Notre Dame settles in death of Declan Sullivan

Notre Dame and the state of Indiana have settled on a $42,000 fine for six violations in the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan. Notre Dame was originally fined $77,500 in Sullivan’s death for “knowingly putting its employees in unsafe conditions.”

On October 27, 2010, my job became the most talked about job in collegiate athletics when Sullivan’s hydraulic lift fell in a 53 mph wind gust on a windy day in South Bend. The incident hit close to home for myself and my coworkers, especially since our former head coach, Brian Kelly, was now leading practice at Notre Dame.

Questions came in from my friends and family. “Did that ever happen to you?” “Have you ever been up in winds?” And my parents were bombarded by coworkers and friends saying, “All I could think about was your son.”

Notre Dame said in a statement reported by the Associated Press that it, “appreciates the professionalism that (Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration) officials have demonstrated throughout this process and is pleased to have reached agreement with them on the safety orders.”

The IOSHA report did not identify one person in particular who was responsible for putting students in the lifts on that day. IOSHA reports normally do not place blame on any one.

However, in April, the University issued a report that stated, “Ultimately, because staff never saw winds in excess of 35 mph, the lifts were not grounded. Nonetheless, where any person has a subjective concern for safety, protocols should be strengthened to help ensure that such concerns are addressed, even where objective safety procedures (such as the 35 mph procedure here) are not triggered.”

Also, “Kelly did not think the wind was as severe as Tuesday, nor as severe as the heavy winds

he frequently encountered at Central Michigan, Grand Valley State, Cincinnati, or earlier

practice days at Notre Dame.”

I’m not sure we’ll ever know exactly what happened on that day, but it seems that Notre Dame will try everything they can to make sure this never happens again.

“A spokesman for Sullivan’s parents said the family was satisfied with the settlement, particularly the nationwide safety campaign,” in the AP report. “There can be no better way to remember Declan than to help others avoid future tragedies,” Sullivan's uncle, Mike Miley, wrote by e-mail to the AP. Miley and Notre Dame both said the amount of money Notre Dame was contributing to the memorial was a private matter.”

Is $42,000 enough? Not in my opinion. But it seems that the state and the school are happy with the outcome, which is sad.

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

Got any opinions or questions? I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment.

One day until graduation

First, if you’ve missed any of the countdown, here’s a look at each day in the countdown:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

No. 5- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-days-until-graduation.html

No. 4- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/four-days-until-graduation.html

No. 3- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/three-days-until-graduation.html

No. 2- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/two-days-until-graduation.html

Moment 1: “The Game” (Dec. 5, 2009)

It was cold and somewhat snowy when I opened the shades in the Pittsburgh hotel room I was sharing with fellow video team member J.P. Hummer. My dad had just texted me to say that he and my mom were up and headed to breakfast on a chilly morning.

I’d hoped for the best, but I knew it was going to be a tough battle. We were on the brink of a perfect season and a shot at the BCS National Title game. These were unforeseen and nearly unbelievable times in the Cincinnati football program. And I was in the center of it all.

We packed the meeting rooms up, and headed down to the buses to put away our things. In just hours, the ball would be kicked, and the 60-minute journey to perfection would be right in front of our very eyes.

Setting everything up at Heinz Field was just like normal: I headed to my endzone area, two guys headed to the TV truck, and John Sells, video coordinator, headed to his spot in the sideline video booth. Minutes later we all hooked up in the Heinz Field pressbox for breakfast.

WPTS Sport Director Jake Meyer, a good friend of mine, met me there. The previous night Jake and I hung out and watched the MAC title game, featuring a highly-touted Central Michigan squad, led by quarterback Dan LeFevour and head coach Butch Jones. The Chips defeated Ohio University, and little did any of us know the significance of that game at the time.

Jake and I made our way to the radio booth where I met his co-anchor for the day, Dan, who I’d talked to on the radio earlier that week when I was a live guest on Jake’s weekly sportscast on WPTS radio in Pittsburgh.

For three years I called into the radio show, live from practice. Dan and Jake asked me what it would take for UC to defeat the Panthers. When I got into the radio booth that morning to chat with the guys, Dan said, “The first one to 45 wins this game.”

Funny how things work out some times.

I headed down to the field to join my actual co-workers with about 45 minutes until kickoff. ‘If this is the biggest game I’m ever a part of,’ I thought, ‘I might as well go down on the field and soak in some of the atmospohere.’

I talked to some local news folks on the field, including WCPO sports anchor Dennis Janson, who was about to go live for a one-hour special preceding the game on ABC. DJ was one of the nicest guys I had the opportunity to work with at Channel 9, so I stopped by and said hello.

Oh, and then there was a game to be played. I found my way back up to my film booth, which was somewhat heated, but since we had the front windows open it wasn’t the warmest place in the world. However, I felt bad for the folks sitting out in front of us.

