UC lays an egg! They failed to sway Jeff Quinn into staying…meaning, he must either KNOW something, or he REALLY likes Notre Dame green too!
THIS is not the best hire! Jeff Quinn must have said in no un-mixed words, that he was going to So Bend with Kelly. No other reason you take this Butch dude. Nope!..Not one bit happy about this and I cant think recruiting will improve as a result, either. It just looks like some one is trying to make Cent Michy out to be some kind of Modern Day Coaching factory. Brian Kelly had it, but hittin’ up the well again?..Same team, by the same team?
GOOD LUCK BUTCH!…I hold out hope you do good things here, but I cant think this is a better bet than Quinn would have been. Even had Quinn declined, look at some other big name programs a little and get a name recruits can relate to!
Better enjoy this Sugar Bowl, UC’ers, its gonna get a WHOLE lot tUFfer here forward!….dang Notre Dame and their sack of gold coins!
Gilyard handled the news just fine, and why shouldn’t he?…He’s been a great leader for this team, and they will be fine going forward. There are a number of solid coaching prospects, and they’d be lucky to inherit a 12-0 team!
Skip Holtz: The East Carolina coach since 2005, Holtz just won his second-straight Conference USA championship. After being linked last year with the Syracuse head coaching job, Holtz was quoted as saying “it would have to be a really special situation to get me out of here.” East Carolina plays Arkansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Jan. 2.
Chris Petersen: After four seasons at Boise State, Petersen is now regarded as one of the best offensive coaches in the country. Fans will remember his team beating Oklahoma 43-42 in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Could playing in the Big East, with its BCS bowl tie-in, be attractive for Petersen? Maybe, then again, he’s about to play in his second Fiesta Bowl in four years: The Broncos play TCU on Jan. 4.
Butch Jones: Jones replaced Brian Kelly as the Chippewas’ head coach in 2007. He led Central Michigan to an 11-2 mark this season and Top 25 ranking, and his team will face Troy in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.
Jeff Quinn: The long-time assistant to Kelly is UC’s offensive coordinator.
He’s spent 21 seasons with Kelly and knows the ins and outs of the Bearcats’ offense. He’s a finalist for the Broyles Award.
Let’s hope Quinn gets that perm job, even though he sounds like he’s not expecting it…
Congrats to former Colerain Head Coach Kerry Coombs! Coach Coombs was promoted to Associate Head Coach. The Bearcats also announced the hiring of former University of Virginia assistant Bob Diaco as the Bearcats defensive coordinator, and the promotion of special teams coordinator/recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach Mike Elston to assistant head coach. Apparently, both Coombs and Elston will retain their current responsibilities. Say what you want about Coombs, but that guy can get it done.
Well, she came in dismantled a basketball program, hung around for a few years, and now she is gone. Nancy Zimpher is leaving the University of Cincinnati to be the new chancelor at The State University of New York. I personally think that it was time for Huggs to move on, but the way things were handled in Clifton were unacceptable. I bid you farewell, Nancy. If you would like to leave early, by all means, call me. I will drive your old ugly ass to NY.
Zimpher takes SUNY job
By Cliff Peale
cpeale@enquirer.com
Nancy Zimpher says only a “world-class opportunity” like running the State University of New York system could have lured her from the University of Cincinnati.
The UC president will stay on campus into May before starting her new job as SUNY chancellor June 1, she told the Enquirer this morning.
SUNY is a sprawling system of 64 campuses with more than 427,000 students. It is the largest university system in the nation under a single governing board.
Dan Hoard: It might be the most famous embrace since Bill Clinton hugged a black beret-wearing Monica Lewinsky on a “rope line” in 1996.
When Mardy Gilyard crashed into the Nippert Stadium stands against USF on October 30th and barreled into 7-year-old Garrett Monroe, the UC wide receiver became a national hero for caring enough to remove his helmet, give the youngster a huge hug, and make sure that Garrett wasn’t injured before returning to the field.
“I hit that him so hard that you could actually see his face paint on my jersey,” Gilyard said. “I felt extremely bad and I would have felt even worse if he hadn’t given me a high five after I hugged him.”
