UC Notes and Bearcats Bowl Preview

There are quite a lot of bits of this and that flying around surrounding the Bearcats today. We're going to hit some quick notes, and then a preview of what's going down at the Bearcats Bowl. Like the events and what have you, not exactly a straight up preview of what to expect on the field. I'll mention some things I want to see, but I'm not going to get too in depth about the battle to be the back up SAM linebacker.

• The biggest news of the week was Isaiah Pead getting injured yesterday. Pead had a knee collision with a teammate, left the field under his own power, and is waiting an MRI to find out if there is major cause for concern. He's on crutches now. It's just a knee bruise. Isaiah will be ready to go for when things get serious. He's not going to play tomorrow.  Darrin Williams is going to get a lot of the touches from reports.
• The NFL draft is going down tonight at 6pm for rounds 2 and 3. Mardy Gilyard has been projected to be a late second-third round pick. It could be Mardy's big night, and we here at Bearcats Blog wish him the best. Hopefully, he stays in Cincinnati. He has seemed to want to, and I would like him to. 
• Tony Pike has also been talked about as a third round pick. 2 quarterbacks were taken in the first round, Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow, and I'm not quite sure how things are going to shake down. Tony is grouped on the, I guess third level, of QBs, after the previously mentioned first rounders, and Colt McCoy and Jimmy Claussen. I have no doubt Tony Pike will get drafted. I hope it's tonight. We also wish Tony Pike the best in his future NFL success. Hope you don't go to Cleveland.
• There will be posts up when the players get drafted. In case you have a life tonight, Bearcats Blog has you covered. 
• The following bits are a couple weeks old, sorry, but I haven't covered them in much detail, so they'll go here. Offensive lineman CJ Cobb had ankle surgery a couple weeks back. Everything went swimmingly for CJ. He got injured the first Saturday spring practice. He will return when fall practice starts, much to the delight of the Cincinnati offensive line. 
• Demetrius Jones, former Notre Dame QB, and linebacker, has left the program. There is no news on where he is heading. It could be a Division II school, or whatever they are calling it these days. It would be his third team. Too bad things didn't work out for him. Here's hoping he finds success and happiness on his next stop. 
• The following notes are from the hoops world. As you recruiting gurus have heard, Marquis Teague has spurned Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville and Purdue, and is going to attend evil Kentucky. Teague said he almost chose Louisville a couple times, but waited. This would have been a huge get for UC, but they were never really in the race it seemed. Teague was going to play his ball in Kentucky, and now it's at Kentucky.
• The NCAA Tournament is expanding, but to 68 teams. Rush the Court has some great blurbs from other great writers about the expansion. The Tournament will be on CBS and Turner Sports. The weird part is that in 2016, the finals will be on TBS. They have playoff baseball now yes, but that's just fucking weird. The pregame show will follow Saved by the Bell reruns at 5:05. 

The Bearcats Bowl is tomorrow night. It's going to be televised by FSN Ohio for those of you who can't make it to Nippert. There is plenty of motivation to do so though. If you have kids 8th grade or younger, show up around 2 and register for the on field kids' clinic. It's free. Some UC players will be there to teach the youngsters a thing or twelve, as will the UC coaching staff. After that's over, the players will sign autographs from around 4:30-5. Starting at 5, the Family Zone opens up. It's what you normally get for pregame Bearcats entertainment. You only have to worry about that for half an hour, because the Nippert gates open at 5:30. The first 5K fans get a poster. The more important thing is to try and get behind the bench, because Coach Butch Jones will let a few fans call plays. I recommend a fumble rooski. The game starts at 7.

Here are a few things that are worth taking a look at. The defense is going to be rebuilt. It's going to be very interesting to see what they have in store for the, what should be, high powered offense. Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson are competing for the starting job, more like 'competing' am I right, and that should be interesting to watch as well. Like mentioned up top, Darrin Williams is going to see quite a bit of the ball, as he is the last running back left standing it appears. The new look Butch Jones offense has me very excited. All in all, it should be an exciting day. It's our first look at the new Bearcats. It's our introduction to Coach Butch Jones. It's football.

