Brick City Pirate Wrote:What about Coach Petrino's brother at Louisville?

Interesting thought.

Paul Petrino is Bobby

I am proud of the way our administration stepped up and countered Michigan State. I hope this silences the critics about UC's commitment to football. The administration knows it has to hit a home run with this hire. Coach Narduzzi would be a good choice. But I firmly believe that if a name coach presents himself (I don't know who that would be if any) I think tht UC would do what it takes to get him to Cincinnati. Thomas seems to be working from a short-list of possible candidates at this time. I wonder who is on his short-list.

We even fricken matched the offer and the man bolted....I know he was an asst. coach at MSU and all and probably wanted to coach in the Big 10 all along but dang...that hurts!

army56mike Wrote:K
R
A
G
T
H
O
R
P
E

Yeah right. Didn't they hire the DC as coach? Kragthorpe is probably headed to Bama as soon as they realize they are not going to get Petrino, Rodriguez or any other high profile coach.

WacoBearcat Wrote:I am proud of the way our administration stepped up and countered Michigan State.

What did they do?

CardHouse Wrote:

WacoBearcat Wrote:I am proud of the way our administration stepped up and countered Michigan State.

What did they do?

they countered/matched the offer MSU gave....and he still bolted. That's why we are all pee'd off at him.

I am confused. It obviously was not about the money since Cincinnati matched the Michigan State offer. What is so great about the Spartans? He only worked there for a couple of years. Mark Dantonio had a better chance to win the Big East and go to the BCS with the Bearcats than he will have to win the Big Ten up there. He may end up regretting this decision in a few years if he fails to do any better than John L. Smith and finds himself in the unemployment line.

Interim Cincinnati coach will lead team in bowl gameAssociated Press

CINCINNATI -- Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi was appointed Cincinnati's interim head coach Monday, a few hours after Mark Dantonio left for Michigan State.

Narduzzi will coach the Bearcats (7-5) in their bowl game, which hasn't been determined. Cincinnati became eligible for a bowl by winning four of its last five games, including an upset of then-unbeaten Rutgers.

Athletic director Mike Thomas said Narduzzi is a candidate for the permanent head coaching job, which he hopes to have filled before Christmas.

The 40-year-old Narduzzi has been defensive coordinator under Dantonio for the last three seasons. Cincinnati's defense was one of the youngest in the nation last season and it made dramatic improvement this year, moving up to 36th in Division I-A in yards allowed.

Narduzzi also was a defensive coach at Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois and Rhode Island.

Thomas thought it was better to let the coaching staff handle the bowl game without Dantonio.

"I spoke with Mark this morning about whether or not he would stay and coach the bowl game, and it came out as a mutual decision that we would find a replacement for the game," Thomas said. "At the end of the day, it was my decision. I feel as though it is best for this program for Mark to move on with what he is doing at Michigan State."

At the start of his third season in Cincinnati, Dantonio asked fans to fill the Bearcats' 35,000-seat stadium. They didn't come close to a capacity crowd for any game. There were about 7,000 empty seats for the final home game against Rutgers, even though the school offered tickets at a deep discount.

Thomas said the inability to draw fans was a factor in Dantonio leaving.

"I think that the fact that at Michigan State they get 70,000 fans to come out to games, and here in Cincinnati, Coach was lucky to get 25,000," Thomas said. "I think that definitely played into his decision."


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2677609

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another quote from the local Cincy paper.

[quote="Coach Dantonio"]"I hope the people understand that I love UC and I love my players, but the people of Cincinnati need to take ownership of their football team. There were very sparse crowds there at times. That equates to capital gains for the athletic department. That equates to excitement. They need to create the environment that was created at the Rutgers game for every game.

The players found out from ESPN. Dantonio didn't have the balls to tell them himself, and when they found out, word has it that they were......to quote one player, 'resentful.' I guess he told all the players two weeks ago that he was staying at UC. What an opportunistic piece of trash.

That is tough with all the coach had accomplished and the direction he had the program going. But wait until you get a new coach.

