Good Morning!

Here's what you gotta ask yourself, if you're University of Cincinnati Athletic Director, Mike Thomas: do you really want Brian Kelly coaching your team in teh Sugar Bowl IF he takes the head coach's job at Notre Dame. I have a one word answer.

No.

Think about it. If Kelly is leaving for his dream job, why keep him from it any longer than necessary? If it's fervent wish to coach the Irish, give Kelly your blessing and send him on his way. Thank him for making UC football relevant again and move on. Do you really want Kelly and a part of his soon to be in South Bend staff hanging around UC, a school they'll be in competition with for future players (a lot from the Greater Cincinnati area) on the recruiting trail?

Years ago, when then Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Lindy Infante signed a future deal to coach in the upstart USFL, Bengals owner Paul Brown booted him from the Spinney Field premises. Brown simply said, "I don't want a fox in my hen house", knowing that the USFL had been poaching away a lot of NFL players.

I'm not saying Kelly is disingenous. I'm not saying he'd do anything unethical. But letting him coach a team he's decided he's better than is simply bad business.

Do you think it's been bad for UC fans, having to endure Bob Griese, Kirk Herbstreit and the myriad of faceless play by play guy speculating on Kelly's future as the Bearcats marched to a perfect season? Well imagine what the Fox Sports Sugar Bowl coverage would be like, when everytime Kelly's face is flashed on the screen, the talk immediately turns to what he'll be doing at Notre Dame.

It would be a four hour commerical for the Irish at the Bearcats expense. Sorry, if I'm Mike Thomas, that's not the show I'm looking for.

The question then becomes, who coaches if Kelly leaves? Do you hire a head coach within the next ten days and charge him with getting a team he's completely unfamiliar with ready for the biggest football game in school history? Doesn't seem like a good idea.

Do you take someone from Kelly's current staff, name them interim head coach with the promise of full consideration for the job permanently when the Sugar Bowl is over? Maybe. But what kind of deal is that for the coach? Unless Thomas works out a deal with Notre Dame that the interim coach can join Kelly's staff at Notre Dame should he not get the gig here in Cincinnati, that option makes sense for no one. Besides, we all remember how it went for Pat Narduzzi, when Dantonio split. He wound up at Michigan State, after his dignity and resume took a 'hit'.

If you're Mike Thomas, as you shop for your next head coach, these are things you have to be thinking of. There is no good answer. Except for this one: you can't let Kelly coach the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl IF he's leaving for Notre Dame.

You stand to lose more than a game if you let that happen.

Happy Tuesday!

Charlie Weiss, coaching Zombie had his last appearance as a head coach Saturday night. Great game to watch. Sorry Charlie, hate to see you go. Here’s a version of the home game.

Internet reports percolating since late last week about who the next head coach would be Actually, there’s been plenty of speculation about who the next head coach would be all the way back to last season. Here’s the latest: there’s a plane apparently on the way to Norman, Oklahoma today with the Notre Dame athletic director on board, hauling a brief case full of wadded money to entice the head Sooner to jump to South Bend.

The fact that the Notre Dame athletic director was denying it as late as last night (as well as Stoops)? Just a mere detail.

And of course, there’s the Brian Kelly rumors that have a zombie like life themselves. Bob Griese fanned those flames Friday on ABC, who gave us either the scoop of the season or another indication that he’s in serious ned of a hearing test.

If it’s Kelly going to South Bend, so be it. It’s not like they’re going to stop playing football in Clifton if he goes. By the way, my gut feeling all along on this is that Kelly isn’t going to Notre Dame. And if UC fans really want to worry about their coach going anywhere, it should be to a team like Florida, Oklahoma or anyplace where a national title can be won instantly. If you think you can win a national title instantly or at any point in the next four years at Notre Dame, you haven’t been paying attention.

But if Kelly wants it, and they want him, he should go for it. And every UC fan everywhere should send Kelly a letter thanking him for what he’s done.
And if he leaves, here’s what I would do if I was UC athletic director, Mike Thomas. You’re going to laugh. You’re going to say I’m crazy. You’re going to call me naive. It’s OK, not like it hasn’t happened before.

If I’m Mike Thomas, my first phone call is to Urban Meyer. You’re laughing, I can hear you. Hang on a second. I know that’s out there. I know the chances of getting Urban Meyer to think about leaving there for here is something like one in a million. But why not take the shot? If you’re Thomas, here’s what you say. You say, Urban, you’re a Cincinnati boy. If I’m not mistaken you went to our school right? A lot of your family still lives here, right? Your up here for some of the holidays, you’ve stopped by to watch Brian Kelly coach in practice, am I right here Urban? Urban, I hear you snickering. It’s OK, don’t blame you. But who’s your quarterback next season? If I’m not mistaken his name isn’t Tim Tebow. You’re probably going to win another national title this year. You’re probably going to get by Alabama. Texas? You’ve got a month to get ready for Colt McCoy, you’ll figure something out. You’re probably going to win another national title this year. What’s that make? Three in the last four years? What else have you got to prove down there?