Questions and Answers: Starring the voice of the Bearcats Dan Hoard

With the season wrapping up, I thought it would be cool to see if we could find out what the voice of the Bearcats Dan Hoard had to say about the season. Surprisingly, Mr Hoard thought it was a great idea as well and answered a few of my questions. As part of the agreement to get him to do this, I have to say that Mr Hoard is very handsome, incredibly talented and despite what it seems, not bald. That was a joke, he answered them without a qualifier. I can't believe it either! Anyway, let's see Dan Hoard's answers to my questions.

Everyone has noticed that Deonta Vaughn has struggled with his shot and has maybe deferred too much to the other guards. Do you think it's more the game plans of other teams, or was he did play was well as he possibly could have 2 years ago?

 

Vaughn's drop-off is a huge mystery to me.  But when you look as his career, he only had a high shooting percentage as a sophomore -- maybe he just had a great year.  Also, the 3-point line was moved back by a foot after that season, so that was probably a factor.  He also played with a solid point guard in his first two seasons in Jamual Warren who looked to get him shots and that hasn't been the case for the last two years.

The Bearcats have stumbled lately losing 7 of 10, do you think that they just aren't there from a talent standpoint yet? Or is it a case of them not knowing how to win close games?

 

They have a glaring weakness from a talent standpoint -- they don't have good shooters.  Some of the close games that they lost were blown at the free throw line.  While UC's offense needs more movement (ball and player) in my opinion, the single most valuable skill in basketball is putting the ball in the basket and UC needs more guys that can do it (plus improvement from the players that are already on the roster). 

Lance Stephenson has gotten back into form as of late, what do you think his ceiling is? 

 

He's a great ball-handler and passer for his size and plays with great intensity.  But he needs to become a much better shooter to have a significant NBA career.  The good news is that he knows it and will work at it.  For a guy who has received all of the hype that Lance has received, he seems very realistic about his strengths and weaknesses.

Chuck Machock, as we all know, is pretty awesome. Your twitter background is a picture of him getting tossed in the Gonzaga game. How crazy a moment was that?

 

It was embarrassing for Chuck and UC at the time, but we've had a ton of fun with it since.  I have two claims to fame:  A character was named for me in The Simpsons (http://danhoard.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/05/my_claim_to_fame.html) and I'm the play-by-play guy who's partner got kicked out of an NCAA Tournament game.  By the way, Chuck will be looking to extend his streak of NOT getting kicked out to 223 games at Georgetown. 

Have you had the chance to meet with Butch Jones? Do you think he's as good a hire as I do? I think he's very good. 

 

I've talked to Coach Jones on several occasions and spent about an hour in his office last week.  He's got huge shoes to fill, but I'm very optimistic.  The players that I've talked to really like him -- despite the fact that they're working harder than ever.  And the fact that UC held on to Kerry Coombs was huge -- not only in recruiting but in helping the new staff learn everything they need to know about Cincinnati.

100,000,000 thanks to Dan Hoard for taking time to do this. He is a very nice man. In fact, here's a Dan Hoard story. When I worked at UC as an usher, there was a football game and basketball exhibition on the same day. My job was to check id badges at some point where I couldn't see either game. Needless to say, it was incredibly boring, and I kept walking far away to watch the football game. Suddenly, an awesome moment happened. Dan Hoard came walking down from the basketball game. He chatted with me a couple minutes about the team, and maybe the football team. I think he said something and then I followed him as far as I could go. I think he asked me the football score, I don't remember. All I do remember, is that is was awesome. I'm sure that conversation like 9 years ago is what made Mr Dan Hoard agree to answer my questions. Even though I asked him through the Bearcats Blog twitter. Don't ruin the moment. Thanks Dan Hoard. 

Oh Say Did UC?

With so much football news, and a little basketball news, it's time to hit the links for some Bearcats news. First some site news. Tomorrow is going to be a breakdown of the Big East. Friday will probably just be the Providence breakdown, but maybe a national look at things for the NCAA tournament. If you are nice, you will get both. Let us look at the news shall we?

It's Senior Bowl week, so let's hit those links first. Watch the game Saturday to check out the Cats.

• NFL.Com did a stock report from Day 1. They had Tony Pike as a Stock up, and Mardy Gilyard as a stock down. 
• The man Josh Katzowitz wrote about how the UC trio of players, Pike, Gilyard and long snapper Mike Windt, are trying to impress NFL scouts and coaches at the bowl. 
• Wrapping up the Senior Bowl stuff, an interview with Mardy Gilyard. It retells Mardy's story of he was off the team, came back and was awesome. 
• Mardy is also on twitter, @MardyGilyard. You can follow Bearcats Blog on twitter as well. 
• One other JK item, we linked to part I of his interview with Bearcats coach Butch Jones last week, and here is part II.
• Some recruiting news as we head towards Signing Day. First, the bad. Defensive end from Wyoming High Jibreel Black switched his commitment to Michigan. First he committed to Indiana, then UC, now Michigan.
• Winton Woods standout Dominique Brown lead his team to the State championship and was the division 2 player of the year, but he might not stay in Cincinnati. He's due to visit Louisville this week. He's also visited Ohio State as well as UC.
• Good news, QB Cody Kater is coming to UC. He was a Central Michigan recruit who decided to follow Butch Jones. Kater was the QB for 2 Michigan state champs, and is the first D-1 scholarship player from his high school. There is video on the site if you want to check him out.
• The great Brian Bennett has a Big East recruiting scoreboard. UC has only 16 recruits, 8 of which are 3 star and above.
• Dennis Dodd of CBS ranked the coaching hires. Dodd ranked Butch Jones at #7. The top 6 were USF's Skip Holtz, Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville, that new coach in South Bend, Mike London of Virginia and Charlie Strong at Louisville. 

Slow week for basketball news, as evidenced by

• The top UC basketball story being that Kahla Roudebush was named to the Big East weekly honor roll. Roudey as her friends call her, put up 20.5, 5 boards and 2.5 assists. She had 25 against Georgetown, a season high. The ladies are 9-9 (2-4) and play tonight at DePaul. 
• Former Bearcat guard Devan Downey helped South Carolina knock off top ranked Kentucky 68-62 last night by scoring 30. The Bearcats Blog curse is in full effect. Downey has stamped his name into South Carolina history according to Ron Morris. It was the first time in the 102 year history of USC basketball that they beat #1. 
• Former Cat great, and #2 best Cat of the decade, Steve Logan has backed out of the Bearcats Hall of Fame Inductions for next month. That has nothing to do with his non-existent NBA career, and more to do with the rape charges. Going into the Hall, Brad Jackson former football player. Also, a bunch of other nerds. Just kidding, they are Andrew Keen (soccer, really for soccer) and Mary Danner Wineberg (track and field mainly the track part). 

Since that last bit was depressing, here is a hilarious celebration video from Syracuse blogger HoyaSuxa after their win over Georgetown Monday. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading. Especially the person in Luxembourg.

Oh Say Did UC?

Time to hit up the Cincinnati news on this Friday afternoon. Just a quick site bit, the Louisville preview for the game Sunday afternoon will probably go up tomorrow. If it somehow doesn't, it will be up Sunday morning well before noon. Quick fact that will be be in the preview. The Bearcats have played the most, and won the most at Freedom Hall more than any Louisville opponent. Plus, the Cats won the 1962 National Title in Freedom Hall. Let's hit some news.

