So, watching the NCAA Tournament can be a good way to measure where your team is relative to being a postseason contender.
Whether you want to compare UC's basketball team to Northern Iowa and Butler or Michigan State and West Virginia, there are lessons to be learned from teams who have put on an amazing show over the past few weeks.
What that in mind, here is a wish list of sorts for the 2010-11 Bearcats:
1.Find/recruit/develop a designated 3-point shooter or two (or three). I think about guys like Field Williams, Darnell Burton, LaZelle Durden - players who will nail a wide-open 3 a high percentage of the time. How many teams advanced in the NCAA when a reliable outside shooter hit a clutch shot in the final seconds? If you can't hit them regularly, you're unlikely to sink them when it counts most.I thought maybe Larry Davis or Darnell Wilks could be that player last season. They weren't. If I were them, I'd be shooting 1,000 3-pointers a day. At least. UC needs someone with the mental makeup of an Ali Farokhmanesh (See Northern Iowa over Kansas).
2.Bring in a team psychologist and a shot doctor to help with free-throw shooting. The end of so many games comes down to fouling and free-throw shooting. Anyone think any of the Bearcats would sink three straight free throws at the end of a game like Terrell Holloway did for Xavier with five seconds left at the end of regulation against Kansas State? Not me.
3.I once covered a coach whose goal for this team was to "play harder longer" than any opponent. We've watched teams compete at an unbelievable level during the NCAA Tournament - and several NIT games (the Dayton Flyers come to mind). They may kick it up a notch during the postseason, but these are teams that are accustomed to playing and competing with that kind of intensity throughout the season. That's how you get to the NCAA - you can't just turn it on and off. After watching the Bearcats in the Big East tournament, how could you not help thinking: What if they played that hard every game all season?
4.There have got to be a few bread-and-butter plays a team can use when it's going lengthy periods without scoring - kind of like a stopper in a baseball team's rotation who can halt a losing streak. I have not seen many teams over the years regularly go 7, 8, 9 minutes without scoring like this past season's UC team. Somebody has to be able to design a few go-to plays that prevent those kinds of droughts.
5.While I appreciate that there were a lot of capable players on this year's team, it did not seem like natural roles developed for each guy. It was hard to point to the best player to run the offense, the best on the fast break, the defensive stopper, the spot-up shooter, the relentless rebounder. So many guys played different roles every night that I am not sure whether they found a rhythm in their roles.
I have been fortunate enough to cover some great head coaches and former assistants who are now head coaches: Gene Keady, Skip Prosser, Bob Huggins, Bruce Weber, Kevin Stallings, Steve Lavin, Dino Gaudio, not to mention Mick Cronin and Chris Mack. I would never claim to know more about basketball than any of these guys.
Just sharing some thoughts I've had while watching this fabulous NCAA Tournament. Hope the Bearcat players are watching, too.
Andre Tate played for Bob Huggins, worked for Mick Cronin and has a good rapport with Kansas State coach Frank Martin and Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy, both former Huggins assistants.
But Tate's not ready to call any of them for a job. Yet.
He will someday.
Tate's been working on building his coaching resume. Last weekend he added the most impressive line item to date, leading Cincinnati State to the championship game in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II tournament. The Surge lost 71-60 in the final to Lincoln (Ill.) College on Saturday night but finished 27-9, setting a school record for most victories in a season.
"I knew we were going to be pretty good, especially toward the end of the year," Tate said.
This is his second stint with Cincinnati State. He was an assistant for Eric Thomas, then head coach for two years before leaving in 2006 to join Cronin's first staff at UC as video coordinator.After two years with the Bearcats, the Cincinnati State job opened again. Some officials at the school probed to see whether Tate was interesting in returning.
He was. In 2008, he was back in charge of the Surge.
"Those two years over there with Mick at UC helped my coaching a lot," Tate said. "Just strategic-wise - playing the chess game with the other team, seeing the things that they're running, how to take things away, how to create certain matchups for yourself, using the different personnel that you have.
"But I also wanted to be on the floor teaching and recruiting and stuff like that. I just thought I had more to give."
Tate's interest in coaching goes back to his playing days.
He came to UC from Kankakee (Ill.) Community College and started for the Bearcats in 1988-89 and 1989-90. Huggins became UC's coach in 1989 and moved Tate to point guard, where he averaged 17.1 points and 3.4 assists as a senior.
