So is the Fickell message now going to put him in a bad spot with AD?
Not a long as he wins. Cunningham, who was hired in 2019, didnât hire either Brannen or Fickell, but he canât be dumb enough to can the most popular figure in local sports.
I dont think the issue is him being in trouble with the AD. Its the AD being in trouble with him and thats far scarier. He gone.
Thatâs probably closer to the truth. However (for what itâs worth), Neville Pinto, UC Prez, put out a glowing endorsement of Cunningham tonight.
Sometimes college presidents, chancellors, administrators, etc. are completely indifferent about sports and have no clue as to what it means to have good coaches and winning teams as opposed to teams with high GPAâs but are losers on the field.
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Thatâs one of the reasons we are fortunate to have RK steering our ship. She feels that athletics open up the university to many things including greater exposure and applications and $$$ from alumniâŠ
It really comes down to what your priorities are as a university. The University of Chicago, still a member of the B1G, dropped sports at the highest level to focus on academics. Maybe the president of UC has a similar feeling. We went through a period where athletics werenât considered important and it showed.
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I donât think thatâs the issue. Dropping sports is probably the last thing on their mind.
UC was just playing in a NY6 bowl. And they have one of the bigger brands in basketball. Theyâre not dropping sports. Lol
Cincinnati does not want to drop athletics. Itâs silly to think so.
Everything is coming up Pitino! (Probably not, but fun to think about and⊠it kind of makes sense.)
Pitino would complete the Louisville Lexington Cincinnati triangle. Southern Ohio and Kentucky is an acquired taste.
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I donât think anyone thinks they are considering dropping sports; but some of those egghead types are indifferent to them and idealistic about teams GPA over on the field/court performance. A kid playing at a high level and graduating with a C average is fine with me; much preferable to a 4.0 student that canât hit the water from a boat.
There are two problems with the thought of UC hiring Pitino. First, from what I understand, his buyout from Iona is $10M. So, thatâs a non-starter. Second, the current UC Prez, Neville Pinto, was the prez at UofL when they had to fire Pitino and AD Tom Jurich.
There are some pro-Pitino advocates up here, but I see no way for that to happen. Weâd win, but the NCAA hounds would take up residence on campus.
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At least our chances of reaching double digit wins against them may have gotten better 
Like âem or not, we need Cincy to be good.
first 2 confirmed candidates⊠neither are home runâŠ
https://twitter.com/BearcatJournal/status/1381031382034550789
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Starting off with the alums, I see.
Erik Martin has been a long-time assistant under Huggy bear. I think he would be a solid hire. But still think they need to land a guy like Archie Miller. Or Bryce Drew.
Seems like Cincy has their guy. Dennis Gates or Erik Martin look most likely.
I have never understood the alum thing. North Carolinaâs and Indianaâs hires both made me yawn. But they justified it because they are from the tribe.
Did you yawn because they made so much sense and were good hires? Davis at UNC was a no brainer. Woodson was outside the box since he only has coached in the NBA, but is a super respected coach who still has a chip on his shoulder.
No they made me yawn because they were below average hires. Woodson had two head coaching jobs both in the NBA. At Atlanta he finished with a losing record and with the Knicks he was fired after 2 1/2 years. He has no college experience.
Hubert Davis has never been a head coach ANYWHERE!!! Continuity hiring? We know that is crock of bean dip after Opie Applewhite.
They were tribal hires, betting on the brand will recruit itself.
If that is the best the Hoosiers and the Tar Heels can doâŠ
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