By the end of 1996, at the end of four happy years involving Memphis Tigers basketball and SEC football for the Commercial Appeal Daily, it was time to move closer to my homeland, if possible due to a serious illness in the family. Two chances from Pittsburgh to give me 4.5 hours of accuracy gave me some rare serendipity. Someone was at the Cincinnati Post. The other was in the Cincinnati Inquirer.

I preferred the Enquirer opportunity because it was clear that the journal was long-lived, but it made sense to use the leverage presented by this situation. Enquirer offered the opportunity to cover college basketball in general, and Bob Huggins’ Cincinnati Bearcats in particular. After 14 years in two major sports, working every weekend from September to April, and having no “home games,” the schools I attend usually require 3 hours of driving, so I want to get some of it back. . So I asked not to cover football. It agreed.

Then after working at Enquirer for three years, my boss got into trouble and needed someone to protect the UC football team. That was the new deal: I only had to report home games and the coach’s weekly press conference. That was it. In 1999, little Cincinnati Bearcats football became so important. The largest newspaper in the city could not ignore them halfway and expect consequences from the community.

More: Can Luke Fickle become Notre Dame’s next coach?

Yes, the same Bearcats program is now attracting a consistently capable crowd, having recently been invited to join the Big 12 Conference, playing Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and ranking # 7 in the Associated Press poll. Road No. 9 against Notre Dame in Saturday afternoon game under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus.

This opportunity was made possible by Brian Kelly.

Make no mistake: Luke Fickle did it.

Kelly, now a trainer at Notre Dame, arrived in Cincinnati in December 2006 and was soon forced to take care of the campus and the city. Kelly now laughs that there are no fans between the 30-meter lines at Nippert Stadium because these are basketball season ticket holders who were forced to buy football tickets. Log in to see the rings at the Shoemaker Center. “It was a basketball school,” he told Sporting News.

Gelly, who includes former coach Mark Dantonio, defensive end Connor Barwin, wide Mardi Gilliard and quarterback Tony Pike, is behind the best players. Kelly excelled in both.

In the second season of 2008, after a 28-21 home win over Pitt, who won the show’s first Big East Championship, I wrote that it was Kelly Widishi who was leaving Cincinnati for a difficult schedule. Unusual with its own personality and ingenuity. He stayed. One year later, after the Beatles beat Pitt 45-44 in the Classics at Hinesfield, which continues to be one of the best college football games of the century, and another Big East title, Notre Dame’s passion was so strong that he could not resist.

Bender: Betting Trends for ND-Cincinnati | Select the spread for the top 25 matches

His departure was not considered gracious. Before informing the players, news broke that he had taken the ND position on the night of the Beercats team party. He left an unbeaten team to play in a big bowling game and started signing for the Irish.

Without this lazy transition, it would not have been an uninterrupted journey from here to here. Butch Jones, who has drawn twice at the Big East Championships, proved to be the program’s most prolific goalie, but Tommy Tuberville’s four years in Cincinnati was a cash grab that almost drowned the program.

Without Fickel’s arrival and aggressive, confident and insightful recruitment, beercats at the American Athletic Conference in the coming years could have trapped Tulane and Tulsa.

Instead, they will go to Notre Dame with a notable list, including NFL possibilities such as Cornerback Sauce Gardner and Tip Rusher Maijoy Sanders. And a legitimate opportunity to succeed.

With 23 of their last 27 games they have won and 5-2 against opponents from Power 5 in the last four seasons and 11-2 in Fickel’s second season 2018, UC n ‘will never be on the radar of Notre Dame. The game was announced in April 2019. At the time, Bearcats were traveling 240 miles on the road, and had not been scheduled for ND Cincinnati since 1900. Now, if the Irish can thwart it, they will have a victory of their own. “Quality”.

This is true even though there have been many interesting links between programs over the years. The coach I covered at UC was Rick Minter, the Irish defense coordinator under Lou Holt. Irish defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman left Fickel’s squad for Kelly this year alone. ND recruited dozens of Southwest Ohio residents, including Cincinnati’s first sports family, linebacker Mike Larkin in the 1980s, Kyle Rudolph in 2008, and Seck Coral, a left – wing guard in 2008.

The Bearcats team I belong to in 1999 has become more interesting than ever before. Minter had an aggressive coordinator named Jimbo Fisher. The defensive back coach was called Mike Tomlin. In a home game against Wisconsin No. 9, they caused an unexpected surprise – it was the only game that attracted any kind of crowd, most of them badgers fans – but finished 3-8.

At the moment, the NCAA Division is trying to impose a standard for IA (now known as FBS) membership, which should attract an average of more than 15,000 fans per team. So the Cincinnati claims are pretty low, and in their defense they sell at least as many tickets. But Nippert Stadium was rarely over 25% full. The updated Nipert now offers one of the most exciting venues in college football that the Big 12 members will soon discover.

On Saturday, the team staying there will visit the most famous stadium in the sport. Fickle Bearcats bow in front of their largest windmill. They won’t make it to the college football playoffs without a win, most likely not one, but two decades ago what an incredible time it would be for a schedule that didn’t even matter on their own campus. In this case, Kelly is to blame.