We went through something similar in basketball last year after losing Mike Anderson, but once we got Mike Davis people calmed down some. And just from the recruits so far fans are excited. It can be a emotional rollercoaster for fans. Its rough. Eventually every fan of a school will go thru similar times.

I think UC will be fine. They may not make a big name hire, but then again most coaches that create a successful name for themselves succeed at their first big stop. Who heard of Ohio State's coach before he went there? Spurrier had a few decent years at Duke before he made it big at Florida. Besides Auburn fans who knew who Petrino was before Louisville hired him. If you can find a guy and he can be really successful there and with a little luck you can find a legend in the making coach.

Only time will tell. Good luck. It could be worse you could be in our football situation. Thank your luck stars Watson Brown left when he did. We hope to fire him tomorrow.

Krocker Krapp Wrote:I am confused. It obviously was not about the money since Cincinnati matched the Michigan State offer. What is so great about the Spartans? He only worked there for a couple of years. Mark Dantonio had a better chance to win the Big East and go to the BCS with the Bearcats than he will have to win the Big Ten up there. He may end up regretting this decision in a few years if he fails to do any better than John L. Smith and finds himself in the unemployment line.

Dantonio has had a hard-on for the Big Ten since being hired at UC. He discussed the Big Ten, and his experiences with Tressel ad nauseum. When he picked up a recruit, he'd consider it a "Big Ten talent." The love fest was so obnoxious that even his ardent supporters (e.g. myself) were annoyed.

I'm not surprised he took the job, but I am surprised it was offered to him so quickly. 17-16, come on...

It strikes me as being wrong for Dantinio to call out the UC fans after he has taken another job. What's wrong with just saying he liked the Michigan St job a little more and leave it at that?


Jackson

Cincy needs to act quickly to maintain the positive momentum from the season. If Narduzzi has the administrative abilities and can rally the troops to win the bowl game, give him a shot at the HC position. Staff continuity will be important for recruiting too.

Frank Solich. They guy was a winner at Nebraska (couldnt beat OU so they ditched him), and now he is winning at Ohio. He is already familiar with Ohio recruiting and the BCS tag should only help.

Cincinnati Inquirer has UL DC Mike Cassity on list of possible candidates.

Jackson1011 Wrote:It strikes me as being wrong for Dantinio to call out the UC fans after he has taken another job. What's wrong with just saying he liked the Michigan St job a little more and leave it at that?


Jackson

I think it is a requirement for taking the Michigan State job. Johnnelle did the same when he left Louisville for Michigan State.

Damn shame to lose a bright, young coach in part due to lack of fan support...especially for a team that is actually WINNING.....

Wow....

it strikes me as ironic that Dantonio would cite fan support, and then point to Rutgers as an example of what UC should strive for. Well, guess what? It took Greg Schiano several years of pain and losing to build up the program. It didn't happen overnight. Had Dantonio stayed with it long enough, he may have built UC up the same way Schiano did at Rutgers, but - unlike Schiano, he wasn't willing to see the project through and has left UC in a lurch.

I could possibly understand if $$$ was a huge factor, but citing fan support when you haven't done what is necessary to replicate the success at Rutgers is pretty low. Blaming the fans for his own inability to create an aura of excitement is ludicrous. After all, he's essentially saying to UC fans, "see, if you'd have come to the games you might have kept ME, but oh well, I'm outta here." Nice ego.

UC is a good opportunity, I'm sure the Bearcats will pick up somebody who will bring the program to the next level. There is a solid foundation to work with.

Maize Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:It strikes me as being wrong for Dantinio to call out the UC fans after he has taken another job. What's wrong with just saying he liked the Michigan St job a little more and leave it at that?


Jackson

I think it is a requirement for taking the Michigan State job. Johnnelle did the same when he left Louisville for Michigan State.

Yeah, the truth hurts. It made me mad when John L. criticized UofL fans. But I couldn't argue with him. It's still not the best, but it's getting better. All I know is I am there for every game from BEFORE start to FINISH.