If I’m Thomas I say, yeah I heard your making decent coin down there. Read all about that six year, 24-million dollar deal you signed back in August. Highest paid coach in the SEC, if I’m not mistaken. I also see your buyout remained just a half million dollars. Sounds to me like you’re a man who wants to keep his options open. Urban, you still there? You haven’t hung up on me, have you? Good.

Let me tell you what we can do here, besides bring you home. First, you can build off what we’ve already got. Great athletic facility, cozy stadium, fan base that hasn’t been this energized since Huggins had that Final 4 team.
Brian Kelly? Great coach, great motivator. Guy also gives a great speech. Yeah, we wanted to keep him. But think about what you can do. You got the pipeline to Florida. You got Ohio. You got that other school in Columbus on the run. You got a new school president here who’s sports crazy, loves football, wants a national title himself. Best of all, you don’t have your own legacy you have to trump every season.

Look, Urban, I can’t pay you four mil a year. I could go two, maybe two and a half. Bring any assistant coach you want with you. I’ll send the jet. Heck, I bet if you want your own jet, we got someone up here who’ll get you one. We’ll even throw in Kerry Coombs. You heard of him, right? He’s in more living rooms than Jay Leno.

So what do you say Urban? You wanna come home. You want to continue to build this thing? You want a chance to write a new legacy? What do you want? Just tell me, you got it.

Urban…Urban? Hello? Urban, you there?

This is why Brian Kelly is one of the best football coaches in the country. He doesn’t worry a whole lot about what he doesn’t have. He just takes what he has to work with and wins.

A lot of coaches like to say they don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who’s hurt, who’s holding out, who’s ineligible. About 95 percent of them are lying when they say that. You bet coaches break a sweat in the middle of the night when they know they’re going into a game without a key player. I love it when coaches say, we’re not going to talk about who’s not here, we’re going to talk about who IS here. Then, of course, he wanders back to his strategy room and groans about to whatever assistant coach, secretary or owner will listen to him.

I’m sure Kelly moans about the same thing in private. And I’m pretty sure at some point in his dealings with the media, somewhere, he’s uttered the same line about who’s he not worrying about. But I know this: with the system he runs, Kelly can plug just about any quarterback with a modicum of talent and win. That’s why he’s one of the best football coaches in America.

Like yesterday. He know on the flight home from South Florida he wasn’t going to have Tony Pike. On the day Pike had his arm surgery, which was Tuesday of this week I believe, Kelly was floating the ruse that Pike might play against Louisville. If his game was to make Louisville coach, Steve Kragthorpe stop and think about it, only for a minute, maybe it was good strategy. But Kelly knew all along that you had a better shot at quarterbacking his team against Louisville than Tony Pike did. Yet he didn’t just find a way to replace the most important player on his team. He found a way to drop a keg of nails on the Cardinals heads.

Good coaches do that. They always have an end game. When I worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma years ago, we had four major college football teams in my station’s coverage area. In Norman, there was Barry Switzer and the Sooners. Switzer was larger than life, knew it, played it and won by running the ball a lot. If his quarterback threw the ball 20 times a season, it was a bad season. At Oklahoma State, Jimmy Johnson was coaching the Cowboys. He was from Switzer’s coaching tree, had an upstart and talented coaching staff. He could never beat Oklahoma. But Jimmy Jump Up, as Switzer used to call him breathed new life into what was the doormat of the then Big Eight.

At Tulsa, there was John Cooper. This is long before Cooper landed at Ohio State, long before the ‘boys in downtown Columbus’ picked him apart for sport. Cooper pieced together some nice teams. Had a running back by the name of Ricky Watts, who went onto some success in the NFL.

But the smartest of the bunch may have been another coach who ran a big time program within the scope of our television signal. It was Lou Holtz, the head hog in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Holtz had landed there, after flaming out in less than one season coaching the New York Jets. By 1977, he had the Razorbacks roaring again and in the January first, 1978 Orange Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners. Arkansas was a big, big underdog. More than 18 poins, as I recall. And to make matters worse, Holtz had suspended his star running back, Ben Cowins.