• I can't find anything on the status of Lance Stephenson. Since Born Ready was labeled day to day, I expect him in the lineup Sunday at noon.
• Speaking of Lance, here is an SI article that (coughhackcough) Paul Daugherty wrote. This is like a week old, but I'm pretty sure I didn't post a link and I know you get all your UC news here. Right? Say yes for my fragile ego. 
• This article from CNati questions if Jaquon Parker is the missing piece. I hope that he can step in and play the point, and that would be huge. I'm not totally against giving Cashmere Wright another look in spurts. I'm all for Parker starting Sunday.
• Louisville was taken down by Seton Hall last night in a nightmare scenario. There was some controversy at the end. Jerry Smith made a 3 with .7 remaining. As Seton Hall was set to inbound, there was a whistle and the player with the ball took 2 steps on the court. All the players turned towards their benches, so that could be chalked up to confusion. However, Seton Hall's inbounds pass was tipped back out of bounds. The inbounder would run the line, an absolute clear violation, and Seton Hall would inbound and make free throws. Youtube: here. 
• The Wall Street Journal decided to have their yearly piece about how awesome the Big East is. Worth a read, or otherwise I wouldn't have linked to it. 
• Luke Winn writes a great Power Rankings on SI every Thursday. UC isn't mentioned, but it's one of my favorite reads of the week. Good job Luke.

That about does it on the basketball news. Let's hit the gridiron.

• Another SI bit. Stewart Mandel, from Cincinnati, did a report card of the coaching hires. Spoiler alert: Butch Jones got an A-. Louisville's Charlie Strong got the best grade, A+, and South Florida's Skip Holtz received an A-. Big East AD's are hitting it out of the park this year on paper.
• Dyjuan Lewis, a 4 star receiver from Indianapolis, recommited to Cincinnati. Nice job getting him back Butch Jones. Great decision Dyjuan.
• Here is a slightly dated Big East recruiting breakdown. Lewis answers a question asked in the piece, and is UC's best recruit. 
• QB recruit Luke Massa is being wooed by Notre Dame. The St. X star said "Then (on Thursday) Notre Dame offered (a scholarship). I was definitely pretty excited. Who wouldn't be excited about an offer from Notre Dame? I'll be visiting there Jan. 30, and then make my decision after that." Great. Sounds like he might be going.
• Alex Daniels and Aaron Webster were named to the Texas vs. The Nation all star game. Good for them. 
• Mel Kiper has his rankings up. They are insider so no link. Tony Pike fell out of his top 5 QBs. Mardy Gilyard is his 4th best WR. Armon Binns is 2 on the list for next year.
• Our main man Josh Katzowitz has an interview with Butch Jones up on GoBearcats. 

Finally, Brian Bennett at ESPN's Big East blog has a shit load of UC related things. You should read his blog, but then forget about it when I link to stuff about it. The following bullets are all his.

• Big East games of the Decade: UC v. Pitt #3. UC vs South Florida from October 2007 #9.
• Coaches of the Decade: #1 Brian Kelly. Don't boo or get angry, just let the last BK mention be a good one.
• Programs of the Decade: UC #5. Top 4: Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
• Half Decade Team: WR Mardy Gilyard, OG Trevor Canfield, CB Mike Mickens and P Kevin Huber.
• Big East Game of the Year: 

1. #7 Cincinnati vs West Virginia. 
2. #5 Cincinnati vs Connecticut
3. #1. Cincinnati at Pittsburgh

That didn't end confusingly at all. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read the blog. Shout out to whoever read this in Belgium. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Louisville preview. It won't be up in the morning, probably the afternoon. There will be the normal quick result post and the full reaction Monday. As for the rest of the week, I'm not sure. The Cats don't play until the next Saturday, so if you have any ideas for what you want me to write about, leave a comment. 

UC Notes

I'm working a list of the worst 25 UC losses I can remember after the debacle from Wednesday, but I took a little break to throw some notes your way. Most are football, but there are a couple basketball at the end. 