Huggins often told Tate that he'd be a good coach.
"I thought I would," Tate said. "I always prided myself in being a coach on the floor. When you're a good point guard, you think like the coach."
Tate played professionally in Puerto Rico, Finland and Turkey and completed the requirements for his UC degree in 1993.
In 2000, former UC assistant Larry Harrison, now on Huggins' staff at West Virginia, encouraged Tate to get into coaching.
And so the dues-paying started.
One year as JV/assistant coach at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. One year as JV/assistant at Englewood High School. One year as head coach at Wendell Phillips High.
"It was exciting just coaching, being around the kids and being involved with basketball," Tate said. "That was the most satisfying thing to me when I first started, doing something that I really loved."
Then Tate left Chicago, moved to Cincinnati and was athletic director and a substitute teacher at Douglass Middle School in the Cincinnati Public Schools. At the same time, Cincinnati State was looking for an assistant coach. And in 2003-04, he joined the Surge staff.
A year later he became head coach. In his second season, he led Cincinnati State to a 26-9 record and a fifth-place finish in the national tournament.
In four years as a junior college head coach, Tate's teams are 87-48 (.644).
"I think I'm a good people person," he said. "I think people like playing for me. Kids play hard for me. I've been around. I'm from the inner city. I played JUCO basketball. I played Division I basketball. Kids just feed off of me.
"I want to be a Division I head coach. At the end of the day, that's where I want to be. My strength is working with kids and recruiting kids. I know what I bring to the table. I'm building up my resume."
And when he's ready, somebody's going to get a phone call.
If you're a UC basketball fan, you've experienced plenty of moments like tonight, when West Virginia stunned the Bearcats 54-51 at the buzzer in the Big East Championship quarterfinals.
Two memories come to mind immediately:
1. Charles Williams losing the ball out of bounds, setting up Xavier's upset when UC was No. 1 in November 1996.
2. West Virginia hitting a halfcourt shot to knock the Bearcats out of the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
UC was a No. 2 seed that year and beat Northern Arizona in the first round of the NCAA. Bob Huggins was coaching against his alma mater and against former Cincinnati coach Gale Catlett,
The Bearcats were ahead 74-72 with 7.1 seconds left, West Virginia's Jarrod West took the inbounds pass, dribbled to halfcourt and fired away. UC's Ruben Patterson tipped the ball with his middle finger. The ball went right in for a Mountaineers upset. Certainly the stakes were higher that night; UC would've advanced to the Sweet 16.
Now, back to Williams. (Dion Dixon played his role tonight, losing the ball out of bounds in the final seconds to give the Mountaineers the chance to win)
It was Nov. 26, 1996, and the Crosstown Shootout was at Shoemaker Center. The Bearcats were the top-ranked team in the country and a 171/2-point favorite against Xavier.
The game was a classic Shootout that came down to the end. James Posey's basket off an inbounds play with 6.7 seconds remaining tied it 69-69. Williams was running up the court with the ball, then dribbled it off his foot. It went out of bounds to Xavier.
You know the rest: XU guard Lenny Brown nailed a jumper at the buzzer for a 71-69 Musketeers victory.
Well, tonight UC fans got to add another gut-wrenching moment to the vault.
Before Tuesday night's game against Villanova, UC will honor members of the 1961 and 1962 national championship teams as a kickoff to a two-year celebration.
This brings to mind some of the related stories in "Tales from Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball," a book I wrote which came out in 2004.
Here are a few anecdotes about some of those players.
GETTING PSYCHED UP
It was the day of the 1961 national championship game. No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Cincinnati. The first time in NCAA history two teams from the same state met in the title game.
The Bearcat players were getting taped and dressing in the hotel across the street from the arena in Kansas City. A radio was turned on, and the team was listening to an Ohio State broadcaster breaking down the game's matchups. It was pretty much even, they decided, except for one position: That was UC's Bob Wiesenhahn against OSU's John Havlicek.
"They thought he was going to whip me," Wiesenhahn said.
Now understand, Wiesenhahn was the kind of player who preferred to play on the road and loved to get booed. It made him play harder. He was, well, an emotional guy.