Now the 1977 Razorbacks were no slouch. They came into the game number six in the country. But with Cowins, and three other starters for that matter, suspended, Holtz had to find a way to handle the Sooners blistering offense and score some points of his own. He found a way, in giving the football to a running back who wasn’t a household name, even in his own household. His name was Roland Sales. Sales had run up a modest 399 yards all season. His best game was 71 yards. But Holtz knew Sales slashing style would be the perfect way to not only attack Oklahoma’s defense, it would control the clock and keep the Sooners offense off the field. Sales rushed 23-times that night for 205 yards. Arkansas beat Oklahoma, 31-6. I was there. And I saw Holtz find a way to get his team a win.

This is what Brian Kelly does. This is why he’s one of the hottest coach in America. This is why in a month or so, his name will be bandied about like tennis ball when better paying jobs come open at bigger schools. Ben Mauk gets hurt, there’s always Dustin Grutza. Mauk is denied another year of eligibility, there’s Tony Pike. Pike hurts his arm, here comes Zach Collaros who tosses the ball 17 times Saturday against Louisville and completes 15 passes.

Maybe it’s Kelly’s system, maybe its over recruiting at key positions, maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s all of that. Roland Sales hasn’t been mentioned in any sportscast anywhere in 25 years. But he was all I could think about Saturday watching Collaros do his thing. Kelly looks nothing like Lou Holtz. Kelly coaches nothing like Lou Holtz did. Kelly’s teams throw so many passes, the control tower at CVG diverts jets. Holtz would rather dine on nuclear waste than throw a pass. But they both have a lot in common. Let’s hope that stops before the conversation turns to Notre Dame.

Just posted, the latest edition of Bengals Report Podcast. Mark Hardin and I preview the Bengals upcoming game with the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. Plenty of good 'sound' from Bengals players. The podcast is posted on my web site, as well as right here!

Tomorrow, I'll have another Broo View Podcast ready for downloading. I have indepth interviews with UC football coach, Brian Kelly, as well as BCS expert, Jerry Palm. It should be posted sometime around 2am Thursday EDT.

More, later tonight.

Some things that have been rattling around in my head like a broken ping pong ball this weekend…is our baseball team still in business? The free agent signing period began Friday. I hear the Yankees are going to break the bank and sign CC Sabathia. I hear the Braves are hot after Jake Peavy. I hear the Reds think Ryan Hanigan is a good catcher…what?

Why do I think, if Brian Kelly walked into a dice game in Vegas, he’d let it all ride on the first roll? I love cavalier way he deals with the media. But up seven on the road and going for it on four and one from your own 30. and in the first quarter? Really? Same guy who called for a fake punt, with 30-seconds to go and up only five on South Florida last year? BK, I’m with you win or tie, but you almost lost me there brother…

I’m watching the UK-Vandy game last night, and I’m wondering: if Louisville can do it, if Ohio State can do it, if Pitt and UC can do it, why can UK have both a strong basketball and football program? I know UK has had some bad luck in recent years with injuries, but this is the best they can do?

And speaking of UK: VMI? Last year, Gardner Webb and this year VMI. What’s next year for Billy Gillispie, Slippery Rock?

None of the college football games I watched Saturday, none, held my interest. Ohio State toyed with Illinois, Georgia was never really out of control dealing with Auburn and I already told you about UK. But I’m already salivating over the prime time game next Saturday night: Number one Texas Tech at number five Oklahoma. With Pitt playing at UC for the right to go to the Orange Bowl, this time next Sunday I’ll be reporting to you with carpel tunnel syndrome.

And congratulations to Doug Ramsey and the Elder Panthers. They knocked off Colerain in double overtime Saturday night at Nippert. It was terrific high school football. Colerain is a young team, a surprise to even it’s coach, Tom Bolden. Next year was supposed to be a big year at Colerain. But this year was pretty large. If the Cardinals could have held onto the ball, they might be playing next Saturday night, not Elder. But Elder’s defense had a lot to do with Colerain’s turnovers. Elder can run and throw. And it’s a typical Ramsey defense: hit hard, attack the ball. With Anderson still alive, pursuing a back to back championship in division two and Elder in the state semi’s as well, in D-I, Thanksgiving weekend could be very, very large.

As Cincinnati recovers from a heavy does of Baraka-o-mania....UC football coach, Brian Kelly found out just where he is on the pecking order, even in his own building. While the Obama rally was in full swing inside the Fifth Third Arena, Kelly was on his way to his team's locker room to, shall we say, relieve himself. That's when he ran smack into the secret service detail assigned to protect the Illinois Senator. Sorry coach, he was told, you'll have to take your ' business' elsewhere. The locker room was in full lock down mode. Kelly, who campaigned for Gary Hart in his failed run for the Presidency, took the news in stride, perhaps a quicker stride as he searched for another bathroom.

