Bearcats News

Bearcats Breakfast 5.17.12

Paul Dehner has a very Bearcats in the MLB focused Bearcats Breakfast from yesterday. UC boasts three alumni in the majors; Tony Campana (Cubs), Josh Harrison (Pirates), and of course Kevin Youklis (Red Sox). While the current UC baseball team is struggling this year Coach Cleary has done a nice job getting his players drafted. As the talent level on the team continues to increase, look for more Bearcats get selected by MLB teams.

Bearcats Announce Inaugural Open House

In addition to season tickets going on sale this week, UC football will be putting on their first open house for all Bearcats fans. Evidently Butch Jones and Whit Babcock aren’t short on ideas to grow the season ticket holder and donor bases.

Other UC Stuff

Adrien Robinson Has Huge Upside – Good article on Adrien Robinson’s seemingly perfect fit in the Giants’ offense.

2012 Football Season Ticket Promo – Version 3 – Tony Heisman version

Track & Field Qualifies 17 Individuals For NCAA East Preliminary

Spence’s 3-Hit Day Lifts Baseball Past Hoyas – Hey look! Another won series!

Bearcats Caravan heads to Kilgour Festival

BEast News

Boise State sticks with plan to join Big East in 2013 – Duh.

Nati News

In case anyone was worried about Sean Marshall…

Around the Nation

SEC, Big 12 agree to bowl matchup – The gap between the haves and have nots just got wider.

Trickles of news have emerged over the past week with regards to the alleged incident at a Cincinnati nightclub between a group of UC basketball players and a bouncer. Not much was known other than the fact that someone hit said bouncer in the eye and he was pointing the finger at Cincinnati Bearcats basketball players. Which players exactly? Well that wasn’t clear either but the numbers involved seemed to settle at 4. Now, per Paul Dehner at gobearcats.com, it seems that one of those players has been identified by the fact that he has been kicked off the team:

#Bearcats dismiss Octavius Ellis from the team.

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) May 18, 2012

Ellis, a redshirt freshman who was bound to see an increased role in the offense next season with Yancy Gates gone, may have blown that opportunity and his college career with one fell swoop.. err.. punch. I’m not sure where Ellis will wind up by it sure as heck won’t be at Cincinnati. Mick Cronin was emphatic about that:

Mick Cronin on Ellis dismissal: “Octavius didn’t adhere to the standard of conduct I expect from members of our team.”(cont.)

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) May 18, 2012

Cronin (cont.):”I will work to help him find a fresh start at a new program because I do care very much for him as a person.”

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) May 18, 2012

Switching gears, it goes without saying that the value of Chris Obekpa to Cincinnati just went through the roof.

More to come I’m sure.

I just wanted to provide a quick update here. If you’re looking for something more substantial you came to the wrong place. As I mentioned last week Chris Obekpa has been leaking very little about his intentions with regards to his college career. Cincinnati has been a heavy favorite for months now but Oregon, St. John’s, DePaul, Providence, and UConn all appear to be very much in play. Unfortunately the deadline for the second college basketball signing period has come and gone without a decision from the highly touted power forward prospect. He has officially forgone his opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) with a college program.

What’s next?

Well just because he can’t sign a NLI doesn’t mean he can’t join a school this fall. The difference is that he will sign Grant in Aid (GIA) papers which do not contractually bind him to a school. Obekpa can wait until deeper into the Summer to pick a program and sign the GIA documents but he is not obligated to join that basketball team in the Fall. Unfortunately this is all perfectly legal and makes it especially frustrating for fans of all schools involved in his recruitment. When will that decision come? I really don’t know but I can speculate that it will probably come after he visits Oregon whenever that may be.