Getting knocked on the radio? "That's all I needed," he said. "I was a psycho. I got fired up real easy."
"Weise's face just got red because (the announcer) called him a hatchet man," Carl Bouldin remembers. "He said, 'I'm going to kill him.' "
Wiesenhahn outscored Havlicek 17-4 and outrebounded him 9-4. The Bearcats won their first NCAA title, 70-65 in overtime. Wiesenhahn mostly tried to keep Havlicek, who finished 1-of-5 shooting from the field, from touching the ball.
"That was the greatest feeling that you could have," Wiesenhahn said. "That was very satisfying."
GOOD-BYE PURDUE, HELLO UC
Ron Bonham was getting pressure to stay in state. A star at Muncie (Ind.) Central High School, his team won 29 straight games before losing to East Chicago Washington in the Indiana high school state finals.
Naturally, Purdue and Indiana pursued him hard. Bonham picked Purdue, but was not thrilled with the choice. He went to West Lafayette, stayed a few days, then went back home and told his family he wanted to attend the University of Cincinnati.
"UC is where my heart was all along," he said.
In 1960-61, he played on UC's freshman team, which played an up-tempo style of basketball, just as Bonham's high school team did. That season, however, the "varsity" was slowing down their play under first-year coach Ed Jucker, and they went on to win the NCAA title.
When his sophomore season started, Bonham was coming off the bench.
"I have to admit, I played very little defense when I was in high school," he said. "We pressed the whole time. I didn't know how I was going to fit in (at UC). I had to get acclimated to playing defense, and that took a while. That helped me later on." Bonham was soon a starter and was second on the team in scoring (14.3 ppg). In the 1962 national championship against Ohio State, Bonham was matched against John Havlicek of the Buckeyes. Bonham scored just 10 points in the final, but UC won 71-59. Havlicek scored 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
"We had scouted each other so much, I'd come off a pick and Havlicek would be waiting on me," Bonham said. "Jucker's strategy for me was to be a decoy. I just ran around and kept Havlicek right on me, and that helped them in starting the fast break." As a junior, Bonham averaged 21 points, was UC's top scorer and a consensus first-team All-American after leading the Bearcats to the 1963 NCAA final, where they lost to Loyola (Ill.) in overtime.
He averaged 24.4 points and was second-team All-America as a senior, when the Bearcats went 17-9. Bonham left as UC's No. 2 scorer behind Oscar Robertson.
NO 'I' IN TEAM
George Wilson was one of those guys who set a standard for role-playing when he was a Bearcat. Wilson was a high school All-American coming out of John Marshall High School in Chicago. He was a big-time scorer who continued that trend on UC's freshman team. But when it came time to join the varsity as a sophomore, the Bearcats were not in need of a scorer. They had Paul Hogue, Tom Thacker and Bonham. Coach Jucker told Wilson that he needed him to rebound and play defense. And so it was that Wilson became the defender always assigned to stop UC's toughest opponent. Wilson accepted the role and took it seriously, reading about his opponent and watching film so he knew what to do in games. All of this is why he calls a two-point, one-rebound performance the best of his sophomore year and one of the best in his career. Cincinnati was facing Creighton in its first NCAA Tournament game in 1962, and Wilson was going to be matched up with Paul Silas, who led the country in rebounding and was among the nation's top scorers. Silas would finished with just eight points and five rebounds, and UC won 66-46. "Everybody had to do their part, and that was my role," Wilson said. "Everybody gets a ring when you win a championship. When I speak to kids, they always ask, 'How many points did you score?' I didn't worry about scoring. I set picks. I did what I had to do."
GOOD TIMING
Tom Thacker had not hit a shot all night. He was 0-of-6 from the field. And with the score tied in the final seconds of the 1962 NCAA semifinals against UCLA, the plan was for Thacker to give up the ball to Bonham, who would take the potential game-winning shot. Thacker dribbled to the right side, but Bonham was covered. "He couldn't get free," Thacker said. "I think everybody in the world knew Ron was going to get the ball." Time was running out. Thacker knew he had to get off a shot quickly. So, he fired away from about 12 feet out with three seconds left. "As soon as I let it go, I felt good," Thacker said. "It hit all net." The Bearcats would go on to the title game and defeat Ohio State 71-59 for their second consecutive national championship. When it came to winning championships, nobody was better than Tom Thacker.