The video of Gilyard’s kind gesture has been viewed more than 280,000 times on YouTube.
I only wish there was watch footage of something I saw Gilyard do on the Bearcats recent trip to Hawaii.
Two days before the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the entire UC football team went on a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial – ground zero for the start of World War II for the United States and the final resting place for many of the battleship’s 1,177 crew members who lost their lives on December 7, 1941.
If you were touched by Gilyard’s goodness when he hugged the kid, you would have been bowled over by the respect he showed an elderly man.
88-year-old Ed Borucki is one of roughly 30 living survivors of the Pearl Harbor attacks and was at the memorial that day to share his story. Gilyard not only listened intently – he told Borucki he was in awe of him, posed for a picture, and even asked for an autograph.
“It meant so much because I have family members that have gone to war,” a beaming Gilyard told me after the encounter. “My father was in the Army, my stepfather was in the service, and for me to meet someone who fought in World War II was really humbling. I’m proud to be an American, so to be in the presence of Mr. Edward B. – I don’t want to say his last name wrong – I was star-struck. His group actually shot down Japanese fighter planes. Knowing that he had first-hand experience with that was amazing. I never thought I’d get to meet someone like that.”
Borucki was on the USS Helena that was docked in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on the morning of the attacks. When a warning sounded Borucki went to his battle station, an act that saved his life when a torpedo hit the ship killing 33 of his shipmates.
Due to the lack of communication at the time, Borucki was assumed dead and his obituary even appeared in the newspaper.
“They thought he was dead, but he swam across the water to safety,” Gilyard said. “I shook his hand and kept telling him ‘thank you’ over and over again. He said, ‘you don’t have to thank me so many times son.’ And I said, ‘you just don’t understand how much this means to me.’ Stuff like that really touches me. I can’t speak for the rest of my teammates, but for me personally, it really touched my heart.”
Gilyard’s remarkable road to stardom at Cincinnati is well-known. Two years ago he had his scholarship revoked after flunking out. In order to return to the team, Mardy worked four jobs to pay off roughly $10,000 in tuition debt, and often slept in his car.
Perhaps that explains why he seems to savor every aspect of being a Bearcat.
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” Gilyard said. “If I could tell other college football players anything I’d tell them ‘don’t leave school early. Enjoy your experiences because you won’t have anything like this after college.’ This is a once-in-lifetime shot and I’m enjoying it. I thank God every day for how he blesses us. For the team to be so successful – number one in school history in wins and headed to a great bowl. I mean, we’ve been blessed.”
One day after meeting NAVY Yeoman 2nd Class Edward Borucki, Gilyard scored the game-winning touchdown in the Bearcats thrilling comeback win over Hawaii, catching a pass from Dustin Grutza near the sideline before breaking a tackle and racing 69 yards to the end zone with 4:42 to go.
It was another highlight that’s sure to get a bunch of views on YouTube.
But it wasn’t the most impressive thing Mardy did in Hawaii.
I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail your questions and comments to dhoard@pawsox.com.
Enjoy this week’s photo of the handsome lad as he prepares to hit daddy with a snowball.
(This story originally appeared in the December 20th edition of Bearcat Sports Digest)
For anyone watching the game, Foax apparently had a computer glitch so this footage wasnt shown live on TV. Yancy Gates sends the game to OT with a dunk near the buzzer.
Fox Sports Ohio Statement
“A rare, computer-generated error at Fox Sports Ohio’s transmission center in New York caused the very unfortunate switch from University of Cincinnati men’s basketball to other network programming at end of the UC game on Saturday, December 20th. When Fox Sports Ohio received notification, we immediately went to work to correct the problem. However, because of the amount of time left in the game, we were not able to override this computer-generated error in time.
Fox Sports Ohio is proud to bring UC basketball to the fans in Cincinnati and beyond. We fully understand the strong emotions concerning this error and would like to extend a sincere, heartfelt apology to the outstanding fans that follow Bearcat basketball on Fox Sports Ohio.”
Steve Liverani
Senior Vice President and General Manager
FOX Sports Ohio
