After a solid week of wondering, the UC Bearcat football coach announced last night that he would be leaving for Notre Dame. As promised, he shared the news privately with his team before allowing the media to make the formal announcement.
Oh, wait - no he didn't. The star quarterback of the miracle cats heard the news not from the coach himself, but from a reporter. The South Bend media was breaking the story as I was driving home at 4:30, a full 90 minutes before the official announcement was to come. Add it to the list of lies he told his players, who defended their coach last weekend after the big Pitt victory while the media hounded him for answers. BK took these kids to a level never expected from the lowly UC Football Bearcats. He encouraged them to follow their dreams, to play all four quarters. Then he deserted them only weeks away from the biggest game of their lives.
It's a system issue, really, that allows coaches to break contracts and leave their teams before the big games are even played. Nothing can be done about it now except bitch and moan about the disrespect that he showed his players. I get that no one could be expected to walk away from that sum of money, but have some freaking decency and at least go about it the right way. Be a professional. Don't tell these kids that you're not leaving, that you'll be there to coach them through the bowl game, and then walk away.
Luckily last night was also our company christmas party so we were all able to commiserate together. TG for open bars.
EDIT: Because a true sports reporter can explain better that I can, here's Scott Springer's take on the matter.
I also really enjoyed this article, if only for the opening paragraphs:
Cincinnati Bearcats head coach, Brian Kelly, is leaving his team for dead and instead joining the sinking ship of Notre Dame. It was announced this week that the 47-year old Kelly has signed a five year deal to be the new head coach of the Fighting Irish and has accepted the auspicious duty of resurrecting a sinking ship that Charlie Weis steered straight in to the depths of hell. The news hasn’t exactly stunned people, because we all saw it coming. What’s appalling about the whole deal is the timing.
After what people are calling an “extensive search”, Notre Dame had found its man and went right after him. In reality, the search for a new coach for ND lasted all of two freaking weeks and the boosters in South Bend were so intent on nabbing their man, that they couldn’t’ even wait until the bowl series had been played. It’s bad enough that Notre Dame’s season was ruined by a 6-6 SU record. Now they’ve had to go and ruin one of the best stories in college football.
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