In a complete stunner....Luke Fickell reported to be announced as University of Wisconsin Head Coach!!!
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In a complete stunner....Luke Fickell reported to be announced as University of Wisconsin Head Coach!!!
Hate to see it.......:laugh:
But but but I was told he would only leave for Ohio state? Or, maybe he knows what we all know… uc is second rate and will be in a second rate conference even with the move to the big 12.
Bet Jim Leonhard is pissed.
That's who UC should go get.Quote:
Originally Posted by noteggs
If they could have it all over again, I am sure they would prefer Fickell had left last year for ND and they could have hired Marcus Freeman.
They may have another shot at Freeman before too long.
Considering that X has lost multiple coaches to higher profile programs and leagues, I don’t think that we have any reason to throw stones at UC for losing a coach to a Big 10 school.
There are only a very few jobs in college football that can be considered final destination jobs….Alabama and OSU for sure, possibly ND as a 3rd. But even at those we have seen coaches leave for retirement, or the pros, and later return to college coaching at a different school. It happens. It’s the nature of the business. I think that anyone assuming that Miller is at X for the remainder of his college coaching career is bound to be disappointed.
Yeah everyone knows that, except for the common uc fan. Or, well I guess now they know lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by XUGRAD80
Not throwing stones here, I just find it hilarious he bailed on them for Wisconsin right before they are going to the Big 12.
There is NO WAY anyone at or a fan of UC saw that coming. That has to sting like hell.
Regardless of conference affiliation UC is just at a massive disadvantage competing at the top of college football. That isn't a bad thing as long the school and fans realize it and realize that seasons like the one last year are almost once in a lifetime for a football program like UC. They have a really solid program who will should always go to some decent bowl games which is a long way from where they came.
And I am the never say never guy when it comes to coaches leaving. I have fully expected every XU coach to leave at some point and they all did. However this is why I was so ecstatic to hire Miller. A great coach, who had an incredibly difficult time leaving the 1st time, saw the other side of things, made tons of money, and came back. I actually will be shocked if Miller leaves again. I do fully expect him to retire from XU, unless he isn't successful and they X fires him or they mutually part ways. But I don't see that happening.
I think it’s funny because wisconsin is nowhere near the top of college football. I’m sure they have a lot of money, and it’s a big ass school with a big ass alumni base. They had a few good years in the ‘10s but have basically never been relevant in the national conversation , and he still left for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by D-West & PO-Z
I agree with you word for word.Quote:
Originally Posted by D-West & PO-Z
Spoken like a true UC fan.Quote:
Originally Posted by XUGRAD80
Play on Saturday against OSU, Michigan, et al.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xville
Or...play in a Big 12 without Texas and Oklahoma.
Not a tough choice.
PLUS:Quote:
Originally Posted by paulxu
1. Flagship, land grant university in Wisconsin.
2. $90 millionish per year media deal.
3. Camp Randall Stadium and a rabid fan base.
4. All with B1G affiliation, per your competition point (though it will be difficult to give up the opportunity to lose to a program like Tulane at home).
It's okay, JP Macura will despise him either way.
I'll be stunned if Miller leaves. He's made his fortune. I truely believe he loves the place, and knows he can win big @ X. And now that Wright is gone there's a chance he can rule the Big East.Quote:
Originally Posted by XUGRAD80
Except now Danny Hurley and UConn replace Villanova as a potential flagship.
Dang, I thought he was going to coach the Muskies in the PFL…..Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuperman
Notre Dame gonna fire Marcus Freeman & SucKS will hire him.
(Not gonna happen)
BRING BACK TUBERVILLE!!! (I know. He’s a pol now)
PrimeTime!!!
It was hard to dislike Jay Wright as they have essentially owned us since we joined.Quote:
Originally Posted by X-band '01
It will NOT be hard to dislike Danny Hurley.
Quote Originally Posted by D-West & PO-Z View Post
Not throwing stones here, I just find it hilarious he bailed on them for Wisconsin right before they are going to the Big 12.
"There is NO WAY anyone at or a fan of UC saw that coming. That has to sting like hell.
Regardless of conference affiliation UC is just at a massive disadvantage competing at the top of college football. That isn't a bad thing as long the school and fans realize it and realize that seasons like the one last year are almost once in a lifetime for a football program like UC. They have a really solid program who will should always go to some decent bowl games which is a long way from where they came.
And I am the never say never guy when it comes to coaches leaving. I have fully expected every XU coach to leave at some point and they all did. However this is why I was so ecstatic to hire Miller. A great coach, who had an incredibly difficult time leaving the 1st time, saw the other side of things, made tons of money, and came back. I actually will be shocked if Miller leaves again. I do fully expect him to retire from XU, unless he isn't successful and they X fires him or they mutually part ways. But I don't see that happening.
I agree with you word for word."
