“We made Tim Tebow look great,” said junior tight end Ben Guidugli after practice on Tuesday. The loss was called “humbling” by numerous players who all told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bill Koch yesterday that the outside situation played on the team’s mindset before the game.
“It was just weird,” Guidugli told Koch, “with the coaches not knowing where they were going and the (returning) players not knowing what to expect after that game. Everybody wasn’t on the same page for that game. We made it that far and then to have everybody just kind of go their own way at the end was unfortunate, really.”
Brian Kelly left for Notre Dame less than a week after the Bearcats clinched the spot in the Sugar Bowl. Kelly stood on the stage at the team’s banquet, accepted the invitation from the Sugar Bowl representative there, and twelve hours later was standing in front of reporters in South Bend, Ind., proclaiming that Notre Dame was his team.
So UC picked up the pieces and named Jeff Quinn, offensive coordinator, as the interim head coach for the Sugar Bowl. Less than one week later, Butch Jones was hired away from Central Michigan (where he took over for Kelly when Kelly came to Cincinnati) but decided to not coach the Sugar Bowl, citing that he wanted to stay in the background, out of the way.
Jones at his introductory press conference stressed that he preaches "family" (Cincinnati Enquirer)
So Quinn went and applied for the vacant Buffalo head coaching job, and was hired before the Sugar Bowl, but Quinn announced he wasn’t leaving Cincinnati.
Quinn jokes with reporters outside a pre-Sugar Bowl press conference in UC's Lindner Center (Cincinnati Enquirer)
All in all, it made for some very tense situations. No one knew of anyone’s plans heading into the game, just as Guidugli suggested. Coaches were either going to Notre Dame or Buffalo, and some even might not have any idea what their futures were. Players didn’t know what to expect from the new regime, and everything showed in the 51-24 loss to Florida.
“It was a humbling experience,” said wide receiver Armon Binns—who hauled in the game winning touchdown pass in Pittsburgh. “It showed us that we can't let the situation of what was going on around us bring us apart. We have to come together in times of turmoil and stay close-knit, like we are now.
“I feel like we could have played with them,” he continued. “It wasn’t that they were that much better than us. Our heads just weren’t in it. There was a lot going on.”
And he’s right. It was one of the most awkward situations we’d ever faced in the video room. Coaches we’d grown to know over the past few seasons were packing up their offices, starting to put plans together to move out. It seemed to us like no one cared, as Binns pointed out.
This season, players and coaches have made it a goal to win the BCS game, if the Bearcats make it back there. Binns feels this team has the tools necessary to compete. “I think this team can be better than last year,” Binns said. “We’ve got the right guys. Guys are older. Guys are more experienced. I feel like this coaching staff is going to instill a certain kind of toughness in us that we might not have had last year.”
Cincinnati native JK Schaffer said, “We’re tired of going through the whole season winning and then ending on a bad note. We’re ready to step up to the next level and get to those BCS games and win them. It definitely gives us a little bit of motivation.”
With twelve practices left this spring the motivation is high for the two-time defending Big East champs. I’m sure we’ll find more storylines as spring progresses here in Cincinnati. Until then check out http://www.gobearcats.com/ for coverage and videos.
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