After winning two titles at UC, he won a North American Basketball League title with the 1967 Muskegon (Mich.) Panthers, an NBA title with the 1968 Boston Celtics and an ABA title with the 1971 Indiana Pacers. Thacker, from William Grant High School in Covington, Ky., would also become the first African-American head coach at the University of Cincinnati, leading the women's basketball program from 1974-77.
Josh Schneider is being very cautious. He's watching what he eats. He's making sure he's not around anyone who is sick.
The NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships are March 25-27 in Columbus. And the University of Cincinnati standout swimmer isn't taking any chances.
"I'm being a lot more careful this year," he says.
This year.
What that means is that he is still haunted by last year.
Schneider has qualified for the NCAA meet for the second straight time in three events: The 50-meter freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. It is the third year in a row for the 50 free.
A year ago, the weekend after winning all three events at the Big East Conference championships, Schneider came down with a fever. It was a Friday. "I thought it was a one-day thing," he says. "I thought I'd sweat it out."
He felt better by night time and through most of the next day. That Saturday evening he went out with friends and before the night was over he had the chills again. Sunday he could not get out of bed and had no appetite.
"I felt awful," Schneider says. "I don't know what happened. I caught something."
He lost 15 pounds. While he gained some back by the time the NCAA meet came, he was still a good 10 pounds underweight.
Needless to say, the championships did not go well.
Schneider finished 15th in the 50 free - his strongest event. That was his best finish.
"Last year was really rough," he says. "I've never run into a problem like that. I know everyone has their excuses ..."
He stops there.
"I don't really care what my time will be in the 50 free, to be honest, as long as I claim an NCAA championship," Schneider says of this year's meet. "The other races are kind of little bonuses to show that I have more to offer than just an up-and-back swim."
*
Lost in all the stories about Reds spring training, the Winter Olympics and looming March Madness is the tale of this Taylor High School graduate and former high school swimming state champion who has an opportunity to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Josh Schneider is that good. And yet his saga still flies under the radar.
Just to recap, Schneider:
·Won Big East titles in three events for the second year in a row and was named the conference's Swimmer of the Year for the second straight time. He also holds UC records in all of his events.
·Was UC's Male Athlete of the Year in 2009.
·Shares the fastest time in the country in the 50 free with Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian from the University of California.
"The Olympics is 100 percent reasonable now," Schneider says. "I've just got to keep improving. There is so much more to improve on; you can't ever be content because no one else is."
It is, in some ways, that lack of contentment that led Schneider to overhauling his form last summer.
He went to Charlotte, N.C., to train with Dave Marsh and Cullen Jones, a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. 4x100 freestyle relay team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Marsh coached more than 20 Olympians while leading Auburn University to seven men's and five women's NCAA titles.
"They changed my stroke completely," Schneider says. "Wiped the slate clean. Started all over.
"I knew what I was doing wasn't right. I wasn't feeling the water. I wasn't getting what all the coaches were explaining to me. I knew this was the right choice, and I bought into it. I started changing my stroke, and I actually started feeling the water. They call it slipping, when you're not catching water and you can throw your arms around as fast as you can."
This is a good time to mention that Schneider is 6-foot-4 and counts his size and strength among his competitive advantages (some other swimmer named Michael Phelps is also 6-4).
"Now with this new stroke, I feel I can use my gifts," Schneider says.
*
In some ways, this whole swimming season has been about preparing for an NCAA title and a shot at the Olympics.
Schneider will work out at UC throughout March with Bearcat coaches Monty Hopkins, Michael Hewitt and Randi Vogel, to whom he gives plenty of credit. Schneider says Hopkins has put in extra time working with him, and Vogel - a former UC swimmer in her second year on the coaching staff - has brought "a different spice to the team." "You see her get excited, and it gets you excited," Schneider says.
Schneider will earn a finance degree in June and plans to continue for another quarter to complete requirements for a double major. He's thinking about a career in sales - down the road.
His peers are out looking for jobs and thinking about how to support themselves after graduation. Schneider is more concerned with a successful NCAA meet, maybe securing a sponsor and figuring out where to train this summer.
The U.S. National Team will be announced Sept. 1 based on results from the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships (Aug. 3-7, Irvine, Calif.) and the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships (Aug. 18, Irvine, Calif.).
"I'm really keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed, being optimistic," he says. "Just seeing what doors open after NCAAs. I know a lot of people are job searching right now. I don't even know where I'm living (this summer). All I know right now is I have a chance to make the Olympics if I keep my head on straight."
It's one thing to talk about former Bearcat football and basketball players competing professionally in the NFL or NBA or overseas. That's not so uncommon and has been happening for close to 60 years.
But a former UC volleyball player competing professionally?
Uh, that's a rarity.
"I don't think any of my other players have gone overseas to play," said Reed Sunahara, in his 10th years as UC's volleyball coach. "I know that some have looked into it, but it didn't work out."
The exception is Bonita Wise.
She is currently playing professional volleyball in Finland. She previously played on teams in Austria, Croatia and Spain.
"I have enjoyed every experience that I have had overseas," Wise said in an email exchange from Finland. "Every year I learn something new about a different culture. Of course, there are some negative things, like not getting paid on time, or missing holidays at home. But for the most part it has been nothing but positive."
Let's backtrack for just a moment.
Wise came to UC from Riverside, Calif., and had a stellar college career. She was Conference USA Co-Freshman of the Year in 1999 and was all-league four straight years. Three times she was first-team all-conference and three times she was on the Conference USA All-tournament team.
She graduated in 2003 and ranks fifth in UC history in kills (1,534), sixth in career hitting percentage (.297), fifth in career block assists (431) and fourth in total blocks (498).
"Ever since I was a freshman in high school, I decided that I wanted to try and be a professional athlete," Wise said. "My dad played basketball overseas in the Philippines, so I kinda wanted to see if my sport can lead me in the same direction."
Said Sunahara: "The reason Bonita has had a successful professional volleyball career is that she is and was persistent. She wasn't afraid to take a chance in playing overseas. She played for a small salary at first and I think now she is doing OK for herself." So, what's the path from UC to Finland been like?
We'll just let Wise tell you (if you love to travel, prepare to be jealous):
Team 1: "My first season I signed with VC Tirol in Innsbruck, Austria. My coach put the three foreigners (another American and a Czech) in German class. I also helped coach the junior team while I was there, so that helped my German. I liked it there, we made it to the playoffs, but the next season I wanted something new and better competition. The practices were easy, and I would rather have harder training sessions. Austria was fun, and I had a good time and still keep in touch with the coaches and the players."
Team 2: "Seasons two and three I played for OTP Banka Pula, in Pula, Croatia. Croatia is beautiful, and their culture is a bit different. But I loved it there. That is my second family. I always go back to visit after every season. We practiced twice a day with only one day off a week. The second season we placed third in Cup and third in the league, which was good. I was tired all the time, but it was worth it. I learned Croatian pretty quickly without classes, but it's not an easy language. It is a Slavic language, so I can understand Serbian, and a little Slovenian, Czech and Russian. I loved it there because the practices were challenging and I lived five minutes from some of the best beaches in Europe."
Team 3: "Last year I played in Lleida, Spain. I always wanted to play in Spain, and I finally had my chance. I really like Spanish culture. It is great, and there are a lot of things to do. I thought I would enjoy the siestas more, but they turned out to be a pain because all the stores would close for a few hours in the middle of the day, which was annoying. I took Spanish in high school, so I didn't have much trouble, but their Spanish is different from Latin America Spanish. I had three other girls from Argentina on my team and everybody else was from Spain. This was the first season that I didn't have another American, and the first time not everybody spoke basic English. In fact, surprisingly a lot of Spaniards don't speak English at all. Last year we made it to the finals of Superliga B and lost. If we won we would have moved up to Superliga A., I definitely would have played in Spain one more season, but almost every team has suffered due to their economic crisis, so we had trouble getting paid on time, and the full amount. This is the main risk you have to take when you play in Spain."
Team 4: "While I was waiting to get a call for this season, I had an opportunity to play in Maldives for their national tournament in October." (Note: Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean). "This culture was very different from European culture or any other culture I had been in. Normally, the one foreigner on a team was not American, due to the United States' relationship with the Islamic religion. So, I got to be the first American to play in the tournament. Everybody was really nice, and spoke good English. In the Muslim culture they would pray five times a day. They would even pause our matches if it was during one of the times. Some of my teammates chose to be fully covered, so they would play in sweatpants, long sleeves and their head dresses. I had to have my legs covered when I went to eat. We took first in the tournament, and I feel very lucky that I was able to go. Maldives was amazing. They have the best beaches I have ever seen - even better than Croatia."
