A phrase that Bearcat fans have heard a lot over the last decade “Our football coach has left”. After hearing that phrase so many times after a while you get numb to the situation.
When I chose to go UC after high school, the school was known for its basketball team, over the last decade(pre 2001) they had multiple NBA players from Nick Van Exel, Corie Blount, Rueben Patterson, Dontonio Wingfield, Danny Forston, Kenyon Martin, Kenny Satterfield and a few others. Even when I arrived on campus we had Steve Logan, Leonard Stokes and others that would come while I was there. So it was easy to overlook the football team.
While I was on campus once Mark Dantonio was hired in December of 2003, people started to pay more attention to the squad. While Rick Minter was there from 94-03 the team didn’t have much of a buzz making it to a few bowl but never really being a major threat in the overall landscape of college football. I honestly didn’t even know UC had a football team until 2000, I’m sorry, I had to admit that but it’s true. Dantonio had the Bearcats defense off the chain and had them respected in the Big East. His tenure was up and down with the Cats also but during his 3rd year he led an upset over a highly ranked Rutgers team that put the Bearcats and Dantonio on the map. After the regular season was over he bolted to the Michigan State.
After getting excited about the direction the Bearcats were heading, the school was in a bind. That’s when Brian Kelly (2006) came in and set the campus on fire. During the 3 year tenure, Kelly had the Bearcats in 2 BCS bowl games, had us ranked in the top 5, which is something I’ve never seen. We had been back to back Big East Champions in 08 and 09. After leading the Cats to an undefeated record before the Sugar Bowl game the Irish came knocking. At the time everybody in Cincinnati was pissed but you have to understand why he left. When you look at it, it was damn near deja vu but the Bearcats are in the same position they were in 3 years ago. We all know Kelly bolted to Notre Dame. Now that I’m not as pissed at Kelly, in his brief time did a lot to help the Bearcats facilities that if you walk around on campus you can’t help but to notice. The Cats now have a full 100 yard practice field that has indoor capabilities and a 50 yard field right across from it. Even though Cincy needs more these fields are a great start to help get recruits and help catch up to the football big boys.
After 3 years of greatness, the Bearcats hire Butch Jones(2009). Jones was the follow-up coach to Kelly at Central Michigan and now the Bearcats. The first year was rough but then he got the Bearcats to be respected being Co-Big East Champs two years in a row. The Cats went to two bowl games in a row. He didn’t dominate like Kelly did but he was close. I was never a head over heels fan of Butch. He was a Kelly clone but wasn’t as good. Kinda like the Harold Minor(At USC, not the NBA lol) of the game if you get where I’m going with this. No BCS bowl with the talent we had, hmm ok that’s another post for later, but with the buzz Butch created he had a lot of schools begging for his services. Purdue, Colorado and Tennessee all pulled out the red carpet for Jones. He eventually took his talents to Tennessee. Good or bad Bearcats fans are in the same predicament they were in 3 years earlier. Third coach to leave over a span of 9 years.
This move hurt the most because of the realignment situation that is looking the school in the eye. We all know the team would love to get out of the Big East in the very near future if they could but without a coach how would that happen? That’s where Whit Babcock(The Athletic Director) pulled a rabbit out of his hat and hired Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville was the Texas Tech coach and was also the head coach at Auburn when the Tigers went undefeated in 04. Tuberville is a big name, has a lot of experience and SEC tested. This is huge for a program who wants to escape a fading conference. Hopefully the program can keep rising.
The big question now reminds is how long will we keep Tuberville? Maybe the bigger schools won’t come calling as fast because of his past track record. Maybe in 3 years we as Bearcats fans will be in the same position? Either way until proven different the HC position in Clifton has been one hell of an open door.
