(01-14-2017 03:30 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Doc: Fickell won't ignore 'The state of Cincinnati'
Paul Daugherty , pdaugherty@enquirer.com Published 3:14 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2017 | Updated 8 minutes ago

“The state of Cincinnati,’’ Fickell calls it. “We gotta do our best job there.’’
(Photo: The Enquirer/Sam Greene)

Good news, local high school football coaches. Luke Fickell knows you’re alive. He might actually show up at your school. Not just to speak at your stag, or walk the sideline for a few quarters at a home football game, but to talk to you in person. What a concept.

We’d say Tommy Tuberville was a ghost at Cincinnati high schools, but that’d be an insult to ghosts. Even they have to be around once in awhile. Otherwise, who’d do the haunting?

Put it this way: Brian Kelly once visited seven local high school games on one Friday night, via helicopter. Tommy Tuberville couldn’t name you seven local high schools.

“Tommy Tuberville never came to campus,’’ Elder coach Doug Ramsey said Friday. “Twenty years I’ve been the head coach at Elder. In that time, 15 Elder guys either walked on or were on scholarship at UC. Butch Jones has been here, Brian Kelly has been here, Mark Dantonio has been here.‘’

UC offered Ramsey’s son Peyton a scholarship. Tuberville never talked to Peyton. He signed with Indiana.

Colerain coach Tom Bolden said, “Tuberville never set foot in my office. He spoke at our stag, came to a couple games. That was it. There was a huge distance there.’’ This, even as Bolden’s son Kyle was a two-time all-state linebacker to whom UC had offered a scholarship. Bolden said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and OSU assistant Kerry Coombs “would do 13 Cincinnati schools in one day.’’

Tuberville’s dismissal of the local talent was egregious and obvious. The area coaches “have been around a long time. They have pride in their schools and their city. They want that interaction,’’ Luke Fickell said Friday. “For the past two years, they haven’t had it.’’

Fickell has spent the past several days starting to fix things. He spent an hour talking with Ramsey on Thursday.

“Ohio State is going to take the top six or seven players from the state of Ohio,’’ Ramsey said. “When you start with players seven, eight, nine and 10, that opens the door some. A lot of kids end up going to other Big 10 schools, but you can sell them on staying home. That’s what those other three guys (Dantonio, Jones, Kelly) did. When the head coach makes an appearance at the school, it makes a huge difference.’’

Ohio is not quite the recruiting goldmine Florida is, or Texas or California. But it’s compact and easy to navigate. A recruiter can be at Lakewood St. Ed’s in the morning and Moeller that afternoon.

Fickell cites a stat that he’s not positive is accurate, but it’s close. He says since 1990, 36 UC players have been drafted. Of those 36, 26 have been from the Tristate. Thirteen Bearcats alumni are currently working in the NFL. Local attention must be paid.

“The state of Cincinnati,’’ Fickell calls it. “We gotta do our best job there.’’

Fickell is not familiar with southwest Ohio. At OSU, he recruited the northern half of the state. He might know how provincial we here in the Republic of Cincinnati can be. He definitely understands what happened when Kelly hired Coombs. An Orange Bowl followed by a Sugar Bowl was not coincidental. Some of us believed Fickell should have added Coombs as his defensive coordinator.

“Get a Cincinnati guy, make him the common denominator with all the coaches,’’ said Bolden. “That’s how I think coach Fickell will approach it. Your core at UC is Ohio kids. Your heart is Cincinnati kids.’’

Those of us who aren’t recruiting savants didn’t know UC might have had former Colerain linebacker Tegray Scales. Scales, a co-defensive player of the year in Ohio as a senior, got offers from Minnesota, Illinois, Boston College and even Ohio, but not UC. He was named third-team all-Big 10 as a junior this year, playing for Indiana.

Erstwhile Mount Healthy running back David Montgomery didn’t make UC’s short list, but he was good enough for Iowa State, where he ran for 563 yards as a freshman this year, finishing the season with a 141-yard game against West Virginia. And so on.

Fickell already showed he knows the score here. He circled back to nab Jarell White, the four-star recruit from La Salle. All it took was a home visit.

