Ever since I have moved to Ohio, my exposure to college football has tripled. I have always been somewhat interested, however I never had a college football team to root for. For the past two college football seasons, I have watched many games in an attempt to find a team to root for. I knew Ohio State would not be an option, neither would Michigan. However, being in Ohio game me a variety of other local teams to watch on a weekly basis. The first team to catch my eye was Cincinnatti. I loved how the Bearcats ran their offense. Tony Pike is an NFL ready QB with a very good arm, and I enjoyed seeing Marty Gilyard returning kicks and torching defenses with the deep ball. As every week progressed I started liking the Bearcats more and more. I was rooting for them to go undefeated, and hopefully reach the National Championship game. Cincinnati did go undefeated, and got selected to play Florida in the Orange Bowl. Certainly a great accomplishment for Cincinnatti and its great coach and recruiter Brian Kelly. Without a doubt this will be the biggest football game the University of Cincinnatti has ever played. The only problem is that the Natti will be without reigning coach of the year Brian Kelly.
When Notre Dame fired Charlie Weis, Brian Kelly's name was the popular choice for his replacement. Kelly was offered the job and accepted. He is now a byproduct of Notre Dame, even though it has only been one week since selection Sunday. As a new college football fan, I was very disapointed. Not because he was goin to ND, I could care less. I just cannot believe he left his players at UC, that made him who he is today, and abandoned them before the biggest game of their careers. Gutless move Brian Kelly. You are known for going to the hood and recruiting all these great athletes, telling their families that you will look out for them and be a father figure, then you just up and leave and announce it at a team banquet. Real classy Brian. Not only did you abandon your team, you lied to Marty Gilyard about it. The same Marty Gilyard that got cut from your team and your university, worked 4 jobs while living in his car, and then walked back onto your team only to become your biggest weapon on offense. Brian Kelly is a scumbag, and I will never root for him or any team he coaches again. It just goes to show you college coaches truly don't care about their players. There are certainly some exceptions(Pete Carrol, Urban Meyer), but the majority of them are just as egotistical as they players.
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I completely agree Sean. Brian Kelly is a sellout and UC got screwed. Brian Kelly proved that it is all about money. He took Cincinnati from unranked to a BCS bowl game and then decided to not even finish the season at Cincinnati. I think it is wrong to sell the players on being great and then just take the wind out of their sails by leaving for Notre Dame.
ReplyDeleteThis was pretty classless by Brian Kelly. All along he told his Cincinnati players that he had no intentions of pursuing the Notre Dame job. Then in a matter of days, he's introduced as Notre Dame's next coach. He left Cincinnati amid preparation for a shot at an undefeated season with a win in the Sugar Bowl versus Florida, and he left what appears to be a more stable program and a program on the rise in Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he recognizes the important of Notre Dame and its place in college football history, but history is in the past, and right now Notre Dame isn't too relevant in college football in terms of competiting for national championships.
I totally agree with your assessment of Brian Kelly's move, in leaving before the Bowl Game. I didn't even know that he announced it at their Banquet. I must say one thing about Urban Meyer, that reminded me of Kelly. While he was claiming that he would not leave BGSU, my brother reported that he was interviewing at Utah. I guess you know the end of that story. I can't remember if he coached the Bowl Game. I don't think his players had hard feelings however.
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