Cincinnati Ready Despite Distractions

NEW ORLEANS – Three weeks ago, Brian Kelly, who guided the Cincinnati Bearcats to consecutive Big East titles and 18 consecutive regular season victories, bolted for Notre Dame.

Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn was then promoted to interim coach for the Allstate Sugar Bowl, but three days before Christmas he accepted the Buffalo job. Quinn will stick around until Friday's game against Florida but then he's off to Buffalo.

Six days after Kelly left, Butch Jones was hired from Central Michigan as Cincinnati's coach. But Jones' role is reduced to a spectator when the Bearcats meet the Gators in the Superdome.

In the past few weeks, the Bearcats' head coaching job has been passed off like a bad Christmas fruitcake. Still, the Bearcats say that won't affect them against the Gators.

"We don't care if a dog is coaching us," Cincinnati senior defensive end Alex Daniels said. "We'd go out there and play hard."

Maybe so, but how fragile is the Bearcats' mindset after everything that's happened in the last month?

"The situations these kids have had to face and overcome has drawn us closer together," Quinn said. "We will keep our young men focused on the task at hand. The game is going to come and we are going to need to be at our best.

"I never allow the distractions to take away from our focus on this football game. We have tried to scale it back to just that and not allow the outside distractions to disturb their ability for the game that they have to play. I remind them of that every day."
Every day the Bearcats also can't help but remember what Kelly told them four days before playing Pittsburgh for the Big East title. Kelly told the team he wasn't leaving. He was staying.

However, less than five days after Cincinnati's thrilling 45-44 victory for the second consecutive Big East title, Kelly was gone, leaving a hurt group of young men behind. Many were experiencing the same emotions from December 2006 when coach Mark Dantonio left after the regular season and before UC's bowl game for Michigan State.

Making matters worse, some Cincinnati players learned Kelly was leaving from the media, and not from Kelly, at the team's banquet.

Cincinnati senior wide receiver Mardy Gilyard, the most outspoken -- and quotable -- player whose life was turned around by Kelly, lashed out at his former coach. Gilyard stormed out of the banquet, telling reporters Kelly "went for the money" and that he was "disgusted" with his former coach. Gilyard has since apologized, but he initially spoke from the heart.

Other Bearcats also were visibly upset at Kelly. Cincinnati's fans didn't take it that well either as Kelly's house was pelted with eggs.

Daniels, however, said the Bearcats have dealt with the coaching distractions and are ready for their date with the Gators.

"Everybody has distractions," Daniels said. "It's just how you deal with it as a mature group. Dealing with the situation we had a couple weeks ago, we feel like we have it nipped in the bud.

"Everybody felt like it was the best decision for him [Kelly] as a professional, but as a team right now we all came together even better to really understand that we still have a goal to be 13-0. We have a chance to play the defending national champions in Florida and one of the arguably greatest players in college football in Tim Tebow."
"We can't control some of the things that happen in this business. We are here now and we are together. We don't want any of this to take away what they have accomplished so far."
-- Bearcats Interim Coach Jeff Quinn

Cincinnati senior linebacker Andre Revels also was spouting the party line.

"Everybody's locked into the game," Revels said. "Our 'distraction' heading into the game happened a couple of weeks ago [with Kelly leaving] so that has come and gone. The only thing on our minds is to go out there and win the Sugar Bowl."

Not many folks are giving the fourth-ranked Bearcats (12-0) a chance against the fifth-ranked Gators (12-1). Cincinnati is a 11-point underdog against the Gators, who are playing their final game under quarterback Tim Tebow and their first game since coach Urban Meyer announced he was retiring/taking a leave of absence.

A 13-0 season and victory against Florida would help erase a lot of the hurtful memories from the past few weeks.

"It [13-0] means everything," Quinn said. "Anytime you go into a season and play in the Big East and our non-league games, these kids committed themselves after [last year's] Orange Bowl. We saw the sacrifice and the commitment they made to each other from day one. When we first started at higher ground when we went into our preseason camp, just to see this football team come together and grow and overcome adversity and win some very, very tight games, winning big games on the road against Rutgers and Oregon State.

"We just knew we had a very special group of young men, just the way they interact and the way they went about their business. And not only just on the field but off the field. So it means everything for our young men to focus on finishing the season."

Quinn said with all the disruption involving the coaching staff, the Bearcats have had to rely on their senior class.

"Now what we have to do is really lean on our seniors," Quinn said. "We have talked about 'circling the wagons' and bringing our football team together and bringing home a perfect season.

"To do that it is going to take everything we have. We can't control some of the things that happen in this business. We are here now and we are together. We don't want any of this to take away what they have accomplished so far."

Contact FanHouse reporter Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com