Team 5: "I had decided to go to Finland while I was in Maldives, so I came straight here after the tournament was over - which brings me to Finland today. I don't like cold weather, which was the main reason I always passed up offers from Finland. However, everyone here gets paid on time. So I figured I'd take a chance and also try out Scandinavia. Finnish people are shy but very nice, and very smart. Everyone speaks excellent English. I forget I am in Finland until I walk outside and it is freezing - then I remember! I don't know any Finnish because my whole team is always speaking English, and the language is very difficult because the words are very long. Finnish people are all about sauna time. It's like winter wonderland up here, so I am going to try to do all things Finnish. Obviously I've had my sauna time and I went ice skating yesterday. Now all I have to do is ice dip in the lake, go ice fishing, skiing and start drinking one gallon of milk a day (Fins love milk), then you can consider me officially Finnish. Currently we are in first place, so things are good."
Sounds more like the Amazing Race than an athletic career.
Ready to board a plane yet?
Wise typically returns to the states for two weeks around Christmas and in her offseason, from May until August or September.
She knows now just how good she had it while at the University of Cincinnati. Players overseas don't have access to trainers the way they do in college. She also does not find practices quite as challenging as Sunahara's.
And the competition isn't always the best.
But there's no substitute for the experiences she's had all over the world.
"I have made really great friends and connections," Wise said. "I'm lucky because I always feel very blessed to be on every team; there hasn't been one player that I haven't liked. I'm godmother to a teammate's daughter in Croatia and am going back to a few weddings soon.
"Every year I say I will maybe play one more season. I have been saying this for three years. I like to try new things and new cultures. I've done the western and eastern parts of Europe and now Scandinavia.
I would love to play in Turkey or Greece, but they have trouble with pay to, so I might try to play in France."
In January 1976, I came down to Cincinnati from Cleveland to visit my brother, a 1974 UC graduate. He took me to a Bearcats basketball game against George Washington at the Armory Fieldhouse on campus.
During the game, he pointed out a man sitting on the other side of the arena. It was former Bearcat Reggie Harrison, a hero of the Pittsburgh Steelers' victory in Super Bowl X over Dallas. We went over and met him either during halftime or when the game was over. I'm sure I have his autograph somewhere.
Anyway, I came across this story online about Harrison, who had several concussions playing football and suffered some long-lasting effects. http://tinyurl.com/y8l84q5
There was also a story about Jim O'Brien, another former Bearcat who was a Super Bowl hero. He kicked the game-winning field goal for the Baltimore Colts in their victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. http://tinyurl.com/yjexb9j
How about that? Two Bearcats were key players in the first 10 Super Bowls.
We're here today to discuss the month of February. All hearts, presidents and groundhogs aside, it's a month when college basketball teams make their moves to earn NCAA Tournament bids.
Or not.
We're looking closely at this because, well, the Bearcats are going to be on the bubble for an NCAA berth. What they do in the next six weeks will determine whether they can return to the NCAA for the first time since Bob Huggins left in 2005.
In Mick Cronin's three years as UC's coach, the Bearcats are a combined 8-20 in regular-season games after Feb. 1, including 7-12 the past two seasons. Cincinnati's February record since Huggins is 11-17 (three seasons under Cronin and one under Andy Kennedy).
Last year's team had a shot at an NCAA bid, then lost 5 of 6 regular-season games and its first Big East Conference tournament game. That turned a 17-8 record into an 18-14 finish with no postseason. The year before, UC was 13-12, then finished the season with seven consecutive losses
In 2006-07, Cronin's first year, the Bearcats were 9-3, then finished their season losing 11 of 12 games.
To be fair, Huggins' teams were more talented and were not playing in the powerful Big East Conference.
Still, in 16 years Huggins only had a losing record after Feb. 1 twice (2002-03, 1994-95) with a total regular-season winning percentage of 68% after Feb. 1.
The remaining nine games this season are not easy. They include four teams in the top 10 (Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova and Georgetown).