Well not really; astute UC fans have been well aware of Fickell's interest to varying degrees in other jobs and realize at some point the grass would look green enough to jump. Heading to Big 12 and recent contract extension(s) with commensurate budget increases may have alleviated some concerns, but the bigger picture never changed that Big 10 was his primary objective.
IMO, a realistic assessment from the coach and a fan sees that last 2 seasons are not likely to be duplicated @ UC notwithstanding Big 12 affiliation; further the current roster even with a heralded incoming recruiting class is not on par with better Big 12 teams like Baylor, TCU, Kansas St, Ok St.
Finally Wisconsin appears to be low risk job as they recognize need to re-build their once-proud program. 7-4 looks pretty good to those guys at this point so expectations are not CFP for the foreseeable future. UC is not unfamiliar with the scenario, and even AD Cunningham has shown he can handle the search process. Not to be surprised when the program re-collects itself, but overall will find its way to compete in Big 12.
Jason Williams published a brutally honest look at UC's position in college football in an article dated yesterday. Here is a key excerpt:Quote:
Originally Posted by joe titan
Fickell, a Columbus native, and his large, Catholic family love Cincinnati. The Ohio State alum spurned Michigan State and Notre Dame. The latter happened last year. Finally, a coach who didn't just take the first (or second) one-way ticket out of town. It sent a message that UC was no longer a stepping stone.
College football today isn’t what it was a year ago. That undoubtedly contributed to Fickell leaving Sunday to become head coach at Wisconsin.
He goes on in the article to point out two very huge things:
1. College football moving forward is going to be about the B1G and the SEC, then everyone else; and
2. Closely related to that, NIL is going to hurt any program outside of those conferences.
He literally warned UC fans to understand that there is no more "P5" once USC and UCLA join the B1G and once Texas and OU move over to the SEC.
I mentioned a little while ago that UC was clearly improving its position by moving to the Big 12 from the AAC, and doing so as a result of its program investments and success on the field. However, you can't win a race if you are driving a torqued up 6-cylinder going 70 MPH while 32 other schools are in advanced V8's cruising along at 100 MPH.
UC fans can and should enjoy from where it came, but they'll do much better managing their sanity if they understand the new pecking order of things. It's the "P2" and everyone else. It's the P2 soaking up most of the 12 playoff bids with the Big 12 probably only getting its champion in every year.
With a 12 team playoff, it's going to be fine to be outside the Big Ten and SEC. It may well be easier to make the playoffs as Cincinnati in the Big XII compared to Wisconsin in the Big 10. Sure, the Big 10 is going to get at least three bids every year, but those are going to be Ohio State, Michigan and USC. Maybe there's a fourth bid, but everyone else is scrambling for that one. Ditto the SEC where LSU, Alabama and Georgia are going to continue to dominate things until Oklahoma decides to get good again. The real winners if they stay put are Notre Dame, They get to laugh through 5 or 6 ACC games, play Navy, Stanford and a couple of other stinkers, maybe lose to USC and end up #8. Ho hum, another playoff berth achieved.
There’s a whole lot of wtf in that article. For one, I’d really like to know where he got that Fickell spurned notre dame. I find that extremely hard to believe, and I don’t like notre dame at all. Yeah he was linked to it because journalists love to speculate, but never saw where he was ann anctual candidate or turned it down. Also, it makes zero sense that nil would hurt any program outside of the big two conferences. Only thing that affects nil is rich alumni and businesses around the school.Quote:
Originally Posted by xudash
With all that said uc is always going to be a middling player. I really don’t think the events of the last two couple of years has changed that. Heck, as go pointed out above, it’s going to be much easier for them to make the playoff.
Sneaky smart those Domers..:)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoMuskies
That guy insists Fickell said no to ND.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xville
What more than likely happened is they expressed some interest and he didn't want to leave until after UC's playoff appearance. If that even happened. But I could see that scenario.
All that said, Wisconsin's chances of winning a national title are about the same as UC's: zero. There will be 12 playoff spots, and we can debate whether UC or Wisconsin is likely to appear next, but the national champions are still going to come from a group about about 5 or six teams every year. Texas may have a chance to join that group occassionally. Perhaps UCLA now and then. But pretty doubtful Wisconsin or Cincinnati are going to have a chance to join that conversation more than once per blue moon.
In the day of going back to the well to resurrect very good coaches, I could honestly see UC hiring Urban Meyer. It's in the same vein as the Sean Miller and Thad Matta hires - guys who have been through some stuff that just want another shot, and in places where they like and are familiar.
If I was a betting man, I'd put my cash down here. It would be a huge hire for UC, assuming Urban doesn't do anything blatantly stupid and is willing to work to improve his image. His prowess as a college football coach is unquestioned.
