Mick Cronin Right For UC?

The hire seemed perfect at first: we have a UC grad who coached under Bob Huggins and Rick Pitino and a coach who went 69-24 in three years at Murray State, taking them to the NCAA tournament twice.

We currently sit smack dab in the middle of Mick Cronin's fourth year as the Bearcat's head basketball coach--what do we have? One winning season and a first round bounce by the Bradley Braves in something called the College Basketball Invitational tournament (the NIT's NIT).

This is hardly impressive considering the level where the program was used to playing, but is Mick on the right track?
Look, we all wanted Huggins to stay, including Huggins, but we've moved on. He put this program back to national prominence with fourteen consecutive NCAA tournament bids and 399 wins.

We were spoiled as fans.

Considering that most of Huggins' success came while the cats played in Conference USA tempers the record a bit. Would he have amassed all of those wins in the best conference in basketball, the Big East? Probably not. Mick Cronin had to piece together a basketball team from the rubble that Huggs and Kennedy left behind. His only scholarship went to Deonta Vaughn and the rest were junior college kids or walk-ons. YOU may have made the team at that point. Its amazing they won a single game at all.

They won 11 in fact, and went 2-14 in the Big East. Each year afterward, Cronin has improved the record of this basketball team, which is why I believe he still has a job. The next year he went 13-19 and 18-14 the year after that. By increasing wins, he's also increasing expectations and this year many would consider to be a failure if the team doesn't make the NCAA tournament. At one point last year they seemed poised to go dancing with before losing their last four games to downtrodden teams.

With freshman phenom Lance Stephenson and a healthy Cashmere Wright, the excuses are limited. This team needs to take the next step by making the NCAA tournament. If this doesn't happen, then maybe the A.D. should look elsewhere for a head coach. In the meantime, fans should be pulling for Mick.

The bloggers however, have not been kind to poor Mr. Cronin.

"Except for Brian Kelly himself, no one has benefitted from the rise of UC football more than Mick," says Joe from Clifton. "Without something to cheer for on campus, he'd really be on the hot seat. Mick is a good recruiter, but his teams deteriorate as the year goes on. He clearly isn't motivating his players. When Huggs got upset, it was a big, intimidating guy yelling at his players, and for some of these young guys, a little fear is good. When Mick gets upset, it's almost comical, like a leprechaun getting mad that you found his pot of gold. I should say it's comical for UK and XU fans, not so funny for UC fans."

Tell us why Mick should stay or go; post a comment below!

Larkin Must Wait on Hall of Fame (For Now)

Former Reds shortstop Barry Larkin recently became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time, as, in order to qualify, the player must be retired for five full seasons.

Upon first ballot, Larkin did not get inducted, but there were strong signs showing he would be a hall of famer eventually.

The Baseball Writer's Association of America(BBWAA) must put a player's name on 75 percent of all ballots to be inducted. Only one player this year met those qualifications, outfielder Andre Dawson.

Cincinnati native Larkin finished fifth overall with 51.6 percent of voters putting him on their ballots. He was also the top shortstop on the list, which deserves a special type of recognition, as Larkin was seen by many as a player who changed the position. Before Larkin, the shortstop was seen as a position reserved strictly for the speedy, defensive players. In fact, The Reds originally asked him to switch to second base because his power numbers better suited the position.

When camp broke in 1987, Larkin remained the Reds' starting shortstop and the rest his history.

While only batting .244 in his first full season, he went on to post a career average of .295, including 198 home runs, 2,340 hits and 379 stolen bases in his 19 years with the Reds. During his 1996 season, Larkin became the first 30-30 shortstop ever when he hit 33 home runs and stole 52 bases, ahowing his versatility as a player.

So is Larkin a hall of famer? Absolutely--especially for a shortstop. Although he had the misfortune of playing in the Ozzie Guillen era, he still collected three Gold Gloves, nine Silver Slugger awards, and was voted into 12 All-Star games. While he wasn't inducted into the first ballot, signs point to Larkin being a hall of famer within five or so years. The traditional 400 home run hitter will go first, but there are plenty of positive points to take from this year's vote. Among them, admitted cheater Mark McGuire recieved only 27 percent of the vote.

