Carson Field Football Board

Covering every UC football contest from Rick Minter's beginning in 1994 through Brian Kelly's win in the Papajohns.com Bowl on radio (and most games since from a different perspective) I'm blessed with a little insight most don't have.

Through 10 seasons of Rick Minter, I witnessed good and bad. The Humanitarian Bowl in '97 was the peak; the two seasons that followed were the bottom.

Their was a brief resurgence in the early 2000s thanks to the fortuitous landing of quarterback Gino Guidugli (he first committed to Kentucky). But, after a 5-7 2003 which culminated in a shootout loss to Louisville, Minter's time ended and the tri-annual holiday dances with coaches began.

From a historical perspective, as I've mentioned more than once, UC has it's own argument for "Cradle of Coaches" with Minter's three assistants that landed NFL head coaching jobs (Mike Tomlin-Steelers, John Harbaugh-Ravens, Rex Ryan-Jets). He also had numerous other successful assistants, including current Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher move on to illustrious college jobs.

You could take that "Cradle of Coaches" argument further as we now have had Mark Dantonio leave for Michigan State, Brian Kelly for Notre Dame and now Butch Jones at Tennessee.

You can take it all as a compliment, or you can take it as UC becoming the "Carousel of Coaches".

Folks, I'm here to tell you it's time to pull the plug on the merry-go-round. I find it not so merry.

Without question, Whit Babcock will find a great candidate and I'll be a supporter regardless. I'm a UC guy. When I started doing Bearcat games in the 90s, our recent coaches were at places I either had barely heard of or never heard of. They all gave UC great efforts, but my investment begins with being a fan at a young age, a graduate, the husband of a graduate and the father of a graduate (with more to come).

When a coach leaves my alma mater, I'm hurt a little bit. I understand the economical reasons, but more and more, those are starting to even out. The program has grown since Minter's first bowl game, since Dantonio's win over Rutgers and has been fairly steady since Kelly's "lightning in a bottle" years and Jones.

That's why it's tougher to understand each departure. I'm always of the belief that it's difficult to find a better place to bring up a family AND make a decent sum as a college coach than Cincinnati.

My wife also went to Tennessee and I do understand the appeal and the culture.I also understand that they won't be particularly tickled with a 4-8 start.

My only comments to Butch would've been, "You can stay here and build it and be on a monument. A couple million here is worth more than a couple mil elsewhere. You can always find more money, but you don't want to be sitting around with your new girlfriend after a few weeks and find she's much more demanding and fickle than your old one."

As I often warn my kids...be careful what you wish for.

On to the present....

In some of the lean Minter years, there was always a contingent of locals that would say, "UC should just hire Kerry Coombs!"

I had met Kerry at Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown functions, but I found the whole thought absurd. Yeah, Colerain was dominant, but the Gerry Faust experiment was over.

Since then, I have met and known several of Kerry's assistants at Colerain. I have met others that worked around him. Most importantly, as Kerry was brilliantly hired by Brian Kelly, I got to know him better.

For those of you that still look at him as Colerain's coach, he was part of a makeshift staff in 2006 that stepped in and coached Mark Dantonio's team to an International Bowl win, with Dantonio's players and Dantonio's plays.

To whip together a team in 15 practices using someone else's language and with a mix-and-match staff was incredible.

Kerry then was instrumental in getting Brian out to each and every function in town. Kerry knew the areas, gave Brian some tips and BK would take over the room. I know as much, because I introduced them both at a booster function in Anderson Township.

Kerry was instrumental enough in Kelly's success here, that he could've gone to Notre Dame. He could've coached in TWO national championships--here (if Nebraska had beaten Texas) and with the Irish.

Instead, the players spoke and UC was wise enough to elevate Coombs as Butch Jones came in. At the time, I texted Kerry to thank him. He wrote back, "I belong here."

So, he spends the 2006 bowl gamel, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 here with bowl games in every year but one. That's not bad on a resume.

Finally, after last season, he left. Some were upset, I was not.

All Coombs did was exactly what Mick Cronin did. He left the known of Cincinnati, for some experience under a nationally-recognized coach in Rick Pitino who had a track record of assistants moving on to better jobs.

Ditto for Kerry Coombs. Urban Meyer was the most sought-after coach last year and in previous years. Plus, like it or not, Ohio State has much money and influence as anyone in college sports. Though a Bearcat through and through, I thought Kerry did the right thing.

Some will complain about his secondaries and quote numbers. To those, I tell you the coordinator calls the defense and if his secondary is in that defense, it is not necessarily the fault of the DB coach if a player is burned. Likewise, if the coverage is soft, it's not necessarily the call of the DB coach. Someone else makes those calls.

My impression of Coombs as a DB coach is seeing him work his group relentlessly, simultaneously praising and criticizing. He's a dynamo on the field. After most practices, he's hoarse and has worked up a sweat.

This is based on watching countless practices at Nippert, the Sheakley Athletic Complex, or Higher Ground. The man LIVES for practice.

When Brian Kelly left, players lobbied for Coombs. When Jones chose to mingle about the dance floor, I'm told players lobbied for Coombs and were planning an appeal to Whit Babcock. On Twitter, former Bearcats Connor Barwin and Armon Binns of the NFL supported Coombs. Even a Xavier guy, Pat Kelsey, now head basketball coach at Winthrop tweeted support for Coombs.

He is no longer a high school coach (and by the way, so was Auburn's Guz Malzahn). Six-plus years here as a defensive backs coach/associate head coach and a 12-0 season at Ohio State with Urban Meyer shouldn't be discredited.

You don't think there was some strategy involved in Meyer hiring him out of Cincinnati? You don't think Meyer knows a thing or two about football?

Beyond football, Kerry has charisma that hasn't been seen since the leprechaun (Kelly) left. He transcends energy and I've heard more than one person tell me how electrified they've been hearing him speak. At UC, the product must be sold on AND off the field.

Whatever you hear from Kerry will be genuine. There won't be a handbook of cliches. His investment in this community goes beyond building his resume and reputation.

The only question comes offensively.

As locals know, Colerain ran the triple-option. In Division I football, that's not going to fly beyond a play or two. Coombs would have to hire an imaginative coordinator to draw something up that would attract athletes and fans.

I've often said, "10-3" football doesn't sell here. Brian Kelly agreed with my theory. Points on board=butts in seats.

On the other hand, running quarterback concepts are alive and well if you look at some of what Butch Jones did, what Urban Meyer's done historically and what "Johnny Football" Johnny Manziel has done.

I have to think with his connections that Coombs could find the talent to come up with such an animal. The downside is you may have to switch coordinators if it's successful. For the record, I'd much rather play musical coordinators than musical coaches.

If not, we likely could be going through this same exercise in 2015.

I trust Whit Babcock and I will support his choice, but I'd rather the administration save the search committee dollars and use them to buy some thermally-insulated golf shirts for Kerry Coombs to wear on the sidelines.