And I felt bad for my mom and dad, who, for some reason, got stuck in the very top row of Heinz Field. I thought my dad was kidding when he sent me a text that said, “Look out to your left. We’re in the top row of seats.”

Holy cow, they were. (“It was colder than hell,” my mom will still tell you)

When the game kicked off it was business as usual. Start recording, watch the play, stop recording. Repeat. It’s what I had done all season, nothing new.

Except the fact that what we hadn’t done all season was get beat, like a drum. We were tied after one quarter at 7-7, but in the second the Pitt Panthers decided that the Bearcats of Cincinnati didn’t deserve the perfect season we had our sights on. The rattled off three touchdowns and a field goal, and led 31-10 with 1:26 showing on the clock in the second quarter.

Brian Kelly, who had his sights on a job in South Bend, was suddenly looking like a normal human being, not the super coach that every national media outlet had made him out to be.

After the touchdown that put Pitt up 31-10 I received a text from John Sells, my boss. While I forget exactly what it said, the message basically said, “This one is over. We’re going to Charlotte, bye bye BK.”

I wanted to respond, but I just couldn’t think of anything to say.

And I didn’t have to say much, because seconds later the play on the field said it all.

Mardy Gilyard stood on the UC goal line with a perfect season in his hands. He received the kickoff, and the rest, as they say, is history. The play that saved the perfect season took all of 16 seconds. Gilyard covered 99 yards and sprinted into the endzone away from me for a Bearcat touchdown.

“Why are you so negative?” I immediately responded to Sells.

From there, the momentum shifted. But it wasn’t the final time momentum would shift in the game.

With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter an almost perfect Jake Rogers missed a PAT attempt to bring UC within seven. The Cats trailed Pitt 38-30. (Highlights from ESPN.com can be seen here: http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293390221)

With less than six minutes left the Bearcats had the ball on the one yard line. Zach Collaros, who had played masterfully in replacement of Pike when Pike re-injured his left arm earlier in the year, came in to run the UC offense on the goal line. He handed the ball on a read option to Isaiah Pead for six. We trailed by two.

And who stepped up on the two-point conversion? None other than Mardy Gilyard.

Pike flipped the ball to Gilyard for two points, and the score was tied with 5:46 left in the game.

Pitt’s Dion Lewis punched the ball in from five yards with 1:33 left on the clock, leading my counterpart at Pitt to look at me and say, “Damn, bro, this is crazy! I think we left you with too much time though.” There was too much time for Pike and Gilyard to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Enter Andrew Janocko, Pitt’s third string back-up quarterback, and PAT holder. Janocko bobbled the snap and Dan Hutchins couldn’t put the PAT through the uprights. Pitt still led 44-38, but they needed to keep UC out of the endzone if they wanted to keep their hopes of securing the Big East title alive.

But with 33 seconds left on the clock Pike stood behind center Chris Jurek with four wide outs to his left and Armon Binns to his right. Binns, a junior from Pasadena, Calif., was only looking at one cover corner on his side of the field.

I don’t normally do this, but I glanced away from my camera for a split second and looked down at the field. ‘Oh…my…God. He’s singled covered!’ I thought. ‘Throw it to Binns Tony, throw it to Binns. This is a touchdown.’

Pike got the snap and lofted the ball for the right corner of the endzone. It fell into the arms of Binns in stride. The crowd in front of me—mainly Cincinnati fans—was pumped.

Pike celebrates (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Jake Rogers came on and nailed the PAT, leaving my counterpart from Pitt to once again utter, “Damn bro. This has been one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When Pitt got the ball back with 33 seconds remaining in the game, they had to throw the ball. Bill Stull was pinned on his own 18-yard line, and Bob Diaco, whose defense had been torched all day on the ground, sent out the best pass coverage guys he could get on the field.

Stull’s first pass dropped incomplete. His second fell to the turf, also incomplete. On third down he turned to Jonathan Baldwin, who had been a stud for the Panthers all season; that pass also went incomplete. With just ten seconds remaining, Stull dropped back with the game on the line.

The Cincinnati Bearcats celebrate after defeating Pitt in 2009 (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

He was sacked by Alex Daniels to end the game. Someone in front of me popped a cork on a champagne bottle. The party was on.

I leaned out of the video booth and waved at my mom and dad. I got the thumbs up from my dad. We had done it, so long as Tony Pike didn’t give the next snap to Pitt and let them run it into the endzone.

Brian Kelly sent the offense out onto the field and Pike took a knee. The clock said 0:00, UC-45 Pitt-44. For the second straight year I was headed to a BCS bowl game as the Big East champion.

Kelly and Jeff Quinn share a hug after beating Pittsburgh. (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

“Good luck wherever you end up,” said my counterpart from Pitt. “And represent [the Big East] well.”

“Same to you guys,” I said as we left the video booth.

I walked down a few steps and my mom and dad were waiting. I think my mom hit me numerous times saying, “I drove all this way and you guys almost lost!”