We will have to wait and see how it all turns out, but you are talking about 32 teams who are going to be stuffed full of cash. 3 to 4 apiece for the B1G and SEC? 25% of the combined group, assuming 4 from each?Quote:
Originally Posted by GoMuskies
Again, anything can happen, but what about this:
SEC
- Bama
- LSU
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- Plus one of A&M, Florida, see where this is headed?
B1G
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- USC
- One of Penn State, MSU, Whisky, parallel to above.
9 out of 10 spots.
Now, Clemson and/or FSU. Oregon.
I’m not sure it’s going to be all that better for UC.
This year as of now the sec and big ten would take 7 of the spots and that includes usc. That leaves 5 spots… pretty good actually. 5 of 12 is better than 1 of 4.
Plus, I really doubt the 12 are going to be selected as you describe. My guess is that big 5 conferences will have automatic bids plus a group of five and then the rest will be at large. Better to have a 100% chance at a playoff shot rather than the about 1% chance uc has now.
I’m not focused on this year. You are making a fair point, but I am of the opinion that things are going to change when these two massive conferences start dishing out about $90 million per school per year. They are simply going to have remarkable advantages, which should result in more than seven out of 32 schools grabbing a slot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xville
I really don’t think so. The sec beats themselves up thru the season and the big ten will as well if anyone actually wants to join in the Ohio state-Michigan fun. Theee won’t be enough teams winning enough games to have almost all of the top 12 be in those conferences.Quote:
Originally Posted by xudash
Anyways, I don’t think that’s how it is going to work anyways. My guess is as described above. Top 5 get auto bids, group of five auto bid and then 6 at large. Now, will a sec team win the playoff 95% of the time? Yeah probably but not any different than now, and a 12 team playoff at least gives the illusion of a more equitable distribution of power.
Good point about how they are thinking about structuring it (i.e. champion from each conference of 5 conferences, and then go from there).Quote:
Originally Posted by Xville
The “beat each other up” thing may be an issue. However, the flip side is that all of their money may ensure even deeper rosters for the premier programs. Worse yet for the other conferences, all that money may attract much of the rest of the best talent to the other SEC and B1G teams.
One other thing- let’s look at the Big 12, specifically. Do you honestly believe that it could get two teams into a 12 team playoff (its champions plus one more) in the 12 team format? I believe that outcome will be very rare.
The real key will be this……will the Big 10 and SEC remain a part of the NCAA or will they break away and form their own organization? (And if they do break away, will others join them?) Right now, under current NCAA rules, all schools have to limit how many scholarship players they have. Theoretically that means that no one school, or conference, can stockpile all of the best talent and it theoretically creates some parity. But if they form their own organization, without the scholarship limits, that goes out the window. If there continues to be scholarship limits, and accounting for the idea that players want to play and not just sit on the bench, the talent should be somewhat spread out among the top 50-60 schools (including most BiG 12 schools) and there should be potential for schools outside the B10 and SEC to fill some of the at-large bids in the 12 team tourney.
5 conference champions
1 group of 5 team
6 at-large
6 at-large…..2 from B10, 2 from SEC (which means the top 3 teams in each of those conferences probably makes it) and 2 from all the rest. OOC schedule and wins are going to be important. The B10 and SEC will fill out 1/2 the tourney, with all other schools fighting it out for the other half. Everyone sees that……one reason that Fickell might have chosen to leave now, and for a B10 school.
BUT……college football is different than college BB. It’s not ALL about playing in the national championship tourney. Regular season, conference championships, rivalry games really matter to most fans. The social aspect of game days is at least as important as the games themselves to hundreds of thousands of fans. Even if a school has 0 chance of winning a national championship, as long as they continue to be competitive within their league they will continue to have a large and loyal fan base. This is true for virtually every school playing in a top conference. Game days are an experience that is greater than any single game. College football will continue to be the big dog when it comes to college sports.
Lot of good reasons for Luke Fickell to stay at UC, but Wisconsin is giving Luke an extra 2.9 million reasons a year to move his large catholic family to Madison WI.
I feel for UC and their fans, it is tough to admit your program will likely always be a stepping stone program.
When Matta left for Ohio State, Miller left for Arizona, and Mack left for UofL I felt the same way about X. While I am optimistic Sean Miller is going to be with us for the rest of his career, part of me realizes he could decide to pull a Bob Huggins and end his career at Pitt (his alma mater). We may always be a stepping stone program, and for the exception of the last 4 years, that has worked out fine for Xavier. I would rather have a coach for the long term, but I’m no longer offended when X is called a stepping stone program.
I can give UC and it’s fans a hard time about a lot of things, but this type of news isn’t it.
This will be an interesting hire for UC, stakes are higher than ever for them to get it right. They get this wrong and it could hurl them back to irrelevance.
*West VirginiaQuote:
Originally Posted by nuts4xu
**I'm an idiot
Sean Miller graduated from West Virginia? Weird.
I no good with comprehension.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoMuskies