It’s not over until the fat lady sings

[Yup!]

Cincinnati is ranked 7th overall this year so far, and if they win out with some of the big boys losing one or two games they might end up in the playoff discussion. That probably won’t happen with only a four team playoff setup, however, the NCAA is planning on expanding to a twelve team playoff setup in the near future, witch gives teams like a Cincinnati an opportunity to compete in the playoffs for a National Championship.

I don’t see much of a difference between us and the bearcats other than the fact that they’ve been consistently hiring really good coaches. Take a look at this list of coaches: Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Tommy Tubberville ( wasn’t great but the bearcats wasn’t afraid to go after a really good coach at the time ), and now Luke Fickell. That’s a great job done by the Bearcats to consistently bring in the best coach to win. UConn has to consistently bring in the right coaches to change the perception here too. We’ve seen success here, it’s doable. If we can do that we should be ok. I believe in Dave B. to bring in the right coach, as he did a tremendous job in hiring Dan Hurley. It’s not over yet guys and girls! Let’s hope this next coach brings us Ws and we can start a great coaching hiring trend here too.

 

[businesslawyer]

Cincinnati is ranked 7th overall this year so far, and if they win out with some of the big boys losing one or two games they might end up in the playoff discussion. That probably won’t happen with only a four team playoff setup, however, the NCAA is planning on expanding to a twelve team playoff setup in the near future, witch gives teams like a Cincinnati an opportunity to compete in the playoffs for a National Championship.

I don’t see much of a difference between us and the bearcats other than the fact that they’ve been consistently hiring really good coaches. Take a look at this list of coaches: Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Tommy Tubberville ( wasn’t great but the bearcats wasn’t afraid to go after a really good coach at the time ), and now Luke Fickell. That’s a great job done by the Bearcats to consistently bring in the best coach to win. UConn has to consistently bring in the right coaches to change the perception here too. We’ve seen success here, it’s doable. If we can do that we should be ok. I believe in Dave B. to bring in the right coach, as he did a tremendous job in hiring Dan Hurley. It’s not over yet guys and girls! Let’s hope this next coach brings us Ws and we can start a great coaching hiring trend here too.

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Unfortunately, with respect to major college football, the fat lady sang when the ACC took Louisville over UConn.

I'm still optimistic about the long term future of the program, against my better judgement, but my expectations have been adjusted accordingly ever since then.

 

[BlueDogs]

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

Cincy is a private school and it’s “history” was one of a tough, mid tier program and it’s peers of the day (Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, etc..) were similar in many respects. But they were nothing until a string of great coaches came in. The recruiting “hotbed” is somewhat accurate but overblown. There is enormous competition for recruits in that area with a lot of schools. They didn’t recruit any better than any other midtier until they got some momentum thanks to a serious of excellent hires.

 

[businesslawyer]

Unfortunately, with respect to major college football, the fat lady sang when the ACC took Louisville over UConn.

That sentence is 1000% dead on. What you need to go on to say, however, is that Cincinnati might tolerate and support football that isn't being played at the "major college football" level. Connecticut fans have shown that they will not care. They will just follow the NFL instead.

 

[Yup!]

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

A hotbed with the Ohio State, Toledo, Akron, Miami (OH), etc.. it’s not easy to recruit in Ohio unless you’re Ohio State. The bearcats seat 40,000 in there stadium while UConn seats 42,000. Cincinnati’s football history is do to hiring some really good coaches. The ACC tv deal is almost up so who knows what happens with realignment but some thinks it’s still not over so we’ll see.

 

[storrsroars]

Unfortunately, with respect to major college football, the fat lady sang when the ACC took Louisville over UConn.

And what the fat lady sang was, "We don't need no education..."

How can you have your pudding when you don't eat your meat?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

That sentence is 1000% dead on. What you need to go on to say, however, is that Cincinnati might tolerate and support football that isn't being played at the "major college football" level. Connecticut fans have shown that they will not care. They will just follow the NFL instead.

I agree, but I'll expand on that to say if the P5 football leagues broke away prior to realignment and the Big East was considered mid major but we still played Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, etc. I think the Connecticut fan would embrace it. I would say look no further than the positive reaction after reuniting with Providence, Seton Hall and St. John's.

Relegation and playing games against teams we don't care about is just two tough pills to swallow.

 

[Eastwood]

The fat lady HAS spoken. We left a football oriented conference to join a basketball conference. The football team now plays in the great unknown as an independent. The die has been cast.

 

[mikedog10]

And what the fat lady sang was, "We don't need no education..."

How can you have your pudding when you don't eat your meat?

Hey, Petino's strippers, leave those kids alone!

 

[uconnric]

That sentence is 1000% dead on. What you need to go on to say, however, is that Cincinnati might tolerate and support football that isn't being played at the "major college football" level. Connecticut fans have shown that they will not care. They will just follow the NFL instead.

Cincinnati has had a problem hanging onto talented coaches, and Fickell will eventually leave for a high profile job. Cincinnati, like Pittsburgh, is a pro football town that struggles with attendance for college football. It is a much easier place to recruit, however.

 

[Kolumbo]

Cincy is a private school and it’s “history” was one of a tough, mid tier program and it’s peers of the day (Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, etc..) were similar in many respects. But they were nothing until a string of great coaches came in. The recruiting “hotbed” is somewhat accurate but overblown. There is enormous competition for recruits in that area with a lot of schools. They didn’t recruit any better than any other midtier until they got some momentum thanks to a serious of excellent hires.

Cincy is a large public research U and is closer to Ohio State than the MAC schools in terms of enrollment.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Cincy is a private school and it’s “history” was one of a tough, mid tier program and it’s peers of the day (Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, etc..) were similar in many respects. But they were nothing until a string of great coaches came in. The recruiting “hotbed” is somewhat accurate but overblown. There is enormous competition for recruits in that area with a lot of schools. They didn’t recruit any better than any other midtier until they got some momentum thanks to a serious of excellent hires.

When did Cincinnati go private? I must have missed the press release.

The thing is Cincinnati floundered in both football and men's basketball for a while (with a few stray exceptions) from the mid-late 1960's until the early 1990's. The couple of instances where they brought in a football coach, an extraneous situation led him to leave.

With Huggins returning the basketball program to something of substance, they were very well placed to join the Big East when we needed football schools that could somewhat fit the conference. That was the best thing that ever happened to Cincinnati's football program.

The state of Ohio, beyond Big 10 schools, supplies the bulk of the roster to six Ohio schools (Akron. Bowling Green, Kent St, Miami, Ohio U, Toledo). Historically, this conference always put a handful of players (late bloomers, kids overlooked by the big boys) in the NFL. Historically Cincinnati had also been viewed as a MAC level school. Joining the Big East gave them an advantage over the six Ohio MAC schools in recruiting and shortly after joining the Big East, they went from being occasionally better, occasionally worse than U Miami (an annual rival) to being clearly superior.

One thing that still irks the hell out of me is the aftermath of Bowlsby saving the B-12 from the departure of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St a decade ago (Marinatto sent him flowers) was the conference acquiescing to Texas' desire to remain at ten schools (Cincinnati and Louisville were going to be added as a bridge from West Virginia to the remainder of the conference). Look what catering to Texas got them. We also were part of the collateral damage.

 

[polycom]

Some of the posts people come up with here are just incredible. Just baffling, UConn and Cinci are no different, that is what you thought up today....

 

[raf46]

That sentence is 1000% dead on. What you need to go on to say, however, is that Cincinnati might tolerate and support football that isn't being played at the "major college football" level. Connecticut fans have shown that they will not care. They will just follow the NFL instead.

Also ACC took ND and it promise of 5 ACC football games a season.

 

[TMB4405]

We can say UConn fans don’t care about major college football and it’s seemingly accurate. I guess my question is the real issue that Uconn fans don’t care because we have sucked for a decade? If we were winning consistently there would be no issue….at least in my opinion. FANS IN THIS REGION CARE ABOUT WINNING. You see it in every sport in the northeast.

 

[amory]

That sentence is 1000% dead on. What you need to go on to say, however, is that Cincinnati might tolerate and support football that isn't being played at the "major college football" level. Connecticut fans have shown that they will not care. They will just follow the NFL instead.

I don't know that this is true. Fans just aren't coming back until the program shows a sign of life. The bar is now so low that no one expects wins, but the team needs to appear somewhat competent and not be a total waste of time.

I like tailgating as much as the next guy, but you really can't expect anyone to show up to these games consistently. It's just not an expectation based in reality.

 

[noeynox]

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

Despite all these advantages, in Edsall's first year back the two schools played a game that went down to the final play of the game. There was zero difference between the teams. Difference was their coach didn't spend 3 years talking how bad everything was. One of their best players now actually came here 1st, Beavers.

Who you hire matters. Lance Leipold at Buffalo, who here would not have rather had him then Edsall the last few years? He costed about half as much as Randy also.

 

[bobbyinaz]

A hotbed with the Ohio State, Toledo, Akron, Miami (OH), etc.. it’s not easy to recruit in Ohio unless you’re Ohio State. The bearcats seat 40,000 in there stadium while UConn seats 42,000. Cincinnati’s football history is do to hiring some really good coaches. The ACC tv deal is almost up so who knows what happens with realignment but some thinks it’s still not over so we’ll see.

The ACC contract expires in 2036. That's your definition of almost up?

 

[Yup!]

Some of the posts people come up with here are just incredible. Just baffling, UConn and Cinci are no different, that is what you thought up today....

Don’t read it man. If you don’t like it move on to the next. That simple. No hard feelings. But if the next hire is a slam dunk you might be thinking differently, a lot of you would.

 

[BlueandOG]

And what the fat lady sang was, "We don't need no education..."

How can you have your pudding when you don't eat your meat?