Almost.

I said goodbye to them and headed down the elevator toward the locker room to set my stuff in the equipment truck. The first person who greeted me was co-worker Joe Stanek.

The Big East champs hold their title in the locker room (from the Twitter account of Tom Gelehrter aka Tommy G)

He picked me up and gave me a huge hug. “Can you believe we did it!” he said, as excited as I was that we were a part of something so very special.

I’m not sure what my response was, but I know it’s almost unbelievable still. We were a part of one of the best college football teams in America that season.

And that, is the best moment I’ve ever been a part of in the past four years at UC.

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

Disagreements? Comments? Concerns? Questions? Leave a comment below, and as always thanks for reading.

Check back tomorrow on graduation day for a special post. This has been a fun countdown to produce and organize. You’ve seen the good and the bad, the happy and the sad moments that I’ve lived through the past four years. These posts are only a small look into what I’ve experienced in the past four years, but it’s been a blast. I can’t wait to put some more memories in as I go through grad school. One more game like this one wouldn’t be too bad.

Have a good Friday.

Five days until graduation

With just five days until graduation everyone is beginning to get excited about it. To be honest, I’m not very excited about it yet. But I’ve still got a whole “work” week ahead of me to get fired up about walking across a stage and getting a piece of paper. Here’s a look at the No. 5 moment in the countdown to graduation.

Moment 5: “The day the music died”(December 10th 2009)

As we pulled back onto the campus of the University of Cincinnati on that cold night, REM’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it,” played on the car radio. How apropos.

Hours earlier Brian Kelly walked into the Westin Hotel in downtown Cincinnati flanked by police officers and he simply waved to throngs of TV cameras assembled in the lobby. He wasn’t speaking to the folks who all wanted to know the answer to the simple question, “Why?”

Why are you leaving Cincinnati? Why go to Notre Dame? They didn’t even make a bowl game! This team is on the cusp of finishing third in national polls and is undefeated? Why leave your players before the biggest game in program history?

It was his dream.

“Nobody does it like Notre Dame,” he’d say in a press conference the next day in South Bend, Ind., his new home.

On that night in the Westin Hotel it was simply a nightmare.

The whole city of Cincinnati wanted to know. It was so overwhelming that quarterbacks coach Greg Forest had to put out a tweet: “Please stop calling, texting me I do not know anything.”

He spoke for every one of us sitting in the team’s end of the year banquet that evening. It was so bad I turned my phone off, completely.

Quarterback Tony Pike told reporters that evening, “We listen to the radio and the news just as much as everyone else. It’s probably a little harder on us, because we’re getting the calls from our friends and family, wanting to know what’s really happening. It’s hard, because we don’t know either.”

No one knew that evening except for Brian Kelly.

It was the weirdest night anyone associated with this football program has probably ever had to deal with. It was such a fascinating night that even months later we sat in our team hotel and discussed stories from that evening. Everyone has a different take, everyone saw something differently, and every person has their own interpretation of what happened on that night.

I got to speak to Coach Kelly in the middle of April, ironically enough, about 50 feet away from the spot I last saw him in that hotel lobby. Now, as the head man of the program he’d dreamed of coaching for, he still remembered who I was.

That’s the BK we all remember. Ever so camera friendly, except for one night in December of 2009.

I just hope that never happens again. It was awful, but so memorable, and that’s why the night that Brian Kelly left Cincinnati to become the head coach at Notre Dame is the No. 5 moment on the graduation countdown list.

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

If you’ve missed any of the other countdown stories, click the links below:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

Six days until graduation

The time is now unbelievably upon us. In less than one week I’ll be able to call myself a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. Until then, I continue the graduation countdown with some moments of unbelievable pride in my school.

Moment 6: “BCS Mania”(December/January 2009 and 2010)

Yesterday I told you of the month of December in 2008, which ended on New Year’s Eve, where I found myself standing on the field that the Florida Marlins, by the strength of Edgar Renteria’s 11th inning hit, won the 1997 World Series on.

From way up in right field, this was my view of the Orange Bowl

I always say that Carrie Underwood was right, “Crazy Dreams do come true.”

Well, that 2008 season led the Cincinnati Bearcats to their first ever BCS Bowl game, a place usually reserved for the biggest names in the sport. I watched the 2006 Orange Bowl that pitted Bobby Bowden and Florida State against Joe Paterno and Penn State just a few years earlier. Cincinnati was not a team that should ever be in a BCS bowl game, but some guy named Brian Kelly was a wizard, and he made it happen.

The Bearcats take the field in Miami. It was certainly an awesome feeling.

Standing in Joe Robbe Stadium that evening was an almost surreal experience. Before we left the hotel that afternoon for the game, myself and my co-workers discussed how we had come to the top of the college football food chain, so to speak, and reached one of the pinnacles of the game.