During the Kelly-Jones years, “It became kind of a cool thing around here to play at UC,’’ Doug Ramsey said. The Bearcats might not reach that level again soon, but at least they have a coach who understands it’s possible.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/columnists/paul-daugherty/2017/01/14/doc-fickell-wont-ignore-state-cincinnati/96588802/

(01-14-2017 03:47 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 03:30 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Doc: Fickell won't ignore 'The state of Cincinnati'
Paul Daugherty , pdaugherty@enquirer.com Published 3:14 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2017 | Updated 8 minutes ago

“The state of Cincinnati,’’ Fickell calls it. “We gotta do our best job there.’’
(Photo: The Enquirer/Sam Greene)

Good news, local high school football coaches. Luke Fickell knows you’re alive. He might actually show up at your school. Not just to speak at your stag, or walk the sideline for a few quarters at a home football game, but to talk to you in person. What a concept.

We’d say Tommy Tuberville was a ghost at Cincinnati high schools, but that’d be an insult to ghosts. Even they have to be around once in awhile. Otherwise, who’d do the haunting?

Put it this way: Brian Kelly once visited seven local high school games on one Friday night, via helicopter. Tommy Tuberville couldn’t name you seven local high schools.

“Tommy Tuberville never came to campus,’’ Elder coach Doug Ramsey said Friday. “Twenty years I’ve been the head coach at Elder. In that time, 15 Elder guys either walked on or were on scholarship at UC. Butch Jones has been here, Brian Kelly has been here, Mark Dantonio has been here.‘’

UC offered Ramsey’s son Peyton a scholarship. Tuberville never talked to Peyton. He signed with Indiana.

Colerain coach Tom Bolden said, “Tuberville never set foot in my office. He spoke at our stag, came to a couple games. That was it. There was a huge distance there.’’ This, even as Bolden’s son Kyle was a two-time all-state linebacker to whom UC had offered a scholarship. Bolden said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and OSU assistant Kerry Coombs “would do 13 Cincinnati schools in one day.’’

Tuberville’s dismissal of the local talent was egregious and obvious. The area coaches “have been around a long time. They have pride in their schools and their city. They want that interaction,’’ Luke Fickell said Friday. “For the past two years, they haven’t had it.’’

Fickell has spent the past several days starting to fix things. He spent an hour talking with Ramsey on Thursday.

“Ohio State is going to take the top six or seven players from the state of Ohio,’’ Ramsey said. “When you start with players seven, eight, nine and 10, that opens the door some. A lot of kids end up going to other Big 10 schools, but you can sell them on staying home. That’s what those other three guys (Dantonio, Jones, Kelly) did. When the head coach makes an appearance at the school, it makes a huge difference.’’

Ohio is not quite the recruiting goldmine Florida is, or Texas or California. But it’s compact and easy to navigate. A recruiter can be at Lakewood St. Ed’s in the morning and Moeller that afternoon.

Fickell cites a stat that he’s not positive is accurate, but it’s close. He says since 1990, 36 UC players have been drafted. Of those 36, 26 have been from the Tristate. Thirteen Bearcats alumni are currently working in the NFL. Local attention must be paid.

“The state of Cincinnati,’’ Fickell calls it. “We gotta do our best job there.’’

Fickell is not familiar with southwest Ohio. At OSU, he recruited the northern half of the state. He might know how provincial we here in the Republic of Cincinnati can be. He definitely understands what happened when Kelly hired Coombs. An Orange Bowl followed by a Sugar Bowl was not coincidental. Some of us believed Fickell should have added Coombs as his defensive coordinator.

“Get a Cincinnati guy, make him the common denominator with all the coaches,’’ said Bolden. “That’s how I think coach Fickell will approach it. Your core at UC is Ohio kids. Your heart is Cincinnati kids.’’

Those of us who aren’t recruiting savants didn’t know UC might have had former Colerain linebacker Tegray Scales. Scales, a co-defensive player of the year in Ohio as a senior, got offers from Minnesota, Illinois, Boston College and even Ohio, but not UC. He was named third-team all-Big 10 as a junior this year, playing for Indiana.

