If you were a UC football player?

• ts1227

  

  What can you do? Fuck over the new team in recruiting, or fuck over the old one in the bowl... can't win.
  
  The only real solution would be the NCAA not allowing recruiting from the first weekend in Dec. to the first weekend in Jan. This isn't going to happen. As long as it is a 12 month process coaches will have to figure out who to screw over with these hires to replace a fire in December.
• karen lotz

  

  dsjfan wrote: If I was a player I would be upset
  
  On another note, this is bringing back memories when rich rod left for Michigan and didn't stick around for West Virginia's Bowl game. WV went on to win their bowl game, and Michigan has sucked ever since. It's a gutless move to leave, I liked Kelly before this event, but now I hope he does terrible at Notre Dame.

  Please explain how it is gutless. If he is going to take the ND job, what is he supposed to do? Coach UC for the bowl game and neglect getting his staff together and hitting the recruiting trail?? It wouldn't be fair to the UC players either as he would definitely be distracted and they need someone leading them whose full attention in on that team and the Sugar Bowl. If UC had somehow made the MNC game, it would be a different story. NCAA football is a business and if he was going to take the ND, his only option would be to do it now. He can't help the media leaked the move before he had a chance to tell the team.
• 3reppom

  

  ytownfootball wrote: He wasn't going to please anyone no matter how he addressed the move. Honestly, I think he did the right thing by waiting till after the banquet, it's for the players and staff, why ruin it by focussing the entire evening on yourself rather than the attention where it belongs, on everyone else.
  
  Like I said you can't please everyone given the situation.

  The entire evening was about him anyway, delaying the inevitable did nothing but foster more anger and resentment. Again the players found out about him taking the job on the bus to the banquet. Kelly knew that his decision had no chance to stay private long enough to get through the night.
• Mooney44Cards

  

  3reppom wrote:

  ytownfootball wrote: He wasn't going to please anyone no matter how he addressed the move. Honestly, I think he did the right thing by waiting till after the banquet, it's for the players and staff, why ruin it by focussing the entire evening on yourself rather than the attention where it belongs, on everyone else.
  
  Like I said you can't please everyone given the situation.

  The entire evening was about him anyway, delaying the inevitable did nothing but foster more anger and resentment. Again the players found out about him taking the job on the bus to the banquet. Kelly knew that his decision had no chance to stay private long enough to get through the night.

  Yeah cuz those guys would have been fine with it if he told them earlier. :rolleyes:
• ytownfootball

  

  I'd be pissed too, both as a fan and as a player. But on the outside looking in, there wasn't anything he could have done to make the situation rosy.
• jordo212000

  

  Yeah it sucks for everybody (well except Notre Dame). There is no "good" way to do this. The players are ticked, and they have every right to be, and I'd say the fans are too. But at the end of the day, you don't turn Notre Dame down when they come calling.
• dsjfan

  karen lotz wrote:

  dsjfan wrote: If I was a player I would be upset
  
  On another note, this is bringing back memories when rich rod left for Michigan and didn't stick around for West Virginia's Bowl game. WV went on to win their bowl game, and Michigan has sucked ever since. It's a gutless move to leave, I liked Kelly before this event, but now I hope he does terrible at Notre Dame.

  Please explain how it is gutless. If he is going to take the ND job, what is he supposed to do? Coach UC for the bowl game and neglect getting his staff together and hitting the recruiting trail?? It wouldn't be fair to the UC players either as he would definitely be distracted and they need someone leading them whose full attention in on that team and the Sugar Bowl. If UC had somehow made the MNC game, it would be a different story. NCAA football is a business and if he was going to take the ND, his only option would be to do it now. He can't help the media leaked the move before he had a chance to tell the team.

  To me he is leaving in the middle of the football season. There is still a game to play. Finish the current season, and then move on with your career
• Mooney44Cards

  

  Brad Jones for UC gets it:
  
  “The story broke on ESPN, that he’s going to take the job at Notre Dame,” Jones said. “But you can’t blame him. It’s a great program with a lot of prestige. And they’re going to pay him a substantial amount of money.”
  
  “… He’s got to make decisions for himself. I’m content and I’m worried about beating Florida. He can do his thing at Notre Dame and we’re going to take care of business here.”
  
  If only his fellow players shared his view, they may actually be prepared to beat Florida in a few weeks.
• stroups

  

  I think it's gutless as a coach your going to preach intergrity and respect for a university but then up and leave before the biggest game of the season, maybe ever for the university. But if a player wanted to quit because he was afraid of getting hurt before going to the NFL he would be looked at as the biggest POS ever.
• 3reppom

  

  My point is that Kelly should have told the players he was taking the job in South Bend himself before the story made its way to the media. If I was a player I would want to hear those words from my coach instead of having my phone blow up with texts and calls telling me that my coach had taken another job.on the bus to the banquet which is how a lot of the younger players found out about it.
• karen lotz

  

  Could he control when the story was leaked to the media? I would assume he had planned to celebrate the teams season at the banquet and then let everyone know he was taking the Notre Dame job afterward. It is unfortunate that the media couldn't wait two or three hours for him to talk to his team, maybe they were upset that Kelly closed off the banquet from the media. No matter how he let everyone know he was leaving, people were going to be upset.
• mallymal614

  Wow I turned to ESPN News and some of the UC players aren’t biting their tongues.
  
  Ben Guidugli - "Kinda turn his back on us here at the end after we come this far. The players are pretty much disappointed"
  
  Mardy Gilyard - "I walked in there, heard him say he took the Notre Dame job, I turned around and walked out. To the Seniors of Cincinnati, don't worry about it, I got us. We got 16 seniors who going to lead us. Cincinnati is still Cincinnati without B.K.
  