• The Bearcats hired an offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. It's one man, and that man is Mike Bajakian. Mike held the same position under Butch Jones at Central Michigan. The CMU offense lead, or was near the top, of the MAC in every offensive category that's important. CMU had the 15th best offense, and 14th in terms of passing efficiency. Good news
• The Bearcats are ranked 19 on the SI top 25 for 2010 too early edition. 
• Rivals did their look back at the football season for the Big East. They had Brian Kelly as the coach of the year, UC as the surprise of the year, UC's defense as the worst bowl performance, and Zach Collaros as the offensive breakout player for next year.
• Former Bearcat Mike Mickens signed to the Bengals offseason roster. He was on the practice squad last season. 
• Lance McAlister threw down some hot venom after the loss to St John's saying the following "In year four....if UC basketball lacks: A leader, Shooters, The ability to play hard consistently,  The ability to close out games, The ability to hit FT's, What exactly is being accomplished?" Harsh words
• I heard on twitter, not the greatest source ever, that the end of the game inbounds by Rashad Bishop was not to happen. Bishop was directly told not to throw the ball deep, and that UC didn't run the play drawn up. 
• One final thing, to the people calling for Mick Cronin's head, chill. Let's play the season out first before we go crazy saying he needs to go. If you remember, the program was nothing 4 years ago and we knew this would be a process. Now that we finally have expectations, we can't bail on the man who brought them back. Just relax peeps, it's January. 

Oh Say Did UC?

Hi there and welcome to the feature sweeping the nation, Oh Say Did UC? If you missed the electric first version, it's pretty much a gathering of Cincinnati Bearcats news put in one place. It's probably the greatest thing since chocolate milk. We've had a busy couple weeks with Bearcats playing in the Sugar Bowl last Friday, and the basketball team playing 5 games in 11 days. There will probably only be a Seton Hall result post Sunday, with a write up coming on Monday. Let's do the football news first, and the basketball news second. Alright? Alright.

• The final polls of the season came out last night after Alabama beat Texas to win the BCS National Championship. There should be a playoff or a plus 1, because after watching last night, teams like Boise State could absolutely hang. But if there were a plus 1, they probably would have been left out because they were #5. Anyway, the Broncos somehow finished 4th which is bullshit by the coaches and AP. Get your heads out of your asses. They went undefeated and you have them behind Florida? Behind Texas? McCoy didn't play, but Texas still lost and Boise didn't. End rant.
• The Bearcats finished 8th in the AP Top 25 and 9th in the Coaches' Poll behind Penn State. Florida was 3rd.
• Former Bearcats defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, and passing game coordinator and receiver coach Charley Molnar are leaving the school to go to Notre Dame. This isn't surprising in the least. The Bearcats already announced new coordinators. Also going to Notre Dame are defensive line/assistant head coach Mike Elston and running backs coach and recruting coordinator Tim Hinton. Everyone else but Kerry Coombs is going to Buffalo. Most of the UC coaching staff next year will be from Central Michigan. Typical coaching change stuff. 
• Butch Jones was interviewed at halftime of the Cal State Bakersfield game. He didn't say anything really important. He said Zach Collaros will be the point guard of the offense, and the team will still attack. He said the defense at Central Michigan was good this year, and it will be at UC next year. I think he was freaked out by Michael Reghi's hair. Just go gray dude.
• Brian Bennett had these 2 nuggets of information about next year. First, he says don't be that worried about next season. He is critical of the team in the Sugar Bowl, so you can skim past the first couple of questions.
• BB also has a list of who's returning next season for the Big East so far. The Cats have 12 starters coming back, 7 offense, 5 defense. The offense also has USC transfer Vidal Hazelton to look forward to next year. 
• Someone not returning is South Florida coach Jim Leavitt. South Florida corroborated reports that he grabbed by the throat, and smacked player Joel Miller at halftime during a game with Louisville. On top of that, Leavitt lied during the investigation numerous times. Leavitt was the only coach in USF history and raised the program from the ground. He also was a gaping asshole apparently. 
• 3 Bearcats were invited to the Senior Bowl. Quarterback Tony Pike, Wide Receiver Mardy Gilyard and Long Snapper Mike Windt. The first 2 were locks, but what about Mike? Congrats big man. Don't throw one over the punter or holders head with the pro coaches watching. 
• Here is a great piece by Andy Staples that you should read about last nights game. 
• Despite the football teams success and 18,000 fans buying tickets for the Sugar Bowl, Cincinnati is facing a big deficit. The Enquirer reports the school will need $11 million a year to support being in the Big East. There is some doubt that the practice fields and bubble and basically everything Brian Kelly wanted, will be financially do-able. 

Now let's hit the basketball side of things.