My how we were wrong.

One year later we found ourselves sitting in the video office with a perfect 12-0 record watching as Colt McCoy scrambled to his right and threw the ball out of bounds in the Big XII title game. No time remained on the clock. We were headed to play in the National Title game.

And then, as you all know, it was deemed that time had not run out, and Texas hit a game-winning field goal to go to the title game, where they lost to Alabama.

Well, we were close at least.

Back to Miami, where although the matchup between Virginia Tech and the UC Bearcats seemed like it would be a close game, nothing ever really clicked for us beyond the first drive. Tony Pike threw four interceptions and we lost 20-7.

Even though we lost, it’s one game that I’ll never forget.

In New Orleans 365 days later things couldn’t have been more different. Kelly had gone to Notre Dame and interim head coach Jeff Quinn was named head man at Buffalo, but he was still around coaching the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl.

That Sugar Bowl will forever be known as the final game for Tim Tebow. And Tebow made the most of it, throwing for 482 yards and three touchdowns. One reporter noted that the game was over by halftime, “30 minutes in which Tebow had already rung up the best statistical outing of his four-year college career.”

Tebow warms up before the Sugar Bowl where he absolutely lit up the UC secondary, leading then-UC defensive coordinator Bob Diaco to cry for mercy at halftime

That game may not have been fun to watch as a UC fan, but I enjoyed watching the team my brother has rooted for his entire life. It was pretty cool to see Albert and Alberta—the Gator mascots—and to hear the Florida band play their “Jaws” theme.

My brother Tony is still jealous when he sees photos like this one

Co-worker Joe Stanek even told me, “Your brother would love this I bet.”

He would have, no doubt, but I loved those two experiences even more. UC’s football program had truly reached the pinnacle of college football, and it was exciting to be wrapped up in those experiences. While we didn’t win either game, it was almost surreal to be at those games. I noted numerous times to friends and family that, “The endzones are painted just like you see them on TV!”

Yeah, I’m a dork. And I love it.

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

That was moment No. 6 in the countdown, and tomorrow we check in to the beginning of the top five rundown in the most impactful and important moments in my undergraduate career.

If you’ve missed any of the top ten countdown, check the links below for the run down:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

Eight Days until graduation

Welcome back to the countdown and on the final day of undergraduate classes at UC I’ll take a look at a moment that’s more like a four-year list of memories.

Moment 8: “Higher Ground, Indiana”(August 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010)
Sure it’s longer than a “moment” but I make up the rules for my graduation countdown, and I’ve spent more time at Higher Ground in the past four years than I’ve spent at my house I think.

Camp Higher Ground, located just inside the border of Indiana, transforms from a Camp run by the Church of the Nazarene to a full-scale football camp in August. The UC Bearcats become the main tenant of the campus.

For two weeks the entire UC football program, that includes people like me, move every part of their lives out to Indiana for training camp.

It’s a time that both Brian Kelly and Butch Jones have used to promote things like togetherness, family, brotherhood and the tight knit community that a football team needs to become a championship winning football team.

I’m pretty sure that UC football wouldn’t be UC football without the Higher Ground experience.

Higher Ground is a place that you either love or you hate. I fall on the love side of the continuum, even though a two-week stay does become quite mundane by day 12 or so.

As a video staff, the past four years have been filled with football in the day and video games at night. And food, lots of food.

To say Higher Ground has the best food we get treated to all year might be offensive to my mom, and mothers everywhere, but this food at Higher Ground is darn good. Just ask anyone who has ever been there. In my informal polling of people who just come out and hang out for a day, the food is the most memorable part of the experience.

Even though I’ll be back for another round of the Higher Ground Experience this August, the past four years have been a blast. I’m looking forward to Higher Ground already.
------------------------------------------------------
Join me tomorrow for the number seven moment in the countdown. There’s just over a week until graduation. The countdown is in full swing.

13 days until graduation

In my first season as part of the UC video staff, I was involved in 13 games, and a big part of that ten-win season was one of the best defensive backs in UC history, Haruki Nakamura.

Nakamura, whose final high school game was a loss in the state title against, maybe you’ve heard of them, the Elder Panthers, was an absolute stud for the Bearcats secondary.

The post-game handshake between Rutgers and UC players and coaches in 2007. This was Brian Kelly's first Big East game as head coach in Cincinnati

Nakamura anchored a defensive backfield that took 26 interceptions from opposing quarterbacks in Brian Kelly’s first season in the Queen City.

Here’s to No. 13, the guy who now wears purple, oddly enough, as a member of the Baltimore Ravens, and less than two weeks to graduation.

Notre Dame employs video game system to help quarterbacks

Chances are if you’re a fan of college football and you’re around my age you’ve spent more than a few hours playing EA Sports’ NCAA Football on your PlayStation or XBox. I’m certainly guilty of that “crime,” if you will.

