Embarrassing that the University of Louisville football team enters the upcoming game against Cincinnati with the status of a punching bag. Quite a turnaround from the 70-7  drubbing U of L handed the Bearcats at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in 2004.

Funny thing is both teams could be looking for new coaches after this season.

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Ranked No. 5 in the BCS standings, the Queen City school is basking in the limelight today. They stumbled into a young up-and-coming coach who knows how to get the best out of his players on the field.

Quite a feat at a school which was considered a dubious choice for the Big East a few years ago. Does anyone really believe Brian Kelly will be Cincinnati coach when the 2010 season rolls around?

Kelly is considered by many to be first in line if Notre Dame fires Charlie Weiss after this season. He knows the weak history of UC fan support, faces a losing battle with the Reds and Bengals for media attention, he’s ambitious and sure of himself. There’s no way he turns down a Notre Dame offer.

That’s why some folks in Cincinnati are already trying to identify a successor to Kelly. In the process, they want to avoid what has happened in Louisville when Steve Kragthorpe took the reins. “Cincinnati has to be careful or they could end up the same way after Kelly leaves,” notes a writer at the UC News Record.

“I would hate to see UC hire an NFL coach. They need to hire someone who has something to prove. Kelly wasn’t established before he came to UC. The verdict was still out on how well he could do as a head coach at a BCS school. Look what happened to Charlie Weis at Notre Dame.

“This is why UC has to find the next up-and-coming head coach. The next Brian Kelly. Turner Gill at Buffalo could be that coach.  Gill is in his fourth season as head coach of the Bulls and won the MAC title last season.

After Kelly leaves, Cincinnati needs to find a coach that needs Cincinnati as much as Cincinnati needs him.”

What’s disappointing is that the writer assumes Cincinnati wouldn’t pull out all the stops to keep Kelly from leaving. Why is it so difficult to envision a day when a successful coach at a Louisville or Cincinnati is going to recognize what they have, make a commitment and stay long term?

Kelly may or may not succeed at Notre Dame. At Cincinnati, he would be king, having a chance to accomplish what no other coach has been able to do there, build a nationally-respected program, compete year in and year out with traditional powers. The adulation and the fans would follow, along with multi-million-dollar contracts, legendary status and vastly expanded seating, even a new stadium. Football fans are crazy. They will do anything to keep a winning coach.

That would be much more impressive than anything he could accomplish at South Bend.


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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

5 thoughts on “Cincinnati May Face Coaching Search, Too”
  1. UC will never pony up the money needed to keep a coach of Kelly’s stature and success even now that Nancy Zimpher is gone. Zimpher abhored sports and got rid of Huggins. Cronin stays because of his lifelong association with the area and Zimpher fought his hiring as long as she could because of his ties to Huggins. The fair-weather fan base, the pro sport competition and tiny athletic facilities are also draw backs…Kelly is a star on the rise, if Notre Dame doesn’t grab him…some school out there with a 70,000+ football venue will.

    When you are the most successful coach in the Big East over the last two seasons but play in the smallest football stadium…how hard will it be for the suitors to woo you over to them?

  2. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they (Cinci)are rated number 5 in the BCS. Sure, they are playing great football, but they’ve only played one ranked team.

    1. They’ve beat everybody they’ve played and looked good doing it with exceptional talent. Don’t blame Cincinnati for the schedule if the established powers won’t play them. You play right into the big boys’ hands when you discredit their schedule. Line em up against the ol’ boys and let’s see what happens.

  3. The point of the post is that people like Petrino and possibly Kelly are little dumb and shortsighted when it comes to the so-called coaching ladder. They can make a much larger impact at Louisville or Cincinnati than they ever would at some of the entrenched major powers. They could conceivably create new power schools if they are as good as they believe they are. Take Louisville, for example, which is expanding its stadium and would is paying excellent salaries already. A successful coach could almost write his own ticket while impacting college football’s power structure. A really smart coach would catch on.

  4. No question in my mind that I would rather be looking for a new coach because of the present one’s success than because of his failure.

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