UC needs to find next Brian Kelly

Sabel's Haus

By Garrett Sabelhaus | The News Record

Published: Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Updated: Thursday, October 22, 2009

File Art | The News Record

There is no way University of Cincinnati head football coach Brian Kelly stays here next season if Notre Dame fires Charlie Weis and offers Kelly the job.

I’ve said before that I wouldn’t want the job at Notre Dame over UC but I’m sure Kelly doesn’t feel the same way. I’ve been to Notre Dame and outside of the campus it’s a crime-laden trash heap.

At least here at UC, the crime is right on campus and in its surrounding neighborhoods.

But seriously, in South Bend, Notre Dame football is everything. They don’t have the Cincinnati Reds or the Bengals to trash on talk radio stations all year. They have Notre Dame football and that’s it.

But, hellhole or not, Kelly is going to Notre Dame despite what we want and that means UC will have to find someone to replace him.

If UC’s athletics department doesn’t find the next Brian Kelly, in two years our beloved football team could be a 2-4 team like Louisville, dwelling in the basement of the Big East.

Related content: Kelly worth large payday to keep at UC

After Bobby Petrino left Louisville following the 2006 season and an Orange Bowl appearance, the Cardinals hired current head coach Steve Kragthorpe. In 2007, Kragthorpe’s first year, Louisville finished the season 6-6 and in 2008 they were 5-7.
With a 2-4 record this year, the Cardinals will struggle to get to five wins.

Cincinnati has to be careful or they could end up the same way after Kelly leaves.

But who do they hire? I’ve heard Kerry Coombs’ name tossed around as a possible candidate.

My problem with Coombs is that he doesn’t have enough experience in college football. He’s only in his third year at UC.

Coombs could recruit in Cincinnati better than anyone with his high school ties around the city. The former Colerain High School head coach could most certainly bring any player from Colerain to UC.

He can do that as an assistant though, which is why the team should definitely keep him around but not promote him to head coach.

I would also be concerned with Coombs recruiting in other areas. Ohio is a hotbed for college football and a team that wants to compete in the BCS every year has to be able to recruit in northern Ohio and other states as well.

I’ve also heard people talk about hiring an assistant from the NFL.

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.
He was an assistant for the Green Bay Packers for one year but returned to college ball when Buffalo offered him the head coaching position.

UC will already be taking a hit when Kelly leaves because some recruits will be hesitant to come here with a new head coach. Kelly staying in Cincinnati would be the best resolution but it won’t happen.

Whoever comes to Cincinnati will have to make due and be successful with the players that are already here for the first couple seasons. If the new coach can win the Big East right away, the recruits will start coming back.

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

When Kelly came to UC he needed the program to advance his career. Now that he has done it he can leave.

At least he’ll leave the program in better shape than when he found it. That’s all we can ask from the next BK right?

Think Brian Kelly will stay at UC? If not, who should Cincinnati hire in his place? E-mail Garrett at sabelhgt@mail.uc.edu

John Gold

Fri Oct 23 2009 11:39

I agree this writer is a retard, but if you guys don't think Kelly is looking to go to a big time program you're kidding yourselves. He has said he would like to coach in the NFL one day and this writer isn't the only one talking about him going to Notre Dame. This was posted on ESPN insider a week ago.

"Lenn Robbins of the New York Post suggests that a loss in today's game against USC could be the final straw for coach Charlie Weis -- and that the Irish should come hard after Cincinnati's Brian Kelly.

Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times echoes that sentiment, writing: "Like Urban Meyer, Kelly made his reputation in the Mid-American Conference, jumped to the next level and positioned himself for the next big job. Notre Dame, of course, lost the battle for Meyer to Florida, and the Irish wouldn't want to lose another prodigy, especially one named Kelly."

There is already a lot of resentment among Irish fans that Weis has gotten a much longer leash than his predecessor, Tyrone Willingham. Still without a signature win, Weis's days have to be numbered -- even with six years remaining on his contract after this season. And Kelly, who has been on ND supporters' radar since last season, has proven that his team's Big East title of a year ago was no fluke."

Matt Silverstein

Fri Oct 23 2009 11:25

This article may have been popular after Kelly's first season when Michigan came calling, but he's still here.

And it still had a little fire after last season when more school's opened up......but he's still here.

But now it's just plain old news....catch up with the times Sabelhaus. Write a story about our top 10 offense or perhaps our defense that leads the nation in tackles for loss (10/game). I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't been to a game yet this season.

Richard Lee

Fri Oct 23 2009 07:08

I find this article interesting, so au contraire, it doesn't deserve to be trash talked this way. MY opinion about this is, Notre Dame will never, ever, hire another Cincinnati head coach, for the next 200 years. As much as I loved Gerry Faust, he was such a huge embarrassment to Notre Dame, they will never hire another head coach from what is considered a 2nd tier football town. So ix-nay on Kelly being offered the job by Notre Dame. Now, ND is not the only school with a high prestige football tradition in need of a good head coach. A move up in the college football world for Kelly could be any SEC school, for example. SEC is the creme de la creme in college football conferences, in my opinion. Or perhaps a Big Ten school. I'm comparing this situation to Skip Prosser going to Wake Forest, which was struggling in ACC basketball til Skip came along. Kelly might move to a big name football school, out of the Big East. But Kelly has laid the foundation for a football dynasty here at UC, so I think he knows he could have a very sweet deal in Cincinnati for many years to come. After all, he has done what no other UC football head coach has done. He can write his own check. I predict Kelly stays.