Down in the fun and sun, the concerns begin. Tonight, short stop Alex Gonzalez is in a Sarasota hospital getting an MRI down on his aching knee. A bad knee short circuited Gonzalez' 2007 season. He doesn't think it's anything. But as they say in the medical profession "The MRI Don't Lie"

Yet another preview of our Reds, courtesy of foxspots.com.

Meantime, over at cbssports.com, another take on the Reds, courtesy of Scott Miller.

And now, from the NY Daily News, this take on Reds.

I find it amusing that most 'experts' couch the Reds as contenders only because of the weak division they play in. Seems to me, I heard the same thing in 1990. Now, this current team doesn't even approach that group. But, in '90, the Reds stormed out to an early lead and never relinquished it. I think 85-87 wins will win the NL Central this year. Last year, the Reds finished 72-90. Is this team 13-15 wins better than last years? I don't think it's much of a stretch to say it is.

Exhibition play begins Wednesday against the Phillies.

Now, check out this video of Oscar Robertson, simply the best basketball player I've ever seen. Lebron before Lebron, Mike before Mike, Magic before Magic. Back when the NBA was hot in Cincinnati, it was The Big O at the center of the flame.

If Oscar played in the NBA today, in his prime, the team that he played for would have to pay him so much, he would've been part owner.

Is he worth it? Is Brian Kelly really worth the money that UC will pay him in his new contract, just signed today? Take a look at the annual, guarenteed money Kelly will get:

Base Salary: $300,00 annually
Radio-TV: $400,00 annually
Speaking Fees: $300,00 annually
Coach's Camp: $100,00 annually
Shoe's & Apparel: $100,00 annually
--------------------$1.2 Million annually

And this is just guaranteed dough. There is a lot of incentive money along with this, including $100K for qualifying for a BCS bowl game, 50K for being named the national coach of the year and $50,000 for UC football finishing in the final Top 25. Kelly also gets a car, expense accounts and membership to a country club.

Football coaches are the faces of major universities. Faculty members, whose roles in the collegiate experience are far more important than a football coach, have a tough time making sense of all this. But the fact remains, a school gets infinitely more exposure from a football game on television than any study, research or publication done by a professor.

It is, the way it is.

Just back from a big rally for the UC football team, which leaves tomorrow for the papajohns.com bowl.

Big news, head coach Brian Kelly signs a new deal that takes him through 2012. Of course, in the world of college football, he could leave at the end of this upcoming season. There is a buyout clause that begins with $2 million after the first season. But for any big, big-time college team looking for a coach, that's chump change.

The other 'devil in the details' of this deal is that UC get a new indoor practice facility that all of its intercollegiate sports can use. And, Kelly's assistant coaches get pay raises.

Private funds will pay for the new indoor facility. Kelly will make a donation of $50,000. He can afford that, now that he'll make $1.2 million in the first year of his deal. The rest of the money for the facility will apparently come from private donations. UC can't afford it. The school is in deep debt, tens of millions of dollars in debt. One estimate had it $115 million in the hole, the athletic department alone $22 million in the 'red'.

I'm happy for Kelly, and for long suffering UC football fans. He's talked the talk and, last season, walked the walk.

We've got a story tonight on our 11p sportscast on Brian Kelly. My graphic will have a picture of the UC football coach and the phrase "One and Done"? Notice the question mark. There's a lot of buzz tonight about the University of Nebraska getting permission to interview Kelly. It may happen. But Kelly denied in a radio interview today that either he or his athletic director, Mike Thomas had been contacted by Nebrasksa interim athletic director, Dr. Tom Osborne. Later today, both Kelly and Thomas issued statements that essentially said both of them were working to move the UC football team forward. A little too cute. UC's athletic department has struggled lately handling PR during 'crisis' times.

I'm sure Kelly isn't bothered by his name being bantied about for openings. At the end of the day, he either takes one or gets more money and benefits to stay at Cincinnati. Thomas can't say much, because the pilfered school can do little but watch these things play out.

I don't think Kelly is Nebraska's number one choice. Osborne is savvy enough to know the perils of hiring a coach outside of the Nebraska family. They just got done with an outsider, Bill Callahan. If not Bo Pellini, the current LSU defensive coordinator and former Huskers assistant, I'd look for the current University of Buffalo head coach, former Husker Turner Gill to get the job. Maybe, Wake Forest coach, Jim Grobe, who's already been interviewed.

At UC, I believe they've got time with Kelly, maybe another year. But, if the athletic donors don't poney up enough dinero to build Kelly a practice facility and if the school's administration balks at a salary increase for Kelly next season (if he has a season like this one), he'll be gone. Just my opinion, but I'd worry more about an ACC school or SEC calling a guy who's an "east coaster" then a school where corn stalks outnumber people.