Turns out, not only are nerds like me using the video game to have fun and live out the dreams of chasing a Heisman trophy and National Title, but so are the actual athletes themselves.

*If you’ve read this story before, well, it’s because I’ve written it before. If you go to http://web.coachbutchjones.com/Dev/ and click on the “Inside Football” tab and the EA Sports menu, you’ll be able to see how UC’s quarterbacks have been using the system since Brian Kelly was the head man at UC.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN sat down and watched Kelly and his quarterbacks during a spring practice. Not only does Notre Dame employ the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, developed by EA and XOS Digital, the company that supplies film editing equipment to teams like Notre Dame and Cincinnati, but they also use new “helmet cams” mounted on the quarterback’s helmet so Kelly can break down exactly what each of his signal callers sees on each play.

Yeah, it’s like Madden 64, only, probably a whole heck of a lot better.

I am very familiar with the EA Sports Play Action Simulator, something that we used during the 2009 season where UC ran the table and went 12-0, clinching a second consecutive Big East title and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

“It’s a good tool to have the night before a game,” Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees told Schlabach. “It’s a good thing to use as a refresher.”

Opponents’ defensive schemes can be programmed into the simulator and, in this case, the Notre Dame offense is installed in the game as well. Before each play, quarterbacks are quizzed on what their pre-snap reads are.

For example, Schlabach noted this instance, which took place in the Notre Dame hotel the night before their Sun Bowl victory over Miami (FL).

“Before taking a snap on a play called “North Squeeze 63 Dolphin,” Rees was asked to identify Miami's pass coverage. His options were: Cover 4, Tampa 2 or 2 Man. After correctly identifying the coverage, Rees had to throw to the correct receiver,” Schlabach noted.

One of the most fun parts about the simulator was the fact that it was in our hands to set up. The UC video staff became very proficient at setting up the games and making sure they worked before guys like Tony Pike, Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson came into the quarterback meeting room to try it out.

It was fun. Just ask the guys I work with.

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

Spring football is winding down in Cincinnati, and the Fifth annual Bearcat Bowl will take place on Saturday. It should be a fun night, so come on out to Nippert Stadium and watch the 2011 Bearcats in action.

Notre Dame bans hydraulic lifts from practices

Notre Dame announced Tuesday that hydraulic lifts, such as the one 20-year-old Declan Sullivan was filming practice from on October 27 when he tragically fell to his death, have been banned by the school.

Instead, the school announced that it will install remote control cameras mounted on 50-foot poles and controlled from a room inside the Notre Dame Athletic Complex. The camera system was designed by XOS Digital—the company that supplies Notre Dame with editing and technical equipment.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the AP that the call was made to XOS in November. “We went to XOS last November and said, ‘Is there any way to eliminate the use of hydraulic lifts?’” he said.

The boxes holding the cameras will be equipped to protect the cameras from rain and wind, and will also have a wiper to clear the lens. The boxes will also be outfitted with the green shamrock logo with Sullivan’s initials inside it—the same logo the Notre Dame team wore on their helmets last season to honor the video worker.

When Notre Dame starts spring practice on March 23rd, the new camera systems will be in place. Works began drilling holes for the camera poles on Tuesday.

The Indiana Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) is still investigating what caused the lift to fall on the blustery day in late October where wind gusts were over 50 mph.

This new development is an interesting new twist into the current job I hold, and I have mixed feelings about it.

Coaches are control freaks, and if they don’t get their film on time they are not happy campers. The only people to get that done are people like myself and my co-workers who sit at computers and punch keys to cut the film. It’s quick and efficient.

While I know nothing of the new XOS system, I have worked closely with XOS products over the years (including the three-year reign of Brian Kelly at UC) and they are top-of-the-line products. I’m interested to find out more about how these fiber optic cable camera system works.

On one hand, I’m excited to see Notre Dame step up and make a stand on worker safety, but on the other hand, I worry. How many schools will see these systems as a waste of money?

‘Throw a kid up there, it can’t happen to us,’ they may think. They are wrong.

While many schools will still rely on hydraulic lifts to film practice, at least Notre Dame has made a stance trying to prevent tragedies like Declan Sullivan’s death from occurring to them. It’s a step in the right direction, and I applaud the move by the Irish.
------------------------------------------------
For more on the Sullivan story from ESPN and the AP, click this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6192497

For one of the best stories I’ve ever seen written in my life, check out Ryan McGee’s “Up in the Wind” story from last year: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=mcgee_ncf_ryan&month=october-2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2fblog%3fname%3dmcgee_ncf_ryan%26month%3doctober-2010

If you don’t understand our job, you will after you read McGee’s article.

Breaking News: Tresey hired by UCLA

Former Cincinnati and South Florida defensive coordinator Joe Tresey has been hired to do the same at UCLA, head coach Rick Neuheisel announced on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old Tresey spent two seasons in Cincinnati (2007-08), coordinating the defense that won the first of two back-to-back Big East titles in the Queen City. He left for USF in 2009, and spent the 2010 season in the UFL as defensive backs coach for the Omaha Nighthawks.