So, Cincinnati Bearcats fans, get ready continuous he-said she-said for the next few months. I guess that’s one way to get through this dreadful offseason…

It’s no secret that Butch Jones has increased the talent level on Cincinnati’s roster. His strategy focuses around a few tactics that many of the best teams in the country have adopted during their storied histories. His first tactic is cultivating the recruiting hotbeds of Memphis, Georgia, and Florida. The inroads John Jancek and T.J. Weist have made here will serve Cincinnati well in the future as the program grows on a national level. One of the reasons that the SEC is the best conference in college football is because a good majority of their teams’ rosters are full of players from these regions. They have proved that it’s a formula for success.

Jones’ second tactic is accepting a good majority of early enrollees in his classes. This seems foreign to the Cincinnati program because no coach before Jones has targeted these types of players in the quantities that he has. In 2011, 5 players joined the team for the Spring quarter and in 2012, Jones brought in another 9 early enrollees. The advantage of adding players during this time allows them to get a jump on the rest of their class in the weight room and during Spring practices. Two of the additions in the 2011 class, Nick Temple and Dwight Jackson, were able to see significant playing time as true freshman and Temple is set to start in 2012. Their success on the field during their first season was due in large part because of the time they spent on campus early that year.

There’s no question that these two tactics will help take UC football to the next level and it certainly isn’t lost on this Bearcat fan. But he could be instilling a slightly dangerous, third tactic that is exclusive to the quarterback position.

I noticed a slight pattern emerge when signal caller Alton Meeks cast his lot with Cincinnati on Sunday. It was curious to me that the Bearcats would accept another quarterback in the 2013 class considering the slosh of young signal callers already on the roster. Don’t let that fool you, though, Meeks is a welcomed addition as I mention in his profile but his commitment was definitely intriguing. UC had already received a verbal commitment from Kyle Kempt who is a talented quarterback in his own right with a ton of upside.

Jones is on pace to sign two quarterbacks in each of his four seasons coaching the Bearcats. At first glance it’s not a bad thing; the quarterback position is getting restocked with better and better high school prospects following the tactics mentioned above. Below is a list of said prospects Jones signed in his first four seasons:

• Class of 2010: Munchie Legaux, Cody Kater
• Class of 2011: Patrick Coyne, Stephen Weatherford
• Class of 2012: Bennie Coney, Trenton Norvell
• Class of 2013: Kyle Kempt, Alton Meeks

Even though two quarterbacks were accepted in each of the first two classes, only one quarterback remained on the roster after his first season. Cody Kater of the 2010 class left Cincinnati after his freshman year to play for Grand Rapids Community College and is now heading to Central Michigan. Stephen Weatherford of the 2011 class transferred out of UC in December of his freshman season. Of the 2012 class, it seems like Bennie Coney is further ahead of Trenton Norvell in their development. Now I’m not saying that Norvell will follow the path of Kater and Weatherford before him but their situations are similar. All three committed UC to just a couple of weeks before National Signing Day and switched from different programs* to sign with the Bearcats.

*Kater was committed to Central Michigan but “followed” Butch Jones to Cincinnati when he accepted the head coaching position here.

Honestly I’m not sure what will happen to Coney/Norvell and Kempt/Meeks but something seems to be going on behind closed doors in Jones’ program. Is his third tactic to improving the talent on the Bearcats’ roster running players out the program? It’s probably too early to tell but there is a trend at play of him continuously bringing in two quarterbacks in each of his recruiting classes then only having one of them stick around to develop in the program. Jones loves implementing as much competition at his position groups as possible and it would be obvious to have a high degree of competition at the most important position group on the field.

In many ways he is following the same rule as the “Thunderdome”:

TWO MEN ENTER, ONE MAN LEAVES.

If you are beyond lost, let me explain. That quote comes from the movie “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” which is your standard 1980′s post-apocalyptic flick. Staring in it is Mel Gibson as “Mad” Max. It’s pretty much one of his classics before he went all racist and crazy (outside of his movies). The story focuses on the Thunderdome, an arena in which two men battle to the death in gladiatorial combat in a similar grandeur as in Ancient Rome about two-thousand years ago. The victor was the one with a heartbeat and the loser, well, was dead.

