except with a little more heart and soul.
Thank God, Kristi is still riding shotgun and pointing Gus in the right direction.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com . Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2
