The Cincinnati Bearcats head coach has been suspended due to a misunderstanding, which is unbelievable news for the brave fans.

The Cincinnati Bearcats head coach has been suspended due to a misunderstanding, which is unbelievable news for the brave fans.

The courageous supporters are shocked to learn that the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats has been suspended because of a misunderstanding.

Over the past ten years, Bearcat supporters have heard the words “Our football coach has left” frequently. After hearing that expression so frequently, you eventually lose awareness of the circumstances.

The university was well-known for its basketball program when I decided to attend UC after high school. Prior to 2001, the squad had produced several NBA players, including Nick Van Exel, Corie Blount, Rueben Patterson, Dontonio Wingfield, Danny Forston, Kenyon Martin, and Kenny Satterfield, among others. Steve Logan, Leonard Stokes, and others were already on campus when I got there, and more would join us later. Thus, it was simple to ignore the football team.

When Mark Dantonio was hired in December 2003, people began to pay closer attention to the squad. This was during my time at school. The squad didn’t have much of a buzz throughout Rick Minter’s tenure (1994–03), going to a few bowl games but never truly posing a serious danger to the collegiate football scene as a whole. I apologize for being so rude, but I had to admit that before 2000, I had no idea that UC had a football team. The Bearcats’ defense was unstoppable under Dantonio, and they enjoyed respect in the Big East. His time with the Cats was likewise full of ups and downs, but in his third season, he led an upset victory over a highly regarded Rutgers squad that cemented the Bearcats’ and Dantonio’s reputation. He fled to Michigan State as soon as the regular season ended.

KellyThe school was in a bind after getting excited about the Bearcats’ path. At that point, Brian Kelly (2006) entered and started a fire on the campus. I’ve never seen Kelly put the Bearcats in two BCS bowl games and have us ranked in the top five during her three years in charge. In 2008 and 2009, we won the Big East in consecutive years. The Irish arrived after guiding the Cats to an unbeaten record before the Sugar Bowl matchup. Everyone in Cincinnati was furious at the time, but you have to understand his departure. The Bearcats are in the same situation they were in three years ago, despite the fact that it looked eerily familiar. Kelly, as we all know, ran off to Notre Dame. Now that I’m not as mad at Kelly, you can see that he made significant improvements to the Bearcats’ facilities during his brief tenure. The Cats now have a 50-yard field just across from their fully indoor, 100-yard practice field. These fields are a terrific place to start for recruiting and catching up to the big boys in football, even though Cincinnati still needs more.

JonesButch Jones is hired by the Bearcats (2009) after three years of excellence. Jones is Kelly’s backup coach at Central Michigan and the Bearcats currently. After a difficult first year, he helped the Bearcats earn respect by leading them to consecutive Big East championships. The Cats made it to two consecutive bowl games. While not quite as dominant as Kelly, he was close. I never thought Butch was so great. He was a less-skilled Kelly clone. If you understand what I mean, it’s similar to the Harold Minor of the game—at USC, not the NBA, lol. With the skill we possessed, there would have been no BCS bowl—but that’s a topic for another post—but because of the excitement Butch generated, several schools begged for his services. Tennessee, Purdue, and Colorado all rolled out the red carpet for Jones. In the end, he moved to Tennessee with his talents. Like or dislike it, Bearcats supporters are in the same situation as they were three years ago. Over a nine-year period, the third coach to go.

Because of the realignment scenario that directly affects the school, this relocation caused the most pain. We all know that the club would be thrilled to leave the Big East as soon as possible, but how would that happen in the absence of a coach? That’s when Tommy Tuberville was hired by Whit Babcock, the athletic director, who pulled a rabbit out of his hat. In addition to serving as the head coach at Auburn during the Tigers’ 2004 undefeated season, Tuberville was also the coach at Texas Tech. Tuberville is SEC-tested, well-known, and experienced. For a program looking to break free from a failing conference, this is crucial. I hope the program can continue to grow.

Now, more than ever, the key question is: How long will we retain Tuberville? Given his prior performance, perhaps the larger universities won’t approach him as quickly. Perhaps we Bearcats supporters will be in the same spot in three years? In any case, the HC position at Clifton has been a very open door, unless shown otherwise.