Below is a look at UC's late-season record over the past 20 years.
When I heard back in the summer that Steve Logan was going to be inducted into the UC Athletic Hall of Fame, I was excited for him. I was the UC beat reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer during Logan's junior and senior years and found him to be one of the most exciting players I covered during my 11 years writing about college basketball.
Of course, I was saddened a short time later when I read that he was arrested in Cleveland on charges of rape and gross sexual imposition. Just last week Logan removed himself from the Hall of Fame induction this year while dealing with his personal issues. The Hall of Fame banquet is Feb. 19.
I haven't seen Logan since late in 2004 when he was at a UC game. The next day he spontaneously did a book signing ("Tales from Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball") with me and Corie Blount at the Barnes & Noble at Newport on the Levee.
When I think of Logan's playing days, one of my favorite memories was a game on Feb. 15, 2002, when he did something I had never seen before: He outscored an opponent all by himself.
The Bearcats blew out Southern Mississippi 89-37 that night - and Logan himself had 41 points.
James Green, the coach at Southern Miss back then, said his team tried to deny Logan the ball, tried to double-team him, tried everything. But Logan still went 12-of-18 from the field, hit 8 of 13 shots from 3-point range and added nine assists and six rebounds. He also made 9 of 10 free throws.
"To do it in a game like there was nobody in the gym with me, it's amazing," Logan told me the next day. "I was just in a zone, I guess."
The 5-foot-11 guard was Conference USA Player of the Year two years in a row, was first-team All-America as a senior and finished as the No. 2 scorer in school history. He also won the Francis Pomeroy Naismith Award as the top player in the country 6 feet and under.
In one of those life-altering situations, Logan fell out of the first round of the 2002 NBA draft and was the first pick in the second round (by Golden State). The misfortune of this? There was one less first-round pick because Minnesota had forfeited its first-round selection. If Logan would have gone in the first round, he would have received a guaranteed contract.
Instead, his agent and the Warriors could not agree on contract terms and Logan never played in the NBA, though he did spend some time playing in Poland and Israel.
I always thought it was a shame. It would've been interesting to see how Logan, despite his lack of height, could have fared in the NBA. His will to succeed and will to win were incredible. Though he was short, I always wondered whether he had the intangibles to make it in the pros.
* * *
You can catch former Bearcat Trent Cole in the NFL's Pro Bowl this Sunday night (7:30, ESPN). The fifth-year defensive end had 90 tackles and 12.5 sacks this season for Philadelphia. He is playing in his second Pro Bowl (2007). Cole, 27, is fifth all-time on the Eagles career sacks list with 47.
As for the Super Bowl (Feb. 7), UC fans can watch for Troy Evans, an eighth-year linebacker and special teams player with the New Orleans Saints. This is his third season with the Saints after five with the Houston Texans. The Lakota High School graduate had 29 tackles this season.
When the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa begins in June, University of Cincinnati fans will have a rooting interest - in New Zealand.
The All Whites, as they are known, will be competing in their first World Cup since 1982 and only their second ever. On the roster is Tim Brown, who played for the Bearcats from 2000 to 2003 and was second-team Academic All-America in 2003.
Playing in the World Cup used to be Brown's goal in soccer. These days he's got more in mind.
"Now that we have qualified, that goal has grown slightly to performing with distinction at the World Cup," he writes during an email exchange. "That will be a massive challenge. I really want to get some respect from the many who believe we shouldn't be there."
After graduating from UC, Brown began playing professional soccer, a route that took him to the Richmond Kickers of the United Soccer Leagues Second Division, to the Newcastle United Jets in Australia, to the Wellington Phoenix FC in New Zealand. He is vice-captain of that team.
He was chosen captain of New Zealand's team in the 2009 Confederations Cup last June by coach Ricki Herbert.
"My finest achievement as a sportsperson," he calls the title.
Brown, 28, was born in England but moved to New Zealand, his mother's home country, when he was around 4. By the time he was 17 he was playing for the Miramar Rangers AFC soccer club, which led to an opportunity with New Zealand's Under-20 team.
He started attending Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, but says he received about a half dozen scholarship offers from U.S. colleges. Brown chose Cincinnati because of its soccer program and the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning.