“Joe has had outstanding success at both Cincinnati and South Florida and I know he is going to be successful here at UCLA,” Neuheisel said in a release. “He has an aggressive style that forces turnovers and negative-yardage plays and I feel our players, especially our youngsters, will benefit greatly from his style of play. He is a fine teacher and I can’t wait for him to get started.”

Tresey’s first UC defense in 2007 led the nation in turnovers gained—a margin of plus 42—and interceptions with 26.

He quickly became one of my favorite Bearcat assistant coaches. His quick wit and humor made for some unforgettable moments in his two years under Brian Kelly. For more of my favorite Joe Tresey memories, see these links:
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2010/05/joe-tresey-hired-to-coach-in-ufl.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/10/usf-defensive-coordinator-is-truly.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/former-cincinnati-defensive-coordinator.html

Rodriguez out at Michigan: The (college) coaching carousel continues

If you miss a day of college football, you might as well miss a week of noteworthy news. Today in Ann Arbor, Rich Rodriguez was finally let go as head coach at Michigan. This news may have come to the Wolverine fan base as a necessary move, but probably came much to the chagrin of Ohio State fans.

Athletic director Dave Brandon said, “I believe this is the best decision for the future of Michigan football. We have not achieved at the level that I expect.”

Rodriguez left West Virginia after the 2007 season and never really made it click in Michigan, where he compiled a lackluster 15-22 record in three seasons, with only one bowl appearance. It definitely wasn’t what Michigan fans thought they were getting after Lloyd Carr stepped down after the 2007 season.

Sure Carr couldn’t beat Ohio State and wasn’t delivering with the success that his sweatervest-wearing counterpart at Ohio State was doing, but Carr wasn’t doing a bad job either. Michigan seemed to panic and hire a guy who, by all means, was a great coach. Trust me, I’d seen his offenses take the Big East and my own team by storm.

That being said, I’m once again shocked by the fact that this college football world (and the NFL for that matter) has turned into the, ‘what have you done for me now’ type of world. Rodriguez endured some hiccups in his first season, and that was expected because he had to change offensive styles, and recruit young men to fit his spread system.

ESPN.com’s Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg noted, “There’s the counterargument, of course, that Michigan didn’t give Rodriguez enough time to get things on track.” It’s tough to disagree with that, but some athletic programs want to win, and they want to win now.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that college football’s coaching turnover is really, really irritating. And while I understand it, I wonder if Michigan made the right move. Of course if Brandon hadn’t dismissed Rodriguez, next season would have been the make or break season for Rich Rod in the Big House (where he was 11-11 in his three seasons by the way). The media scrutiny would have been just as bad as it has been in the previous few weeks for Rodriguez, and every loss would have been even worse.

When I flipped open the newest copy of Sports Illustrated this week, I read the back page article by Joe Posnanski. He mentioned Urban Meyer’s stepping away and Joe Paterno’s seeming endurance in this crazy world of college athletics. “Not only is Paterno different from Meyer, but he is also likely the last of a breed: the coach who built a life around a single major college-football program,” he wrote.

With constant coaching changes I believe Posnanski is correct in his assessment. Heck, it’s tough to find high school head coaches that stick around their programs for a long time (at least in the Cincinnati area). Doug Ramsey has been the head man at Elder High School since 1997, and although he will probably last another decade or so at Elder, he was once rumored to have looked at other jobs (namely the Mason opening a few years back).

Even high school seems to be full of coaches that are on the move for one reason or another. All the changes that occur with a coaching transition hurt student-athletes and other staff members who may end up having to look for new jobs when coaching transitions occur.

When Mark Dantonio left Cincinnati after the 2006 season, my current boss, UC video coordinator John Sells, told me he was worried about whether or not Brian Kelly would bring in his own video guy, or if Sells would get to keep the job he had just gotten in June of that year.

“You never know,” he told me. “You think, ‘Is the new guy going to bring in his own guy?’ Because some coaches have their own guy, and some don’t.”

Obviously the carousel of coaches will stop spinning here in a week or two, but plenty of jobs are still open, including Michigan, Pittsburgh and Connecticut, just to name a few. When the wheels stop spinning it’s anyone’s guess as to where coaches and assistants (video guys included—hey gotta keep a look out on the folks I work around) will end up.

I can’t wait for the carnival ride to stop, and honestly, if my life hadn’t been affected so strongly by our own coaching transition last year (albeit not the same as the head coach getting fired, in fact, quite the opposite) I wouldn’t feel so strongly about it.

My advice to fans, athletic directors and anyone else who will take my advice is, be patient, be calm, and maybe, just maybe, your head coach will raise your program up to walk on stormy seas. If you fire him before you get the chance to see if he’ll raise you up, then the onus is on you.