Obviously Butch Jones isn’t forcing his freshman quarterbacks to battle to the death (that I know of) but there’s a pattern of only one quarterback in each recruiting class surviving past their first year on campus. Of the quarterbacks signed in the 2010 class, Munchie Legaux advanced to become Cincinnati’s starting signal caller and Cody Kater took the JUCO route to play for Central Michigan. Of the quarterbacks signed in the 2011 class, Patrick Coyne climbed the depth chart to the 3rd team this year and Stephen Weatherford left the program. Will Coney or Norvell leave Cincinnati after the 2012 season? What will happen to Kempt and Meeks if both sign next February? Again, it’s too early to tell if these incidents develop into a pattern but this practice is one that the Alabamas and Texases of college football do. It’s not technically illegal but it doesn’t make it moral.

In addition to focusing on well-known recruiting hotbeds and targeting players who can enroll early Jones has instilled a sense of competition in every aspect of his team. Competition breeds excellence but the practice of running players out of the football program is an unfortunate aftereffect. Honestly I can’t say without a shadow of a doubt that Jones is doing this at Cincinnati. However, this is something to definitely keep an eye on in the coming years especially at the quarterback position.

Bearcats News

2012 Football Season Tickets On Sale

There really isn’t much reason for Cincinnati Bearcats fans to not come close to selling out these out. Coach Jones has shown his loyalty to the program and it’s time to return the favor. Some will harp on the weak non-conference schedule but that doesn’t stop the major football programs around the country from selling out a good majority of their season tickets. If UC wants to claim it can play with the big boys it starts with the fans. Step up!

Bouncer stands by story of UC player attack; UC, nightclub respond to allegations

In not so exciting news for Bearcat fans, more details appear to be leaking out about the basketball players vs. a bouncer at a nightclub incident. It’s tough to say exactly what happened but unless the guy is flat out lying, this could be really bad for UC especially considering the brawl against Xavier last December.

Other UC Stuff

JK Schaffer Tabbed As UC’s 2012 Mr. Bearcat Award Winner – Who else?

Baseball Concludes Season with Plenty of Promotions

Evaluating 5 guards UC loves

NY Giants rookie Adrien Robinson is the Jason Pierre-Paul of tight ends, says GM Jerry Reese

BEast News

Big East schools making academic gains

Nati News

Everybody Hates Dusty – Some great commentary about Reds fans and Dusty Baker.

Around the Nation

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish: Rumors of Florida State and the Big 12

One side note; Alton Meeks was also a state champion wrestler as a sophomore in high school in the 215 lbs weight class. Kid appears to be an athletic freak who flat out oozes of success. Thanks to Hank Porcher for the info.

Overview

I talk about ‘ideal quarterback’ for Coach Jones/Mike Bajakian’s offensive system and Meeks fits the bill. Starting with his measurables, he’s 6’2″ 225 lbs. Clearly he doesn’t need to beef up in the weight room. Looking at his game film you can see how he garnered interest from the national programs I mentioned above. Meeks has an absolute cannon of an arm even without his feet being set. He also seems to be pretty accurate as a young quarterback. Meeks can certainly contribute to the running game. He doesn’t seem to have a problem tucking the ball and scrambling for a few yards (or twenty). Considering Cincinnati’s offense values a quarterback who can exploit defenses in both ways, Jones/Bajakian have got to love that about Meeks. Overall, he looks like a right-handed version Tim Tebow, at least the pre-NFL Tim Tebow, and I could not be more excited about this pickup.

Outlook

As an early enrollee Meeks will have the advantage of learning and operating the offense early in his college career. Like I mentioned, there shouldn’t be any issue of adding muscle or bulking up to take the hits at the next level so he should be able to focus on the mental aspects of the game more. That bodes well for his development. However in 2013, he will have to jump a lot of players (Munchie Legaux, Patrick Coyne, Bennie Coney, Trenton Norvell) to see starting time. Given that the quarterback position is so important I think it is in his best interest to redshirt his freshman year and take everything in at his own pace.