• The game tomorrow will be on Fox Sports Ohio and ESPN 360.com at 6. If you are watching the Bengals game and don't have a dvr, I hope you can see it on 360. It will probably not work in Cincinnati or whatever city is unfortunate to have Seton Hall. 
• The great, great, great Basketball Prospectus ranked the Top 25 Freshmen of the year. Cincinnati's own Lance Stephenson finished 8th. It's a great list, check it out. 
• Here are where some great sites have the Bearcats ranked. Basketball State: 49. Team Rankings: 43. Real Time RPI: 52. Cal State Bakersfield killed our RPI there. Sagarin: 50 
• Basketball Prospectus has former Cat Tony Bobbitt as one of the top players in the NBDL who could get called up by the NBA soon. 
• CollegeHoops.net has a list of the top 100 players of January. The list has 2 Cats, 47 Lance Stephenson and 91 Yancy Gates. 
• Finally, let's cap the day off with some way too early bracket predictions that someone guessed. CollegeHoops.net has UC as a 11, SI a 12, playing Washington. I wish that was real. And finally ESPN's Bracketology has UC an 8 playing Texas Tech with Kentucky in the second round. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting the blog. If you have any links that you want to send, shoot an email or leave a comment. If you want me to link your blog in the blogroll, simply shoot me a link and I'll add you. The Seton Hall preview will be up either tonight, or tomorrow morning.

Urban Meyer stepping down at Florida

NOTE: Urban Meyer is not leaving Florida. He's taking a leave of absence. But, still coaching the Sugar Bowl. And may still coach next season. It's an odd situation to say the least. (12.27)

(AJC.COM)

In news that rocked the college football landscape, Urban Meyer will coach his last game at Florida January 1 against the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl. The reasons for Meyer leaving are said to be health related. It's not known at this time if it had anything to do with his hospitalization after the SEC championship game. Meyer had a piece in SI where he said he had a cyst on his brain, but it wasn't life threatening. I have seen this mentioned a few times on a few sites, but no one really knows what's happening.

To repeat, Meyer will coach against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl. This adds a huge layer to the game Friday. The Sugar Bowl is racked with coaching turmoil, from Cincinnati having Brian Kelly leave, to Butch Jones being coach and not coaching, to Jeff Quinn accepting the Buffalo job, and now Urban Meyer is stepping down from Florida. Here is what Meyer had to say about everything in a released statement by Florida.

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program,” said Meyer. “I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family.”

“After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.

 “I’m proud to be a part of the Gainesville community and the Gator Nation and I plan to remain in Gainesville and involved with the University of Florida.

“I’m very appreciative for the opportunity I’ve had to be a part of a tremendous institution – from Dr. Machen to Jeremy Foley and the entire administrative staff at UF. I’m also very thankful for the chance to work with some of the best assistants in college football and coach some of the best college football players and watch them grow both on and off the field as people. I will cherish the relationships with them the most.”

 And here's AD Jeremy Foley, by the Palm Beach Post (HT: Alligator Army)

“Coach Meyer and I have talked this through and I realize how hard this was for him to reach this decision,” Foley said. “But, the bottom line is that Coach Meyer needed to make a choice that is in the best interest of his well being and his family. I certainly appreciate what he has meant to the University of Florida, our football program and the Gator Nation. I have never seen anyone more committed to his players, his family and his program. Above all, I appreciate our friendship.”

UC Game of the Decade

(Credit: The great, great Warming Glow)

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this blog. Thanks for reading. This post is going to combine some news, and a preview of what's to come on the site for the rest of the year. This one has flown by hasn't it? Let's hit this with bullet points, because everyone likes them right?