Why Kelly Went Green

$$$$$$$$$$$$....Sorry, that button sticks.

When Brian Kelly announced in a special team banquet that he was leaving the University of Cincinnati for Notre Dame, no one really saw it as a big surprise. It got to the point where UC fans were rooting for Notre Dame to win all of their games, so Charlie Weis might retain his job. " I knew it was inevitable," says Rob Davis from Norwood. "As soon as the talk began about (Wies), Kelly had to be number one on their radar. I mean, the guy's got an Irish name so it's almost too good to be true. For that reason I was rooting hard for Notre Dame to win out."

These efforts proved in vein as Weis was fired after his 6-6 season. What was surprising was how Kelly handled the entire process. In the weeks leading up to his departure, Kelly was quoted on numerous local and national radio outlets including the Dan Patrick Show, that he was staying in the Queen City. His most direct answer came from WEBN of all people, "Why would I leave? I love Cicinnati, my kids love Cincinnati; we've got it made here." Then of course there's my personal favorite: after his contract extension on 2008, Kelly was quoted as saying he wanted to break the 39-year record, referring to how long he would stay at UC.

It only took him one year to break that vow.

So why exactly did Kelly leave? First of all, his salary, dispite winning back-to-back Big East championships, was average among coaches in the conference at $1.475 million a year. Compare that to the $3 million a year contract at Notre Dame. Another reason may have been the last-second Texas win that shut the bearcats out of the national title dispite going 12-0. As much as it hurts to say, you go 12-0 at Notre Dame, you play for the national title; sorry Texas, nice season. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, an east coast irish catholic boy like him could never turn down Notre Dame. It's in his DNA to coach them.

While he showed a tremendous amount of disreguard for his players whom he coached during the best 12 games of school history, he's proven he had his own selfish reasons for his decision. Abandoning your kids right before the big game is weak, there's no question about that; at least now we know why. With new coach Butch Jones next in line, we can all forget about Brian Kelly. Just make sure to give credit to his players.

Reciever Mardy Gilyard had this to say via facebook: "He just needs to get up out Cincinnati ASAP. He wasn't the one making all the one-handed catches and running down the field. Just get out of here, we'll be fine without him in my opinion."

Feeling strong? See the Brian Kelly Notre Dame press conference HERE

Bengal's Season a Dissapointment?

OK, picture this: it's August, you just finished watching the latest episode of Hard Knocks, and based on what you've seen and read up to that point, it's time to play prognosticator and lay out the Bengals 09' season.

Looking at the schedule and the talent (or lack thereof) on the field, 10-6 would be pretty good, right? 10-6 is pretty good.

I'll bet that any team outside of the Indianapolis Colts would accept a guaranteed 10-6 season. The problem however, is how it ended.

After dealing with the deaths of Vicki Zimmer and Chris Henry, the Bengals perhaps thought more about life than football. (Wait, there's more to life than football)? Based on those hardships mixed with key injuries on defense with Antwan Odom, Rey Maualuga and Roy Williams, and the offense's inability to score more than 24 points (which happened only twice all season), it's amazing they even won six games.

So don't be so quick to call the whole year a failure; missing two field goals in crunch-time playoff game, however? That's failure.

Reds Rise From Nowhere, Nab Lefty

Today the Reds officially shocked the baseball world as well as their own fan base by signing highly regarded Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman.

Ready for the shocking part? They actually outbid clubs like the Yankees and Red Sox.

By signing the left-handed fireballer (he's been reported as throwing 102 mph), Cincinnati has poured gasoline on the smoldering ashes of their off season activities. The deal is worth $30 million over a six-year period. Early reports indicate that Chapman has control problems and needs to develop a better repertoire of pitches, a changeup or slider perhaps.

That's not all he needs to develope.

At 22 years old and coming from a communist nation, Chapman will no-doubt need a period of adjustment to American culture. In his first press conference,he stated through an interpreter that he has never seen a single game of American baseball, nor has he even heard of the city of Cincinnati. Time will tell if this bold move proves beneficial. If anything, this announcement gives the impression that the Reds may be serious about winning after all.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHAPMAN....ESPN'S PROFILE VIDEO


SEE CHAPMAN PRESS CONFERENCE WITH CINCINNATI