Erstwhile Mount Healthy running back David Montgomery didn’t make UC’s short list, but he was good enough for Iowa State, where he ran for 563 yards as a freshman this year, finishing the season with a 141-yard game against West Virginia. And so on.

Fickell already showed he knows the score here. He circled back to nab Jarell White, the four-star recruit from La Salle. All it took was a home visit.

During the Kelly-Jones years, “It became kind of a cool thing around here to play at UC,’’ Doug Ramsey said. The Bearcats might not reach that level again soon, but at least they have a coach who understands it’s possible.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/columnists/paul-daugherty/2017/01/14/doc-fickell-wont-ignore-state-cincinnati/96588802/

Why in the world the local media, even those who were devoted to UC on a full-time basis, refused to report on this I'll never understand.

It was clear from almost day one that they didn't give a damn about local programs. Whenever a poster on this board or any other outlet reported what they'd been told by coaches or players it turned into a rock fight with the fan base that was doing the in Coach we trust garbage. And believe me coaches were talking. It was a running joke.

The media should've been all over this in 2013. They were complicent in the negligence.

(01-14-2017 03:54 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  Although I continue to be more and more impressed with Fickell and would grade his hire at this point an A+... reading this makes me so angry that Babcock hired that bafoon who managed to run a successful program into the ground in a hurry.

(01-14-2017 06:49 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 03:54 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  Although I continue to be more and more impressed with Fickell and would grade his hire at this point an A+... reading this makes me so angry that Babcock hired that bafoon who managed to run a successful program into the ground in a hurry.

And people wondered why I completely blew my top the summer of 2013. We could start a whole forum on stories concerning Club Tubb.

(01-14-2017 07:48 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 06:49 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 03:54 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  Although I continue to be more and more impressed with Fickell and would grade his hire at this point an A+... reading this makes me so angry that Babcock hired that bafoon who managed to run a successful program into the ground in a hurry.

And people wondered why I completely blew my top the summer of 2013. We could start a whole forum on stories concerning Club Tubb.

Yea people tried to find every possible reason to defend him until they were buried neck deep this season. I suppose that's just fans trying to be optimistic. But the signs were there early on.

(01-14-2017 09:56 PM)glacier_dropsy Wrote:  You guys should have gone to the USF game in Tampa last year. Hands on hips, elbows forward, slowly walking through whatever group was in front of him, without purpose. It was surreal.

(01-14-2017 08:22 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  So why did none of the premium sites ever report this?

(01-14-2017 09:02 PM)Dannyboy Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 07:48 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 06:49 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  

(01-14-2017 03:54 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  Although I continue to be more and more impressed with Fickell and would grade his hire at this point an A+... reading this makes me so angry that Babcock hired that bafoon who managed to run a successful program into the ground in a hurry.

And people wondered why I completely blew my top the summer of 2013. We could start a whole forum on stories concerning Club Tubb.

Yea people tried to find every possible reason to defend him until they were buried neck deep this season. I suppose that's just fans trying to be optimistic. But the signs were there early on.

Unless they win 0 games or have some scandal, I'm a big proponent of giving a coach 3 years to prove himself. So I defended CTT until year three. I'll do the same for CLF.

(01-15-2017 09:30 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  My CTT support was all about realignment. Its still infinitely more important than the product on the field as we will all see during CLF's reign. I like what CLF has started but he will learn that the unlimited deep pockets in Columbus have only a few coins in Clifton.

But ultimately CTT could not help move the needle as UC failed to move the athletic program, and ultimately the entire University, forward.

My biggest concern with CLF is will he be able to run the program on 1/50th of a budget that came with P5 money. He has very limited experience working at a financially small school.

(01-15-2017 10:49 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(01-15-2017 09:30 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  My CTT support was all about realignment. Its still infinitely more important than the product on the field as we will all see during CLF's reign. I like what CLF has started but he will learn that the unlimited deep pockets in Columbus have only a few coins in Clifton.

But ultimately CTT could not help move the needle as UC failed to move the athletic program, and ultimately the entire University, forward.

My biggest concern with CLF is will he be able to run the program on 1/50th of a budget that came with P5 money. He has very limited experience working at a financially small school.

Makes me wonder all the more about this, somewhat, veteran coaching staff he has put together. Where's the money coming from?