STAND STILL LADDIE!

 

[WestCoastHusky]

UCONN has many advantages over Cincy.

• UCONN is a state flagship university where Cincy is 2nd tier at best with OSU being first.
• UCONN has no other competition for eyeballs within the state of CT.
• While Ohio certainly produces way more talent than CT, but this local recruiting hotbed thing is a little overblown. With Zoom remote recruiting and all games on national TV, it is not hard to recruit far away from your natural geography. There are PLENTY of schools that have been very successful without local recruiting hotbeds. Teams like Boise St and SDSU proved it can be done. UCONN can recruit from state of Texas, FL, and even CA. All it takes is the right coach with the right approach. We need a coaching staff that's tech-oriented.
• UCONN has superior facilities vs Cincy.
• UCONN is next to major media markets. This means UCONN can get better media coverage within the state of CT.
• A winning UCONN program can attract much more fans than Cincy ever will.

I truly believe if UCONN can hire the right coach, we can turn this program around in a hurry. We just can't afford another disaster like PP, Diaco, and Edsall 2.0. AD DB got to get the next hire correct.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

When did Cincinnati go private? I must have missed the press release.

The thing is Cincinnati floundered in both football and men's basketball for a while (with a few stray exceptions) from the mid-late 1960's until the early 1990's. The couple of instances where they brought in a football coach, an extraneous situation led him to leave.

With Huggins returning the basketball program to something of substance, they were very well placed to join the Big East when we needed football schools that could somewhat fit the conference. That was the best thing that ever happened to Cincinnati's football program.

The state of Ohio, beyond Big 10 schools, supplies the bulk of the roster to six Ohio schools (Akron. Bowling Green, Kent St, Miami, Ohio U, Toledo). Historically, this conference always put a handful of players (late bloomers, kids overlooked by the big boys) in the NFL. Historically Cincinnati had also been viewed as a MAC level school. Joining the Big East gave them an advantage over the six Ohio MAC schools in recruiting and shortly after joining the Big East, they went from being occasionally better, occasionally worse than U Miami (an annual rival) to being clearly superior.

One thing that still irks the hell out of me is the aftermath of Bowlsby saving the B-12 from the departure of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St a decade ago (Marinatto sent him flowers) was the conference acquiescing to Texas' desire to remain at ten schools (Cincinnati and Louisville were going to be added as a bridge from West Virginia to the remainder of the conference). Look what catering to Texas got them. We also were part of the collateral damage.

Had B12 took UL and WVU, UCONN would be in the ACC today. We can all thank Texas for this. UL is much better fit for the B12 while UCONN is a much better fit for the ACC. Instead, we are in the mess we are in today thanks to Texas and its stranglehold over the B12 at that time.

Being in the ACC does not guarantee any wins, but at least we will be playing our old BE rivals every week. I am pretty confident even if UCONN was in the ACC, we would still suck in football with PP, Diaco, and Edsall 2.0.

 

[uconnyankee]

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

Let’s not make Cincy into Ohio State! Big 12 is only a recent development.
Cincy has done a great job in hiring coaches and has been pretty solid without the P5 tag.

there is no reason UConn can’t compete with Cincy, which was the premise of the post. And when UConn had that same league affiliation, they did squat.

if you think Cincy’s status is unattainable, what’s the point? Who cares on the next coach, it doesn’t matter?

my god, can we lower the bar any lower? What next, UConn will never be Yale because of their history and IV affiliation?

Cincy has to compete with OSU for local talent? UConn has BC.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Let’s not make Cincy into Ohio State! Big 12 is only a recent development.
Cincy has done a great job in hiring coaches and has been pretty solid without the P5 tag.

there is no reason UConn can’t compete with Cincy, which was the premise of the post. And when UConn had that same league affiliation, they did squat.

if you think Cincy’s status is unattainable, what’s the point? Who cares on the next coach, it doesn’t matter?

my god, can we lower the bar any lower? What next, UConn will never be Yale because of their history and IV affiliation?

Cincy has to compete with OSU for local talent? UConn has BC.

Cincy doesn't have to compete with Ohio St for talent. if their only path to building a program that can on occasion crack the top ten is by competing with Ohio St for talent they never would field a decent team.

What most cannot grasp is the volume of talent in Ohio. That state not only produces a lot of talent for the Big 10 (also Notre Dame and some other P5 schools). Ohio also provides more than 60% of players to the six Ohio MAC schools and a number of players to other G5 programs.

What Cincinnati was able to do was (when they joined the Big East) take a middle of the road MAC roster, take a half dozen or so players a year who in prior years would have been top recruits for other Ohio MAC schools and drop off what would have been the bottom half dozen or so players in prior recruiting classes. Over time that adds up. I believe in all that time they've landed two kids who were OSU recruits and I imagine the selling point was "you can be the 18th-20th player in the Buckeye's class or you can be a top two in Cincinnati's". Even that sales pitch didn't work very often.