• New Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones has hired his offensive and defensive coordinators. Offensively it's Mike Bajakian, who last held the job at Central Michigan. There are co-defensive coordinators, Tim Banks and John Jancek. Banks was also at Central Michigan a season a go. Jancek was at the University of Georgia, where he was also a co-ordinator. Nice to see Coach Jones getting some quality people in here. 
• Current Cincinnati interim coach Jeff Quinn has taken the head coach job at Buffalo. He will still coach the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl is being a big clusterfuck coach wise. With Brian Kelly leaving, and Jones not having much of anything to do with the game, and now Quinn is out getting other jobs. It's a very weird situation. And it's one that I don't think is going to have the best of benefits for the Bearcats. Although, an article was written here about how the team is staying focused with all the turmoil. 
• There will be a Sugar Bowl preview on New Year's Day. Depending on my fluctuating plans, there may be some live blog action. 
• The basketball team is done for the next week, but there will be a preview on Wednesday and a write up of the UConn game either Wednesday night or Thursday. Best idea, just click refresh a whole lot. 
• Speaking of hoops, the school announced a reward system for students who attend games. Depending on the attendance on some of the conference games, there is going to be an attendance article. 6,000 fans is pathetic. Get out there students, you can win season tickets for football next year. 

I'm going to do a little something special the next week. I'm going to roll out a list of the best players of the decade for basketball. Why not one for football? Because the list would be everyone from the last 2 seasons. I remember going to Nippert and running around the area around the stadium and not caring about the game. My friends and I would always move close to to the bench of the visiting team, because our tickets were always on the visiting side. But all that changed. The past 3 seasons, the Nip has been full. It was remarkable watching UC-UConn get top billing on ABC on a Saturday night over Oklahoma-Nebraska. UC played a prominent game the day after Thanksgiving. And a road game at Pitt that the whole nation watched. It was truly the best time to be a UC fan ever. Here are the winners for coach, player, and team of the decade.

Football coach of the Decade: Brian Kelly

Football player of the Decade: Mardy Gilyard

Football team of the Decade: 2009.

Finally, the game of the decade. Not just for football, but for all Cincinnati sports. The 45-44 win over Pittsburgh to win the Big East title.

Butch Jones thoughts

That's video of Butch Jones' pregame speech before the MAC title game, and video highlights of the victory. I'm pretty excited about the Butch Jones era. There is a little concern from some parties because he interviewed for the West Virginia job after his first season at CMU. That makes one wonder if the Michigan job came open that he would leave then as well. But who cares? There is also concern that he won with BK's players at Central Michigan. Those concerns I share as well, but luckily, he's following BK yet again. He did wonders with Dan Lefevour, and I think he can help Zach Collaros have a big, big year. Jones runs the spread, and the offense basically the same way Kelly did at Central, and like Kelly did here. I'm pretty excited about this hire. Central Michigan was very balanced, scoring 27 rushing and passing TDs this season. They went undefeated in the MAC and were ranked for the first time in school history. It will be very interesting to see how Jones deals with expectations. For the first time in school history, there is pressure to win. Losing more than the Oklahoma game non-conference is going to be a let down. Not winning the Big East is going to be a let down. Not to me, but to the fanbase. Especially if UC had a drastic fall back into irrelevance nationally. That said, I think that Butch Jones is going to help the program advance in the right direction. I think that he is going to win here. He is going to be hard pressed to match the Brian Kelly level of success the past 2 seasons, but 10, hell even 9 or 8, wins a year at Cincinnati is rather impressive. I don't think he's a Kragthrope hire, and I think the University of Cincinnati picked the right man to keep the train on the tracks of success.
(Edit. There is a 5 pm press conference this afternoon to make the formal announcement. Watch it live here)

Sources: Butch Jones is the new Cincinnati coach.

(wvns tv)

The winds of change are blowing through the University of Cincinnati, and it appears they have brought another coach from Central Michigan. Sources everywhere from ESPN to the USA Today are saying that he is the man for the job. Can't say that I'm too surprised by this one.  I gave him a 63% chance at taking the job, and after Chris Peterson, who was never going to come here, he was the man I wanted. The man that wasn't Turner Gill. But, more tomorrow if this is true.

Goodbye Brian Kelly, Hello....

