So, I was planning a big TOL today since I missed the last couple of days at the Winter Meetings. I got back home on Thursday and, well, I'm headed back to Indiana today.
Josh Katzowitz and I are driving to South Bend for the Brian Kelly to Notre Dame press conference.
So, it's not like it's a shock. It's one of those things that I think anyone who isn't completely wearing Bearcat blinders understands.
As for people upset about how it's done, well, there's no real good way to do this. I've seen people complain about every little bit of how he's handled this -- but did you complain about how he left Central Michigan three years ago?
* I don't blame Brian Kelly, I blame what he called the "silly season."
Kelly's said a lot, but he was careful never to say he was going to be around. Even though I heard several players say he told them he wasn't going anywhere, others said they never heard that.
* In the end, Kelly did what was best for himself. And I think it's the best hire Notre Dame could make.
* I bet at least Jeff Quinn and Kerry Coombs get courtesy interviews at UC, but don't expect to be more than a courtesy interview.
I saw one report that Mike Thomas has already gotten permission to interview Kevin Sumlin. I like that candidate and will be interested to see if Turner Gill is still a possibility, perhaps Central Michigan's Butch Jones or East Carolina's Skip Holtz.
* I'm glad the powers that be moved my favorite game -- Army/Navy -- to this weekend. It doesn't get overshadowed by all the championship games.
* The Heisman will be really interesting tomorrow. I think Mark Ingram wins it, even though he wasn't on my ballot. And I wouldn't be upset about it, either.
* It seemed only fitting that the MLB Winter Meetings were held in the same city that the NFL Combine is always help, they're two of the biggest non-events there are. The fact about the Winter Meetings is that they're mostly for the minor leagues, not the big leagues. My man Kevin Kaduk at Big League Stew writes about what he learned at the Winter Meetings, although he fails to mention that I'm an awesome drinking buddy. I guess it was just our special time together and he didn't want to brag.
* Does a run scored equal a run scored? It depends on how good you are, apparently.
* I've been using Google's Chrome a little bit and think I like it. So far, the only problems I've been having is with gmail and Google maps, oddly enough.
* 'Tis the season for lists -- and because this year ends in a 9, even more lists.
Here's the 40 worst movies of the decade -- I've only seen one of these. I think they're leaving off Driven and 15 Minutes.
* The Twilgiht Singers' Blackberry Belle gets some end of the decade love.
* WOXY is doing a look back in its archives and has a Lounge Act with The Hold Steady from 2005. It's great, and they talk about the Reds stinking and looking forward to the Bengals' 2005 training camp. Good call.
* Yet another story on vinyl being cool.
* I really, really miss Athens sometimes.
* A sad story from Wisconsin, the closing of a greyhound race track will cause as many 300 dogs to be uncared for and unwanted... More greyhound adoption info here.
You can't blame Brian Kelly for going to Notre Dame. The money, the name, and everything else. However, good luck winning up there. Lose the best players the team has and you have no defense to speak of. I just can't see how he is much different than Charlie Weiss, unless he hires a great Defensive Coordinator to go with him.
Is there some kind of intangible about Turner Gill that has people talking about him? Yeah Buffalo was nothing before he got there and he took them to a bowl, but an 8th place finish in the MAC in his fourth year hardly seems BCS caliber.
Just curious - I generally enjoy the site and have followed you since the Post - but why cover a ND news conference if this site is supposed to be about Cincinnati sports?
I'm not angry about BK leaving...I understand it's a business, but as far as I'm concerned he's no longer relevant to UC or Cincinnati. I would much rather read about UC's search, potential candidates, maybe reaction from Quinn or the other coaches on what they're plans are.
Obviously it's your business, but it doesn't seem to me like a very effective use of resources given the purpose of the site.
I actually liked Speed Racer, Freddy Got Fingered and Little Nicky from the worst movies list.
I don't hold any ill-will towards Brian Kelly, but I do hate Notre Dame even more now and as a result, I have to wish he loses, loses, loses. Not to see him fail, but to continue to see that program fail and flounder and sink further towards irrelevancy.
I was suprised to not see a sad Top Chef post about your Southern homeboy Kevin. He was definitely the sentimental favorite this season, and the Voltaggio that won was kind of a D-Bag.
I hope you aren't traveling to ND to post some story on this site. I dont care about ND and dont want to hear a word about it. He is gone. Let's worry about who is hear. This is a Cincinnati site right? Let's not turn this into Huggins all over again.
Really hope Kelly would stay. I always enjoy when people tell ND, "ahh, thanks, but no thanks".
So, on to the new HC for UC. A coworker and I were discussing it and we came up with an interesting name......Phil Fulmer.
The reasons we thought he might be a good fit at UC is because he's old enough that other teams probably wouldn't want to poach him if he has some success (see Kelly, D'Antonio), but he's young enough, 59, that he potentially has quite a few years left in the tank. The guy can coach and recruit. He has a 74% winning percentage and he wouldn't be that far away from the area he's used to recruiting.
I think he'd at least be worth a VERY hard look by the UC administration.
aeh11 and vikingcountry, are you two serious? look around next time you are driving or walking through your neighborhood, there as many notre dame flags flying as there are uc flags. prior to kelly i guarantee the number of uc football fans were far out numbered by nd fans locally. get over it, take a lesson from xu, its about the program not the coach.
the Pulitzer winners around here don't think there's anything to be gained here? I should just sit at home and make up names? ok, good idea.
this is a news story with impact on Cincinnati and I'm covering it. sorry, I'll refund you your money
pdoobs...The point is that the site is supposed to be about Cincinnati sports, not every team that people living in Cincinnati are interested in. I wouldn't expect to read stories about Ohio State either even though I'm sure the OSU fans very nearly out number UC fans in Cincinnati.
The fact is that I don't care what gets posted. I can very easily skip over what I don't want to read and do frequently (i.e. anything related to the reds prior to pitchers and catchers report). It was merely a suggestion that a site trying to cover local sports with a small staff is wasting time at a ND news conference.
Wow...a little touchy?
It's a Cincinnati story because the guy just took a Cincinnati team to the top. I'm sure the staff is just looking for any excuse to go to North Bend in December.
If you have a chance, please ask him if he would have told his players in a different manner than he did. I think that speaks a lot about the mans character and he totally mishandled it.
This team should focus on getting 1 man, Chris Peterson. He makes $850,000 and is consistently snubbed in national title talks. The time is right for him to make a change.
I would be interested to know if there were any concessions made about academics by ND. I honestly think that BK lacks the connections and the status to get the types of players he will need to run his system. Having never spent more that 3 years at a DI school, he has been using other coaches players in his system.
It's also important to keep in mind that ND has been irrelevant for 15 or 16 years, or the entire lifespan of the kids he will be recruiting. I really don't think the job or the school holds the luster that it had under Holtz and his predecessors. ND gets the best GCL players because there parents have conditioned them to worship Notre Dame. With said, ND doesn't have a healthy QB to start next year, good luck with that coach.
my two cents, I have no interest in Miami Hockey. Should I stop reading the site? maybe I can just ignore it and read what I like.
Who cares how many ND flags fly around here. They arent coming to Cnati for their news. I come here to read about Cincinnati sports. I dont want to be reading about ND or Kelly for that matter. Obviously I dont have to click on the story. I would just love for a story about UC's future to click on instead of dwelling in the past.
Why go to Notre Dame? Because BK woudln't talk to any local media last night. So yeah, go get his take. It's my take that Kelly is a great offensive mind, how had a good defense last year that was composed of guys Dantonio brought in. People have this image that Kelly built UC from irrelevance to a BCS program, but everyone seems to forget it was Dantonio who made them a solid team again, and brought in a lot of the players Kelly won with.
I'm not discrediting Kelly at all saying he isn't great. I'm just saying he didn't enter a program with a bare cupboard. My point the whole time is, other than not being an arrogant douche, how is Brian Kelly's offense going to make Notre Dame that much better than the offensive teams that Charlie Weiss put on the field. Unless he builds a defense on that team, 3 or 4 years down the road, he's going to be getting replaced and we're going to hear about the search for a new Notre Dame coach again.
I would be willing to say that if there were Notre Dame or Ohio State articles frequently on here, you would have almost as many fans in this city reading the articles than you do UC fans. UC has gained popularity this year, but I can't tell you how many of their new "fans" I have met this year that are watching their games and cheering, while wearing a Notre Dame or Ohio State shirt. People here have loved seeing them do well, but aren't big time UC fans.
I've got to defend C Trent on this one too. This is nothing like Huggins and that whole situation, that guy was forced out. Kelly has left a team at UC that is the best team this city has ever seen in college football. He took off before a major bowl game against a giant in the sport. Then he left town and never talked to the media about it. This is a story that needs to be covered. I'd be kind of offended too if I were running this site with great content and charging no one for it.
Charge people for it. See how that works out for you.
the way i see it, he probably had no control over other people/sources leaking the story to his players before he could tell them himself.
but just like being dumped, the formalities of how one gets dumped do not really matter, you are alone in the end and there is nothing you can do about it except move on