  Alex Daniels - "I don't feel nothing, I'm a senior and me and Mardy going to put the team on our backs. And we going to show y'all that we were the ones out there doing it....not him"
• Mooney44Cards

  

  mallymal614 wrote: Wow I turned to ESPN News and some of the UC players aren’t biting their tongues.
  
  Ben Guidugli - "Kinda turn his back on us here at the end after we come this far. The players are pretty much disappointed"
  
  Mardy Gilyard - "I walked in there, heard him say he took the Notre Dame job, I turned around and walked out. To the Seniors of Cincinnati, don't worry about it, I got us. We got 16 seniors who going to lead us. Cincinnati is still Cincinnati without B.K.
  
  Alex Daniels - "I don't feel nothing, I'm a senior and me and Mardy going to put the team on our backs. And we going to show y'all that we were the ones out there doing it....not him"

  Wow, he managed to butcher the English language there. I don't feel nothing? Really? Maybe BK will be glad he's dealing with higher academic standards.
• osudarby08

  

  Good for the players. I also feel that if he would have been more upfront with his team they would have understood more and the hostility wouldn't have been nearly as high.
• rocket31

  what part of "notre dame has contacted me and i will listen to what they have to say" do cincy players not comprehend?
• centralbucksfan

  All depends on what Kelly has been telling the players over the past few weeks. IF he was snowballing them, then they have a right to be upset. If he was being honest with them about what was going on, what he was thinking....then I think they could be "ok" with him doing what he did.
  But bottom line, this is always tough on these young men. They came to UC to play for Kelly. Kelly, like all coaches preaches teamwork, family, stay together, unity, etc, etc....now he is bolting on them before the years biggest game. So no matter what, some players are going to be upset. Its the nature of the business in this day and age. Some day, when they are older and wiser...they will understand.
• Soda Popinski

  rocket31 wrote: what part of "notre dame has contacted me and i will listen to what they have to say" do cincy players not comprehend?

  Probably the part where he said he wasn't going to ND, he and his family loved Cincy and he was staying there. Probably the part where he denied going to ND more than Stoops ever denied it.
• Darkon

  

  I see both sides to this.
  One of the problems I have is that the coach can leave and you, as a player recruited by this coach, can transfer to another d1 school if you are willing to sit out a year. How is that right! These athletes come to these schools to play for that coach. He leaves and they are stuck. New coach may have a different style which doesn't fit your talent. This may cost some athletes a shot at the next level.
• Tiernan

  If UC football has truly advanced to the level its supporters claim it has, the players should be able to continue on this track of success without BK. I personally think this season was a huge anomoly and ND hired the equivalent of a "one hit wonder".
• sherm03

  

  Were Gilyard and Pike this pissed off when Dantonio left? After all...Dantonio was the one that recruited them to come to UC.
  
  I said this on the other thread, and I'll say it again. Kelly never said he is definitely staying at UC. He told his players he loved Cincinnati, and his family did, too. That's not saying he was staying. What do you guys want him to say? Before the Pitt game he tried to keep the focus on the game...and said he'd talk about Notre Dame after the game. Once it was done, he said he'd listen to what ND had to say. The deal wasn't done yet. Why say that you're leaving before the deal is done?! If the deal falls through...how can you go back and ever get your team to play their hardest for you again? He handled it right. Maybe in time the UC players will realize that this is how business works.
  
  Let's see how much UC truly is behind their football team. Better yet, let's see how much these bandwagon fans here in Cincy are behind the team!
• Hesston

  

  this is the ugly side of college football, I would be very pissed.
• mallymal614

  [size=large]Cincinnati Bearcat players among last to know Brian Kelly's decision[/size]
  
  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20091210/SPT0101/312100073/Bearcat+players+among+last+to+know
  
  “He told us from the get-go that we’d be the first people to know whatever he decides,” senior quarterback Tony Pike said Thursday evening before the team banquet. “We’re going to keep him at his word. We’ve trusted him this far and we’re going to believe what he says.” As it turns out, Kelly’s players were among the last to know. And by the end of the evening, plenty of them were voicing their displeasure.
  
  Mardy Gilyard - "I didn't want to hear it," he said. "I'm fairly disgusted with the situation -- him letting it last this long. ... Everybody and their mamma knew what was going on. I feel like he did our team an injustice. Hopefully he'll pack his things up and get to South Bend in a hurry."
• dwccrew

  

  ccrunner609 wrote: I think these coaches should be made to coach in these bowls. Leaving all those kids hanging in the biggest games of their lives is gutless.

  I don't think they should be forced to coach the bowl game, but it does question their integrity. If I was a ND fan I'd be worried about having a Rich Rod type coach. A snake (although not nearly as bad as RR); I am not saying Kelly is one, but the way he left and his players reactions, makes it sound like he was telling them something different and it sounds very similar to the WV and RR situation 2 years ago.
• elbuckeye28

  Seriously, how did that not see this coming? Kelly said he was going to talk to Notre Dame. What did they think he was going to do, discuss politics and religion? I understand they're upset, but they have no reason to be surprised, especially since he just did this same thing a few years ago at Central Michigan.
  
  It's like a girl who gets in a relationship with a guy who dumps his girlfriend for her because she is hotter. Then she acts surprised when he dumps her for somebody even hotter, even after she knew they were talking. Maybe that's a bad analogy, but the point is they had to see that it was not very likely he was staying.
• rocket31

  the cincy players being quoted are not necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawers. i could hardly tell if they were speaking english...
  
  i am sure the cincy players with some actual *sense* know kelly handled it the best he could have...also, he wanted to tell the players first (which is why cincy attempted to block the media away from the banquet) unfortunately, word spread before kelly could address his team...
  
  regardless, why would they want the notre dame coach, coaching them during the bowl game anyways?