The recruitment of Chris Obekpa has been one of the strangest and at times most frustrating processes for Cincinnati Bearcats fans since the whole Monty Madaris tease back in February.

No one outside of his inner circle, even the best of the best of the recruiting services, have a true bead on where he might be going. St. John’s? Maybe. The team is close to his family. Oregon? They need a power forward to build a program around and have sparkling new facilities (more on that in a second). Cincinnati? They’ve been a heavy favorite for most his recruitment and Mick Cronin has put in the extra effort to get him. DePaul, Providence, and UConn are also in the mix. It’s tough to say where the latter three stand but most of the chatter indicates Cincinnati, St. John’s, and Oregon are his top-3.

As far as I can tell, Oregon is still very much in play to land Obekpa even though they are came in very late in the process. But how hard the Ducks go after him could be determined upon where power forward Anthony Bennett decides to go. He has recently chopped Kentucky of off his list making Oregon and UNLV the favorites to land one of the best power forward prospects in the country. The hometown Runnin’ Rebels appear to have an edge but the Ducks haven’t folded yet. Until Bennett makes a decision, it’s probably best to assume that he is at the top of Oregon’s list with Chris Obekpa a close second. If Bennett opts for UNLV look for the Ducks pull out all the stops to land Obekpa.

That’s where it gets a little shady. It’s no secret that Oregon hasn’t been the most honest program when it came to recruiting football players but was it isolated to the football program? That I don’t know. But what we do know is that they are all-in trying to bring their basketball program into respectability. Oregon recently completed a lavish $227 million basketball arena with help from Nike in addition to tens-of-millions of dollars the company has poured into the rest of the Duck’s facilities. Seriously, they might as well just rename Eugene Niketown at this point.

The result is that Oregon (and Nike partially) are heavily invested in the success of their football and now basketball programs. Basketball in particular needs to win to boost ticket sales, athletic donations, and sponsorship money so they can see a return on that $227 million investment. That means rebuilding a mediocre program quickly by, in part, signing the best players from around the country. Since it’s in Oregon’s (and Nike’s) best interest to field winning programs on a national level, doesn’t it seem suspicious that Obekpa all of a sudden sees interest in the Ducks when they’ve only been talking to him for about two months and said athletic department just got caught recruiting football players illegally?

I’m not sayin’ but.. I’m just sayin’. Something smells fishy.

Regardless about what’s going on or not going on under the table in Eugene the end of the second signing period on May 16th is fast approaching. However from what I have pieced together it looks like that day will come and go without a decision from Mr. Obekpa. Signing periods allow basketball recruits to sign National Letters of Intent (NLI) that contractually bind them to a school. When a signing period passes recruits can still sign grant in aid papers for a school. The difference is that those documents don’t legally require Recruit-A for ever playing for School-A (h/t to Jeff Gentil for the details). What that means for Cincinnati is that even if he signs GIA’s this Summer he could still wind up in Oregon, St. John’s, or God-knows-where this Fall.

Unfortunately his inner circle has stayed very quiet and the only thing most of us have to run with right now are rumors. For now rumors are all we have. The minds of recruits are rubix cubes in and of themselves. Complicating matters even further are the strings of reports coming out of his camp about visits and his interest. What’s worse is that they are sporadic and sometimes conflicting. Tracking his status with Oregon, I believe Obekpa ‘delayed’, ‘cancelled’, and ‘rescheduled’ his visit to Eugene at least 17 times. I guess his visit is again back on. This has been a headache to say the least and probably won’t get any better if he doesn’t sign a letter of intent in the coming days.

To close, major props to Coach Cronin throughout this process. He’s been following Obekpa to the ends of the Earth to convince him to sign with Cincinnati and hasn’t let up. No coach has exerted more effort to land Chris Obekpa than Mick Cronin. That’s a fact. Hopefully when push comes to shove we can breath a sigh of relief that the talented power forward does just that. Right now the best we can do is keep our fingers crossed that he miraculously signs a NLI with UC before May 16th or signs GIA papers this Summer and still comes to Clifton in the Fall.

