Rick Minter at last night's game

[steveedwards]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but ESPN interviewed Rick Minter last night near the UC sideline. I found him to be very classy and complimentary of the program which is nice. I know I'm not alone in believing that Rick took UC's program to the "next level" while he was here, but he hit a plateau and it was time for him to leave. It would be nice to be able to continue to use him as an ambassador for the program much like Ohio State has used Earl Bruce. I understand Rick's son is on the staff, but I've never seen any other former UC football coach on the sidelines and certainly not speaking about the program the way Rick did.

[kennh]

Rick was at last week's game also. His son is a graduate assistant so who knows how long he will be here. I understand Rick is working on some opportunities for next year to return to coaching. I like Rick Minter a lot and was sorry to see him go even though I understand the school wanted a bigger name coach going into the Big East. But Rick had to recruit at UC before all of the new facilities were completed. A bigger task than today. I wish him only the best and am proud to say he is part of the UC community.

[ewad]

I never was sure if Minter had reached a plateau or not. He never had the benifit of the facilities nor the Big East hammer. While he was there the campus was always a bulldozer filled ****. I still feel a little bad he nver got the chance to give it a run with the tools to do it.
But somehow he brought the program to respectability.
Personaly I believe he deserves a shot to coach again if he wants to.

[capcbk]

Building a program requires a level of continuity. Rick could not establish that because he could not keep assistant coaches around. This realy hurts recruiting. It was unbelievable how many he went through in his tenure here. Rumor was, he was tough to work for...true or not I have no idea!

All that said, I thought that Rick was good for UC while he was here and I liked his style...except for 2 and 3 win seasons. I certainly hope that Rick lands on his feet next year...after the ND/GT game last week, perhaps King Charlie wishes he had him back.

[STKohls]

I think Minter was a good guy, and I always liked his defenses, but he went through assistant coaches like running backs through a Louisville defense. The year-to-year continuity was not what you'd like in a big-time program. (ie '97 8-4, '98 2-9!)

I also remember a lot of complaints about how UC wasn't even looking at the local talent, much less actively recruiting the local kids. That has certainly been fixed, and I think UC is the better for it.

[Bearcat_DF]

I also remember a lot of complaints about how UC wasn't even looking at the local talent, much less actively recruiting the local kids. That has certainly been fixed, and I think UC is the better for it.

I think the local talent issue goes both ways. I think when UC was in C-USA it was a tough sell, especially for players that were MAC level talent (which was about the level UC was able to recruit.) Would you rather play at UC and play most of your games in the deep south or at a MAC school and play your games within a 1/2 day drive?

The move to the BE changed that equation. While the games are not necessarily closer, the opportunity to play in a BCS conference vaults us past the MAC. We dominated the MAC last year.

Go Cats!
DF

[tophat]

Building a program requires a level of continuity. Rick could not establish that because he could not keep assistant coaches around. This realy hurts recruiting. It was unbelievable how many he went through in his tenure here. Rumor was, he was tough to work for...true or not I have no idea!


Absolutely correct. He went thru so many assts cause he was hard to work for. We were never going anyplace with him. I'm gad to see him still here and supporting us, but I'd rather not have him on camera talking about what a tough sell the program is here. In reality he's excusing his own shortcomings.

[shadyo]

I watched the Rutgers game last night and during the halftime show Lou Holtz and Mark May were jumping on the Bearcats bandwagon. Mark May was particularly impressed in how BK, a coach whose reputation is for offense, has taken their defense to another level.