Well, let's see how long this lasts. Chad Johnson said today he's done talking to the media, and presumably in public, because he doesn't want to become a distraction to his team for the rest of this season. So, it was OK to be a distraction while the Bengals were stumbling to a 3-6 record? And beside, who wants to take odds on Johnson being able to keep his mouth shut? Do you mean to tell me, if he catches three touchdown passes in the game this Sunday against the Cardinals he won't talk? He won't talk if the Bengals miraculously get into the playoffs? If Chad doesn't talk when the Bengals get to the Super Bowl (OK, ease up), he'll get smacked with a fine like no other he been hit with by the NFL.


Besides, Chad Johnson to TV cameras is like a moth to a 60 watt bulb. I give him a week.

One of my favorites Reads is Pro Football Weekly. Take a look what that PFW has to say about the real source of the Bengals troubles this season.

While hosting 700 WLW Sunday Morning Sports Talk a couple of weeks ago, I took a call from a UC fan whose contention was that all Brian Kelly was doing was winning with Mark Dantonio's players. I didn't disagree with the notion. Most of the UC roster are players the ex-coach recruited in his three years here. But the caller had no answer for my comeback: Kelly is winning with Dantonio's players. But Dantonio wasn't winning with the same kids. Not as big as Kelly is. Reminds me of a line Bum Phillips had when he was the head coach of the Houston Oilers. Speaking about Steelers coach, Chuck Noll, Phillips one said "He can take his'ns and beat your'ns....and he can take your'ns and beat his'ns." English teachers all over America passed out, hearing that. But everyone else got the logic. I think it applies in this case.

UC had better start figuring out a way to keep Kelly around longer than the typical UC coach stays. It doesn't matter what penalty has to be paid if another school comes calling for Kelly. You don't think Nebraska, Michigan or LSU have enough booster money to cover the cost?

In Denver, Travis Henry has apparently passed a lie detector test in his claim that he did not take an illegal substance, drugs or alcohol, as the NFL contends. Henry is facing a suspension if he has flunked a test. But his lie detector test score and the results of an analysis done on hair samples say the results of the NFL imposed test were wrong. If it holds up, not only will Henry beat the rap and continue to play, it will also throw into serious question the way the NFL goes about testing its players for substance abuse. Let the law suits begin if that happens.

I like the new head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, so I'm willing to give Brian Kelly a pass on this one. But he was either ill advised or wasn't thinking when he shot his mouth off at the annual Big East Conferecne football media day this week.

Kelly was upset that no local media from the greater Cincinnati area was on hand to participate in the day. He said, among other things, that the local media now has no credability when it comes to covering his team and chastised his predecessor, Mark Dantonio, for not being more agressive in getting the local radio, TV and newspaper folks to this annual event when he coached the Bearcats.

Two thoughts on all of this. One, win some games before you start telling people how to do their jobs. Two, never pick your battles with someone who buys his ink by the barrel.

Cincinnati is a lot of things. It's a great place to live, outstanding city to raise a family and offers great amenities, even sports. One thing Cincinnati has never been, at least in the 20 odd years I've called it home, is worldly in its politics or its taste in sports. It is a very parochial town, with the majority of its interests lying inside the I-275 beltway. We have a lot of interest in what happens with UC athletics and are anxious to see what the new coach does with the football team. We have little interest in what the other seven Big East football coaches have to say about their programs. When it comes time for them to play UC, we'll probably have some interest. But the majority of our intrique will come from what Kelly and his team will do that week.

Let me put it another way. You could put West Virginia University football coach, Rich Rodriguez on Fountain Square at high noon any day of the year and no one would know him from some 'suit' who works at P&G.

Of the eight cities that field Big East football teams, only one sent television crews to the conference media day. Both were from the Connecticut market. By the way, I got everything I needed from my network, NBC, which provided a feed to every one of its affililates across the country.

So I had no interest in sending a crew, nor asking for my news director to send a crew, to Newport, Rhode Island, for two days of schmoozing with coaches no one in my town really cares about. That would be approximately $1,500.00 that will be better spent on something else, maybe when UC goes to a bowl game this winter.

Cincinnati is first and foremost interested in Reds baseball, Bengals football, high school football and then whichever other sport may be in season. You can get angry with me saying that. But when you're done doing that, you'll still have the same situation I just described.

I anticipate covering UC football like a blanket this season. I'm geeked about what Brian Kelly brings to the table. But the new coach needs to worry about his job. I'll worry about mine