With the American Athletic Conference Championship Game only a few days away, the No. 3/4 Cincinnati Bearcats will face No. 16/21 Houston Cougars at Nippert Stadium at 4 pm, Saturday on ABC, is that the only obstacle facing the program?
USC was open, but Mike Bohn was able to pry Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, leaving Oklahoma open, a top tier program. The next domino and unexpected domino was Brian Kelly moving from Notre Dame to LSU, with Notre Dame being open most know that Notre Dame is a program that would interest Luke Fickell. Why would this position be open during championship week and the Bearcats having a real possibility to play for a National Championship? Like I named my latest podcast “Can Cincinnati have nice things?” Brian Kelly directly and indirectly almost burned the Bearcats again. The curveball for scared #BearcatNation fans was the real possibility that former defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman had a chance to take over for Kelly in Notre Dame. Kelly hinted to Freeman being the coach in waiting, but the way Kelly left most didn’t take slime ball Kelly’s words serious. Yesterday, reports started heating up that Freeman will be the next head coach for Notre Dame, Bearcat fans were happy for Freeman and happy Fickell is safe for now.
As I take a step back to look at the situation, last week proved no coach is untouchable, who would’ve ever thought Kelly and Riley were leaving their perspective schools? Who knows if Fickell will leave or win, but what he has proven to the players, fan base and program is that he isn’t looking to leave on the first thing smoking. He could’ve went to Michigan State, West Virginia, Florida State and a few other schools, who knows if Notre Dame came calling, but Fickell is still in Cincinnati which is great for everyone involved. When you win and win at the clip Fickell is winning at every year a program with a blank check will come calling to check his temperature it is the nature of the beast. As much as bowl time can stress the fan base out, you have to know if people are trying to get your coach it means your coach is top tier and no program is above it currently which is what this week was a harsh reminder for everyone out there.
Fickell said himself he wants to turn Cincinnati into a Top 10 program and he is in the process of doing that, with updates to facilities and the pending move to the Big 12 he is moving this program forward. All is good, but it just means top tier and non top tier programs will be trying to hit up the Bearcats coach, but so far he hasn’t listened enough to leave and that’s why he may have a status in front of Nippert before I’m walking with a cane.