News Record Sucks

Fri Oct 23 2009 00:14

I come here hoping to get a fresh, up-close perspective of the football team, and instead I get regurgitated garbage from national talk shows. You don't know what you're talking about, so you copy the inane thoughts of other sportswriters who don't know what they're talking about. Good job. How pathetic.

News_Record,Cal1362@yahoo.com

Thu Oct 22 2009 18:31

If I wanted to hear about how bad things were at UC and how the Bearcats can't compete, I'd read a publication from The Other State University or X. Too bad that instead of chronicaling one of the hundreds of virtues within the Bearcat athletic arena you chose to take this low class, shock journalism style road. If this is what passes for journalism at UC, maybe one way to save some $$$ is to rid UC of this junk - though I refuse to lump all into your pit of "I'm not worthiness". Thankfully, the Bearcat football players, coaches and fans don't share your defeatist attitude and fear of being able to compete on the big stage. Go Bearcats... Go Brian Kelly

jay tribbey

Thu Oct 22 2009 15:18

Only an excess of spare time promts this response.

Garrett, while your sharpening your Jay Marriotti theatre of the absurd skills, you should try to understand a little bit about the premise of your article Notre Dame.
The Irish have an absurdly large investment in Weis and an eight figure buyout to deal with. If Weis wins nine games this year, a likely event given the cream puff schedule remaining, that boy isn't going anywhere. But to humor you lets assume he goes. The Irish faithful are at best fickle and are demanding that any replacement coach be a big name. To the faithful a big name is John Gruden or Urban Meyer, no less. As much as I love and support UC and its extrodinary football coach, he's not on the same plane with those guys. By the way, what happened to Charlie Weis was a naive athletic director thought a professional football coordinator with a couple of super bowl rings would make a dandy head coach. Weis had never been a head coach at any level including high school or played at any level including high school. Gee what a shock he had/has a lot to learn!
UC and its boosters are making the moves Kelly set down as necessary to build a program he could be associated with long term. He made a commitment to give them the time to do it. That is considerably more news worthy and interesting than a rank speculation about something you just don't know much about.
If your a Buckeye fan you will enjoy WLW UC Bearcat football commercials.

Just TheFact

Thu Oct 22 2009 15:15

You may want to leave this one off of your resume Garrett. Stating your opinion like it's a fact is never a good thing. You don't know any better than any of us if 1) The Notre Dame job will be open 2) If Kelly wants it 3) If the big dollar Notre Dame boosters want him (you know he is a pro-choice liberal...not the most liked type at a...scratch that...THE catholic school). Don't feel bad though, that piece of crap about Pike being a bust the other guy wrote makes this look like New York Times front page material.

Sean Price

Thu Oct 22 2009 12:51

Let's see, I'll agree. If the athletic department starts giving Kelly the impression they're looking for his replacement, you're right, he'll be gone.

First of all, how retarded do you think our athletic department is? Their focus should be on KEEPING him, not doing what they can to piss him off. Secondly, I'll have to agree wholeheartedly with Rodrigo's comment. This is the worst opinion piece ever. Seriously. I'm a full supporter of the first amendment and freedom of speech and freedom of press, but honestly, this is the school paper! If I want to hear about what chance we have of losing Coach Kelly, I'll do a google search for "Brian Kelly leaving". I want to open the news record and read about how awesome our team is doing in preparing for the next game, how every other student can't stop thinking about how much potential this season has for being sweet, etc. Instead, now when I google "Brian Kelly", your article is the first "news" piece that shows up. I'm glad that the impression the UC students are giving to the rest of the world is that not even we have faith in our coach. I can't predict the future. But what I can say, is this: Right now, I'm not worried about who's coaching us next year. I'm not worried about who's coaching us in a decade. I'm enjoying this season. I'm living game to game, even looking down the road to the end of the season at times. Coach Kelly has my 100% support. The only reason his departure is an issue is because people listen to outside talk, which is why this piece is strictly opinion. There is no fact. Honestly, there's not even any fact to support the opinions. And that, in my opinion, makes it worthless.

Rodrigo Villalva

Thu Oct 22 2009 10:06

What is up with you and the other sports columnists this year? Are you Buckeye fans or what? I know that you must be objective, but with everything good the football team has done, all you can think about is what kind of crap you can throw at them. If that continues, for sure Kelly will go, since not even the schools writers seem to be enjoying what he does. And by the way, I'm thinking that UC has its advantages too, since the Big East provides a reasonable path to a BCS bowl... If Kelly manages one year to get UC through undefeated (could even be this year with some luck), it will be tough not to have them in the national championship game. Even if it doesn't happen, stringing three or four such seasons will definitely change the perception of UC nationally, bring better recruits, and give Kelly even a better chance to win. Why not an opinion piece writing about THAT possibility?

What a Joke

Thu Oct 22 2009 08:53

It is pathetic that columns like Bo Knows have been replaced with you're negative crap every week.