Bearcats News

Report: Giants agree to four-year deal with TE Robinson

It’s amazing what a simple three-digit number did to the career of Adrien Robinson. His 4.56-Forty time at UC’s Pro Day propelled him from an undrafted free agent to a 4th Round draft pick and a $2.5 million contract with a healthy $385,000 signing bonus. He was probably looking at that a contract the size of that signing bonus if his Forty time was just a few tenths of a second slower. I’m excited to see what he can do in a regular offense in the NFL.

Four offers, all new

Some pretty good recruiting info via Andrew Force at Bearcat Report although the ship has sailed on Alex Gall from Moeller ever signing with Cincinnati because, you know, he plays for John Rodenberg.

Other UC Stuff

Late Rally Comes Up Short as Baseball Loses 7-5

Zimmerman, Larsson Take Different Paths to Javelin Success

Love for UC Football Leads to Golf Outing Fundraiser

2012 Football Season Tickets Promo – Version 1

BEast News

Big East begins search for new commissioner with important issues still unresolved – More ESPN bashing.

The Misfits Could Fit – I agree with this guy!

Nati News

Is Scott Rolen Finished? – Unfortunately, Yes swinging the bat. No question he’s still a great defensive player.

Around the Nation

Did ACC Teams Get Ripped Off With New ESPN TV Contract? – Yes, yes they did.

The sad state of Terrell Owens – I don’t feel sad for him in the least.

If there is one thing that Coach Butch Jones has proven since joining the Bearcats in late 2009 is that he is a recruiting guru. In a way he has benefited from an environment surrounding his team; the beauty and uniqueness of the University of Cincinnati’s campus, a pair of Big East championship trophies in his cabinet, practically brand new training facilities for his players, and nearly completed practice fields. But he also faced some tough challenges along the way. Cincinnati was still perceived as a second-tier program, a stepping-stone if you will, especially considering the Bearcats lost their second straight head coach to a bigger program after experiencing some semblance of success here. Jones has also had his own personal hurdles to jump such as following in the footsteps of arguably the most success coach in UC football history Brian Kelly.

As such, Jones has done a spectacular job emphasizing the positive and quieting his critics but in some ways he will always be compared to Kelly. Even so, Cincinnati’s current head coach has set himself apart from his predecessors by bringing in the most talented football players to ever set foot on UC’s campus. His 2010 class, despite being quickly put together, was full of underrated players like Deven Drane and Camaron Beard who could become the next Bearcat stars. He followed that up with a 2011 recruiting class that was ranked the best in UC history and a group of players in the 2012 class that was even better.

The key for Butch Jones is working tirelessly to win them over as soon as possible. His efforts have reeled in more highly rated recruits at a quicker rate than ever before. The 2013 class is no different and got off to a hot start with the verbal commitments of Kyle Kempt and A.J. Branisel in early April. Theoretically, this class should be even better than the previous two but it won’t be nearly as large. As a rule of thumb, coaches should average between 20 and 25 players per recruiting class. The Bearcats averaged 28.5 recruits over the past two and the upcoming group will top out between 15 and 20 signees spread out over various position groups:

[ QB - 1 | RB - 1 | TE - 2 | WR - 2 | OG/C - 2 | OT - 2 | DE - 2 | DT - 1 | LB - 1 | S/NB - 2 | CB - 2 | K/P - 1 ]

Quarterback

Cincinnati is pretty heavy on quarterbacks and only graduate one after the 2012 season. Munchie Legaux, Patrick Coyne, Bennie Coney, and Trenton Norvell as of now will still be on the roster in 2013 so there will be plenty of depth at this position. Kyle Kempt will add to that depth but there probably won’t be a need to add another quarterback to this class.