Former Miami (OH) coach Haywood in at Pitt

Is the Mid-American Conference the Big East’s feeder program? These days it sure feels like it. Brian Kelly, Butch Jones and now Mike Haywood have all come from the MAC and become head coaches in the Big East.

Kelly may have been the best coach in the past five years in the Big East, winning Big East coach of the year honors in each of his three seasons at the helm of the Cincinnati program. Jones has had a rough time taking Kelly’s success and building on it, but promises to bring back the magic that Kelly began.

So, what’s Mike Haywood’s plan? The former Miami (Ohio) head man told ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett, “We’re just looking forward to doing the best job we can so we can develop our team and compete for the Big East championship each year.”

He also told Bennett about his first team meeting, where he told the Panther players, “I’m here for you. The most important thing for you to do is do a great job studying for finals. The second most important thing is to go out and practice well each day so you can provide yourself an opportunity to be successful in that bowl game on the 8th, so you can send Coach Wannstedt out with a win and at the same time win one for the University of Pittsburgh.”

Haywood is familiar with the Western Pennsylvania area, having recruited there when he was at Notre Dame as an assistant under Charlie Weis. He also signed two players out of Gateway High School last offseason to play for him at Miami (OH).

And, Haywood is also familiar with the Big East, having lost two games in two seasons to Cincinnati. This year was especially lopsided, with the Bearcats—a team that went 4-8—beating the eventual MAC champions 45-3 at Nippert Stadium.

In fact, Bennett yesterday wrote, “In Haywood, [Pitt] got a guy who has two years of head coaching experience and a 10-15 career record. Not exactly someone who gets people rushing out to renew season ticket orders. A natural reaction followed: They fired Wannstedt for this? For a guy whose team lost 45-3 to Cincinnati in October?”

Ron Cook, from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said, “Really, is it so wrong to give Haywood a chance?”

I guess we’ll find out. Haywood “changed the culture” at Miami after going 1-11 in his first season in Oxford. He engineered the largest turnaround in the country this year by leading Miami to nine wins and the MAC title. Players had to sit in the front of their classes. Haywood had 6 a.m. practices and workouts. Players wore shirts and ties on gameday, all promoting Haywood’s no-nonsense style of coaching.

Will it work at Pitt?

I think we need to give Haywood a chance, like Ron Cook pointed out. Last year at this time Cincinnati was a-buzz with Butch Jones fever, happy that a man wanted to come to Cincinnati and “not just preach family, but live it.”

One thing is for certain, if you want my opinion. The 2011 UC-Pitt game, well, it could get real ugly, real quick. 45-3 wasn’t a fluke. Hopefully for Pitt Panther fans, Haywood isn’t a fluke either. But if you’re a fan of UC, this could be a great hire.
------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Bennett also linked a story from Pittsburgh that talked about a Pitt recruit who is now starting to switch his mind about signing with Pittsburgh in February. Jameel Poteat, a running back from Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt High School, hasn’t ruled out Pitt but told reporters he was unhappy that the school parted ways with Dave Wannstedt as their head coach. “Pitt was my first love, but they let my man go,” Poteat told the Post Gazette. He said Cincinnati is now his No. 1 choice. We’ll see where Poteat signs on Signing Day.

Former UC coach let go in Buffalo

On Monday afternoon I sat in the video office at UC and happened to have some time to look back at some of my older blog posts. In May I wrote about Joe Tresey, former UC defensive coordinator, who at the time ad just secured a job in the UFL with the Omaha Nighthawks. I mentioned that coach Tresey was, “My favorite Bearcat assistant coach of all time.”

In my four years here, he definitely was near the top of the list. But after giving it a few minutes’ thought, I’d have to say my favorite assistant coach I’ve had the opportunity to work with here in Cincinnati was former UC quarterbacks coach Greg Forest.

Forest (pictured here next to Zach Collaros before the Syracuse game in 2009) was UC's quarterbacks coach from 2007 to 2009. He left Cincinnati for Buffalo in 2010.

He was friendly, approachable, and often would go out to lunch with us (the video staff). He especially endeared himself to yours truly with his love of NASCAR, and often times we’d sit in the office and discuss NASCAR, leaving my co-workers shaking their heads.

In July of 2009, we spent an hour on pit road at Kentucky Speedway during ARCA qualifying chatting about everything under the sun. Football didn’t matter at that time; NASCAR did. It didn’t matter to Forest that we, the video staff, were usually ignored by everyone. He made us feel like we truly were a part of the team.

So, I was shocked when I found out—ironically enough via Twitter—that Forest, who was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University at Buffalo, was fired by head coach Jeff Quinn. Quinn also fired wide receivers coach Juan Taylor.

“It’s never easy in this business to make changes to your coaching staff, but at this time I feel like we needed a change of direction in these areas,” Quinn said in a statement released by the school. “I’d like to thank Greg and Juan for their contributions to UB football and wish them nothing but success in the future.”

