Will Cincinnati be a one-hit wonder?

By Darrell Laurant  |   Sunday, February 22, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

Cincinnati Bearcats
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This would have been a good year for Brian Kelly to bolt.

His Cincinnati Bearcats won the Big East championship and a spot in a BCS matchup (losing 20-7 to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl). UC persevered through a season in which it used five different quarterbacks, with Ben Mauk on hold. The Bearcats dropped only one game in conference, a 40-18 aberration against Connecticut, and hung around for a half against powerful Oklahoma before falling 52-26.

In the run-up time to the Orange Bowl, the big question was: "What the heck is Cincinnati doing here?" That was a credit to Kelly, and there were no shortage of teams with coaching vacancies ready to romance him.

It would have been a good time to bolt because Cincinnati now loses 10 of 11 defensive starters, including All-America defensive back Mike Mickens. And quarterback Tony Pike, facing his first national-profile game, threw four interceptions against the Hokies.

"A loss is a loss," Kelly told the press after the Orange Bowl. "It stinks."

But you also get the feeling that Kelly is enjoying himself enormously coaching the Bearcats, who have become something of a laboratory for some of his pet coaching techniques.

Already, he has proven that you don't need five-star, blue-chip players to win. In an era of ever-bulkier offensive lineman, Kelly has actually downsized, finding more nimble blockers to fit his no-huddle offense. On the recruiting trail, he finds the players who fit his system, rather than wasting a lot of time going after the ones who wouldn't dream of signing with Cincinnati.

There are pluses for next season. The strong-armed Pike and three other QBs return (no, Mauk won't be petitioning the NCAA this year), and all the offensive backs are back. The line loses Trevor Canfield and Khalid El-Amin, but they didn't really fit into Kelly's format, anyway

One of the biggest losses will be punter Kevin Huber, a two-time All-American. And spring practice will be a Chinese fire drill on defense, with competition for 10 spots wide-open.

So why is Brian Kelly still there? Obviously, because a 10-3 season and a BCS slot wasn't enough for him. He demonstrated that recently by reshuffling his coaching staff.

"We've still got some things to accomplish," he says. "We've got to close the deal."
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