Runningback

Like the quarterback position, there will be plenty of runningbacks on the roster in the 2013 season. Jameel Poteat and Ralph David Abernathy IV will likely compete for the starting role but will be pushed by players like Aaron Harris, Deionte Buckley, and Tion Green. It’s uncertain if Green will stay at this position or move to the defensive secondary but I don’t think Cincinnati needs to add more than one runningback in the 2013 class.

Tight End

Depth at tight end is razor thin in 2012 and 2013. Two seniors, Travis Kelce and Demetrius Richardson, are currently 1-2 on the depth chart. If this remains unchanged the Bearcats will head into the 2013 season with a tight end by committee philosophy. The starting role will probably be Blake Annen’s to lose even though he only has a handful of reps to his name. The backup job will be up for grabs between Josh Russ, DeShawn Dowdy, and potentially true freshman A.J. Branisel. Butch Jones should bring in one more tight end along with Branisel in this class to add depth where it is sorely needed.

Wide Receiver

In a spread offense it’s a smart move to always add a couple of wide receivers every single year. Jones has done a nice job of constantly signing fresh wide outs and as a result there has never really been any issues with depth at this position. He will probably target 2-3 signees at this position with Kenbrell Thompkins and Damon Julian graduating after the 2012 season. I suspect he will go after taller players who can play on the outside considering there is a train of slot receivers waiting behind Anthony McClung inside currently on the roster.

Offensive Guard/Center

16 of the 17 offensive lineman on the current roster are non-seniors. That last guy is Sean Hooey who will be graduating after the 2012 season and hopefully wind up in an NFL camp. Of the remaining 16, 6 will become seniors in 2013 making the Bearcats very experienced along the offensive front. What this means from a recruiting standpoint is that Jones will have to prepare for the 2014 season with 6 OL graduating. Why am I concerned with 2014? Well if you read my blog regularly you know that I believe coaches should always redshirt freshman offensive linemen to prepare them to mentally and physically handle the college game. Therefore, Jones will have to load up on 2-3 interior linemen in anticipation of this mass exodus.

Offensive Tackle

Again, Jones will have to recruit a couple offensive tackles in the 2013 class to get ahead of the turnover he will have after that season. There isn’t much more to say here that I haven’t explained in the previous position group. The Bearcats should add two OT in the 2013 class.

Defensive End

Gone after the 2012 season will be the anchors of the edge of the defensive line for the past two seasons Walter Stewart and Dan Giordano. The Bearcats will also be without their sparkplug Brandon Mills. Cincinnati’s edge rushers will be very inexperienced in 2013 and as a result Jones will again have to add a couple defensive ends in this class. I doubt they would start right away but through their development at Cincinnati they can provide depth behind the starters down the road.

Defensive Tackle

Depth appears to be an issue at defensive tackle in 2012. The culprit is Brandon Mitchell who seems to be developing at a slower pace than I had expected. As a result, starters Jordan Stepp and Camaron Beard will be backed up by a converted linebacker Mitch Meador next season. It’s clear the replacement of Derek Wolfe and John Hughes is still a work in progress but I hope (cross your fingers) that UC will be dominant at this position in 2013 with Stepp, Beard, Mitchell, and 2012 recruit Alex Pace all in the rotation. I don’t think Jones will need to add more than one defensive tackle in this class.

Linebacker

For the first time in eons Cincinnati won’t need to sign a boatload of linebackers just to have enough players on the field at this position. With serious depth issues here in 2010 and 2011, Jones added seven (7) linebackers in the 2011 and 2012 classes. The Bearcats should be all set at this position for the next couple of years. Still the Bearcats could be on the market for an upper echelon linebacker such as Tim Kimbrough from Warren Central High School. He’s a stellar presence on the interior and would continue the pipeline Cincinnati has built with that powerhouse program.