A week ago I wrote that college football was turning into a, “What have you done for me lately?” world. Apparently, in Buffalo, Forest’s first year as offensive coordinator wasn’t good enough for first-year head man Jeff Quinn.

Quinn and Forest have coached together since the early 1990s under Brian Kelly at Grand Valley State. Quinn and Forest followed Kelly to Central Michigan and Cincinnati, but were snubbed when Kelly made to move to South Bend last year.

Forest tweeted last night, “I want to thank all the people that are giving me support. I appreciate all that everyone has done for me.”

Given all the coaching openings and transitions occurring right now in college football, I have a great feeling that the man we called “G Money” will land somewhere. I wish we had an opening at UC. I’d love to have him back.

There is a NASCAR race in Kentucky in July. I guarantee “G Money” would love to join me in Sparta…again.

Urban Meyer steps down: Is college football life and death?

Much to the dismay of Florida Gator football fans across the country, head coach Urban Meyer announced last week that he’s officially stepping down as head coach of the Gators after their bowl game on Jan. 1.

If this sounds familiar, well, it’s because Meyer did this almost a year ago, just before his team hopped on a plane bound for New Orleans. Before playing his alma mater, Cincinnati, in the Sugar Bowl, Meyer announced he would step away from coaching because of health concerns.

He was back coaching the Gators this year.

Meyer cited health concerns again, according to a recent report by the Gainesville Sun. Former Texas defensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp will be introduced as Florida head coach tomorrow.

Meyer stepping down because of health concerns might surprise some people, but to me, it’s just a case of a guy actually making a good move. Mark Dantonio (former UC head coach) suffered a heart attack after the Michigan State-Notre Dame game in September. A lot of focus was shifted onto the intense amount of pressure to win faced by college coaches each and every week.

So, is college football a matter of life and death? Some may argue that it isn’t.

Bucky Gleason, sports columnist for The Buffalo News, said, “The greater good would be putting Division I football on trial and examining how many other details are ignored in the pursuit of victory and big business. In a perfect world, college football would be a game for amateurs in pursuit of an education. That's how it was years ago, before it became life and death.”

Gleason was referring to the incident that took place in South Bend, Ind. on October 27 of this year. By now I know you’ve heard the story. Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan was killed when the lift he was filming practice in fell over.

Was it necessary to have practice outside? Is it necessary for coaches to risk lives (sometimes their own) to win football games? Urban Meyer decided it wasn’t, and although it might cost him millions of dollars in earnings, you can’t fault him for wanting to be happy and healthy with his family in the future.

So, kudos to Urban Meyer for making a life saving decision. It was smart. Now, if only all of college football was the same way, everyone would be much happier, and much healthier.

Option offenses make Army-Navy game worth watching

Everyone knows I love the option offense (disclaimer: except when it’s being run against my team). Everyone knows I especially enjoy watching the Navy Midshipmen run their version of the triple option offense. So, today is like a football dream for me. When Army and Navy square off in Philadelphia for the 111th time in their history, I’ll be tuned in.

Even though Navy’s head coach Ken Niumatalolo has been rumored as one hot candidate for coaching vacancies from Minnesota to Vanderbilt, he’ll lead the Middies into the fiercest rivalry matchup in college football today, having beaten Army each time he’s been the head coach.

In fact, the last time Army beat Navy was 2001. But, Niumatalolo isn’t taking Army lightly. “This is a new year, a new team,” he said. “They’re bowl eligible. We know they’re much better. Their seniors want to go out on top, too, so anytime we play a service academy, you throw out your record, you throw out anything prior to that game and just get ready for the [game]. That’s all that’s going to matter.”

Navy will be led by senior quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who, at the beginning of the year, was a darkhorse candidate for the Heisman trophy, and fullback Alexander Teich. Army counters with sophomore Trent Steelman at quarterback. Steelman is good, but doesn’t quite have the explosiveness that Dobbs has employed the past two seasons under center in Annapolis.

If you can find a better quarterback suited to run Navy’s triple-option offense, call me and let me know. Ricky Dobbs is the X-factor in this game, but over the past season and a half he has been slowed by injuries. If Dobbs is too injured to go in this game, his backup Kriss Proctor will fill in. Proctor started against Central Michigan and ran 20 times for 201 yards and one touchdown.

There’s no question Army has improved and will give Navy a run for their money, but in the end (and I know I’m horribly biased) I think Navy will pull this one out. Dobbs and Teich torched the Notre Dame Fighting Irish earlier this year (in a game I predicted when my former head coach took the job in South Bend 365 calendar days ago) and there’s no reason they won’t bring their ‘A’ game today to Philadelphia.

Look for Navy to Represent the Sea (a modified phrase you may have heard before) and beat Army for the 10th consecutive time.

I’ll be tuned in. Will you?