First of an 8-part series from ucbearcats.com on the BEarcat football team:

<a href='http://www.ucbearcats.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=3644' target='_blank'>http://www.ucbearcats.com/sports/football/...release_id=3644</a>

Coach Dantonio's comments:

<a href='http://www.ucbearcats.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=3643' target='_blank'>http://www.ucbearcats.com/sports/football/...release_id=3643</a>

The Impact of the BIG EAST

“The BIG EAST Conference makes us the only other Bowl Championship Series team in the state of Ohio. It creates national exposure and gives us a base for our recruiting and brings college football at its highest level to the Cincinnati area. The Big East allows our vision to become a reality in terms of playing in a BCS championship atmosphere, which is the goal of all college players and coaches.

Assessment of Year No. 2 of the Program

“In Year No. 1, we laid the foundation for our program. The continuity among our coaching staff will always be a key to our success as we continue to build on that foundation. The move to the BIG EAST Conference has had a huge impact on the program. Our new facilities will be state-of-the-art and will become the finest in the state of Ohio. We are graduating our players at a 75-80 percent rate over the past two years. Our student-athletes are understanding that they are not here to develop just as players, but are here to grow as people. We are not just here as a football team, but are here with the opportunity to impact the people of Cincinnati.

Goals for 2005

“Our goal will always be to win our conference championship and earn a spot in a bowl game. Our team will continue to focus on this throughout their offseason workouts, preseason practice and game preparations. We will again ask our players to take ownership and play with great effort and toughness; know what to do and play fast. We have asked our players to take ownership of the team. Whether you are a fan, student, player or coach, with ownership comes responsibility. This will be a key to our development. We need to continue to develop relationships with each other. Relationships are built upon trust. We all need to trust in each other.