Safety/Nickelback

The Bearcats graduate five safeties/nickelbacks after this upcoming season; Drew Frey, Malcolm Murray, Chris Williams, Rueben Johnson, and Pat Lambert. Jones has gotten ahead of this by adding Marcus Foster, Zach Edwards, and Kevin Brown in the 2012 class and moving Adrian Witty to safety. Still, it would be wise to bolster the ranks by adding 1-2 safeties in the class of 2013 to add depth here.

Cornerback

Starter Camerron Cheatham and rotational player Dominique Battle will be gone after 2012. Luckily the other starting cornerback spot will be locked down by Deven Drane and Trenier Orr appears to be next-in-line to start at corner. However depth will be an issue much like at safety/nickelback. Jones will probably add a couple cover corners in the 2013 class.

Kicker/Punter

Punter Pat O’Donnell will be graduating after next season and hopefully will head to the pros with OT Sean Hooey. He’s a heck of an athlete and one of the strongest players on the current roster. His #2 has been John Lloyd who will replace him beginning in 2013. I have extreme confidence in his abilities but Coach Jones will need to recruit another punter in the 2013 class to backup Lloyd in the future. There are no needs at kicker with Tony Miliano set as the starter and A.J. Fleak backing him up.

It’s only Monday but it looks like this is going to be a great week! Word out of Providence is that John Marinatto has resigned as commissioner of the Big East. CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy is of course all over this story reporting:

John Marinatto, only the third Big East commissioner in the league’s history, resigned Monday as the Big East’s commissioner, industry sources told CBSSports.com.

Love it. I’ve been especially critical of Marinatto during his time as head of the Big East for setting the tone of reactionary moves in the conference that Cincinnati calls home as opposed to getting ahead of the storm. Conference realignment is never an easy thing to predict and the Big East, because of their small media deal, was always at the mercy of the other five AQ leagues. But Marinatto never did the conference any favors by keeping the Big East at 8 schools just begging to be pillaged. One could argue that he got blindsided by West Virginia, Pitt, and Syracuse (and somewhat by TCU). However if the conference had invited such teams as Central Florida, Houston, East Carolina, as well as TCU back in 2005 to bring membership on the football side to 12, the Big East would be able to sustain such raids. Furthermore, those four teams would have had the benefit of growing in an AQ conference much the same way it benefited the Bearcats, making the Big East all the more stronger when/if WVU, Pitt, Cuse, and TCU did leave.

It’s that lack of foresight that set the conference up for near-disaster in 2011. Sure adding Boise State, San Diego State, Temple, Memphis, Houston, SMU, Central Florida, and Navy was the right move but why couldn’t some of those schools been brought over 7 years ago? Adding them now makes the Big East look like Conference-USA version 2.0. And don’t even get me started on Villanova. While the Big Ten was adding Nebraska and the Pac-12 added Colorado and Utah, the Big East was seriously considering bumping up the Wildcats’ from the FCS to the Big East. The idea flopped but those precious months could have allowed the conference to think about contingency plans.

Now it seems like Marinatto’s reign of idiocy is finally over. What’s even juicier is that McMurphy is reporting that the Big East presidents are essentially kicking him to the curb, meatball sandwich in hand:

Marinatto was asked to resign by the league’s presidents Sunday, sources said.

In truth the onus partially lies on the shoulders of these presidents for not taking a stand sooner. “Better late than never” is the slogan of the Big East so I guess I’m not too surprised they made this statement two years too late. McMurphy does note that the timing of this is interesting. Firstly, the conference is just months away from opening up media relations with ESPN/NBC/Fox to sign a new TV contract. The ensuing money is projected to greatly close the gap between the Big East and the other AQ leagues. However, in two years there will be no differentiation between an AQ and a non-AQ league so the conference needed a stronger leader to keep the Big East eating at the big-boy table. Either way, a man with a basketball-centric mindset in a football-driven college sports world wouldn’t have been the guy. So even though the conference is without a commissioner for the time being, I’d rather have nobody than John Marinatto.

Honestly, when push comes to shove would you rather have an oaf like him in your corner or an empty chair? For me, the empty chair wins hands down.