(photo courtesy of the AP/Keith Srakocic)
Everyone knows the news that the best coach in Cincinnati history took a lateral move today and went to Notre Dame. Brian Kelly has nothing but the fullest of my respect for what he's done here. He has shaped the coarse of Cincinnati football for years to come. He took a basketball school and made it a football school. Some of that has to do with UC basketball fans being front running jagoffs, but Kelly helped turn the tide. As good a coach as Mark Dantonio is, he would have never lead fucking Cincinnati to the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. (Quick side note. Cincinnati has sold out all of their allotted Sugar Bowl tickets. Kudos UC fans. Start supporting basketball front runners.) Words can not express what Brian Kelly and his offensive machine have done for the university and for the fans. Thank you Brian Kelly, I hope you go down in flames. Seriously, fuck Notre Dame. Like we needed anymore reasons. 
That brings us to the second part of the post. Who should the new Cincinnati coach be? Lance McAlister reported, and then redacted, a post saying Kerry Combs would coach the bowl game. I'm 1,000,000% certain Kelly won't coach the Sugar Bowl. I believe I said it already. But, that doesn't answer who the coach should be. Lance and Bill Koch offered up their replacements. Both had Skip Holtz, Butch Jones, Jeff Quinn and Chris Peterson. Lance also threw in Kevin Sumlin, Al Golden, Pat Hill, Turner Gill, Brady Hoke, Kerry Combs, Tommy Tuberville, Phil Fulmer and Jeff Jagoffazinski. Let's assume these are the 10 candidates. I will rank them in the order that I want to see them here coaching.

1. Chris Peterson, Boise State coach. Chances: 1%. I have no idea why he would leave when he can go undefeated forever and be the greatest coach in Boise history. He can probably go to Michigan if they fire Rich Rod next year.
2. Turner Gill, Buffalo coach. Chances: 58%. Buffalo had a down year, so this one could be a reach. However, I fell in love with Turner Gill last season and thought he was the man for Auburn. I think he is the hire if the Cats can't get Peterson.
3. Butch Jones, Central Michigan coach. Chances: 63%. He had one of the best statistical QBs in NCAA history in Dan Lefevour. He runs a similar system to the one that we had this year, and I think he could make Zach Collaros a superstar. If I didn't have irrational TG love, Jones would be #2.
4. Kevin Sumlin, Houston coach. Chances: 32% I don't see him making the move. He has a high powered Houston offense, but they are a system team, and I'm not sure that he would be the right fit here. I don't see that system working. 
5. Jeff Quinn, Cincinnati assistant. Chances: 20% For continuation, it would be nice if he came along, but I can't see it happening. I think he's going to join Kelly in losing at Notre Dame
6. Skip Holtz, East Carolina coach. Chances: 74%. I think Holtz is going to be the choice. I'm not really sold on him, but he is winning at ECU, and if you can win there, you can win anywhere. I liked what I saw in the Conference USA championship game. They play Arkansas in a bowl game that I don't remember the name of, and if they win, I think he should get the job. If you can beat an SEC team with ECU, you deserve a BCS job. 
7. Tommy Tuberville, No Job. Chances: 40% yeah a round number. I think TT would hold off for a job in the south rather than come to Cincinnati. He is the most interesting coach for the situation. He can recruit, or hire people to recruit, and he should have won a national title. I think this should be the first offer, and when he secretly turns it down or shows no interest, move on to Holtz or Gill. 
8. Kerry Combs, assistant UC. Chances: 16% He would jump on the job like a dude on prom night. He was the coach at Colerain a few years ago, and although they won, he's not exactly a young fresh coach. If he beats Florida though, he moves up to #7. In all seriousness, if he coaches and beats Florida, I hope the university doesn't Bill Stewart him into the full time job. That would be stone to drag UC right back to wherever they were before Kelly brought them to the top.
9. Phil Fulmer, No Job. Chances: 50% I think fatty Fulmer would jump at the job like it's a cheeseburger. I don't want him to be the coach. I think he's a terrible coach in the modern age. During the 90s, he was a great coach. In the 00s, he sucks. He lost to fucking Wyoming with Tennessee. Wyoming's QB played at Indiana State this year and was the shittiest QB I saw play. And I watched Will Stein. 
10. Jeff Jagoffzinski, No Job. Chances: 0%. He's a jerk off.