He helped lead the Bearcats to the Conference USA regular-season championship and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2003
"I played four years as a Bearcat and loved every moment of it," he writes.
"Playing soccer and attending DAAP proved to be a big challenge during my time at UC. At the time, and I am not sure if it has changed, there were few athletes in that particular school. I am very proud to have graduated from DAAP cum laude as an NSCAA Academic All-American. As a professional athlete in this part of the world I am one of the very few to have a degree. It is something that will set me up for life after sport. I would like to go back to school at the end of my career, possibly in the U.S., to do my masters."
New Zealand, in Group F, begins World Cup play against Slovakia on June 15. Meanwhile, Brown is trying to help turn Wellington into a perennial winner.
"In many ways my career has come full circle," he writes. "I love playing professionally in my home town."
When I interviewed close to 80 former UC players and coaches for "Tales from Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball," which came out in 2004, I couldn't help but include Cheryl Cook, even though the book was all about the men's program.
Cook remains the greatest women's basketball player in school history, and I have memories of watching her play - and more than hold her own - with all guys in Laurence Hall pick-up games.
A funny story that emerged for the book was about Luther Tiggs, who played for the UC men's team and brokea finger and missed two games because of Cook.
"She was the best women's player I ever saw," Tiggs told me. "She was extremely competitive. She always wanted to play with the guys. They called her a few names, but nobody gave her an out. That's what she wanted.
"One day, she wanted to play one-on-one at a side basket. She had the ball and she made a move toward the baseline and my hand went across the body because I wanted to strip her of the ball. I pulled it back. When I looked up, my index finger was completely severed. I ran to the trainer, and my finger was just hanging there. They had to stitch it up. The guys were really on me about that."
When we talked about that story several years ago, Cook said: "It wasn't intentional. Now that you brought it up, I still feel bad about it."
We mention all this because Cook was announced as a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2010 on Monday.
Already her retired No. 24 jersey hangs on the wall in Fifth Third Arena and she is a member of UC's Athletic Hall of Fame.
She is the Bearcats' all-time leading women's scorer (2,367 points) and went to win a gold medal with the U.S. team in the 1983 Pan American Games and a silver medal with the U.S. team in the 1985 World University Games. She played six years in Spain and Italy and even had a tryout with the Harlem Globetrotters.
"It's been a great journey," she said. "I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Cook now lives in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and is administrator at the Department of Youth Services in Cleveland. She also coaches the organization's basketball team (ages 16-21) and says she has won three straight state championships.
"I enjoy working with kids and I wanted to be able to give something back," she said.
She'd like to give back to women's basketball and UC, too, by joining its broadcast "team."
That would be Tom Gelehrter, manager of new media and broadcasting at UC who does live play-by-play for the Bearcat women's games for CATSVision All-Access on www.gobearcats.com. Cook and Gelehrter met in Cincinnati in November.
"There's a definite opportunity for her to join me on the broadcast," Gelehrter said. "She indicated to me she'd be down for games. The door is wide open. I do all the women's games by myself. I'll have a head set for her. It's as easy as that for me. To have someone of Cheryl Cook's stature on the broadcast would be great."
As a senior in 1984-85, Cook was the nation's No. 2 scorer (27.5 ppg) and was named second-team All-America. Known as the "Cookie Monster," she was twice Metro Conference Player of the Year and sometimes practiced with the UC men's team.
"I am always a Bearcat at heart," she said. "Color analyst for UC women's basketball - that's the ultimate job. I would love to continue to try to get the women as much exposure as they deserve.
"I would love to be a part of something special that they have going. If people will be patient with (Coach Jamelle Elliott), she's going to make UC people and the community proud."
Cook grew up playing against six brothers and was a star at Indianapolis Washington High School. She averaged 29.7 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists as a senior in 1981 and was named Indiana's Miss Basketball.
Her official induction to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will be April 24 in Indianapolis.
"I'm humbled," she said. "I take a lot of people in with me, so I don't just go alone - family, faculty at my high school, coaches at UC, my teammates at UC, my teammates in high school. Everybody had something to do with this."
The UC men's basketball team begins conference play tonight against No. 10-ranked Connecticut. The stakes for the season have just been raised.
It's with that in mind that we bring up Deonta Vaughn and his senior season.
Vaughn is already the No. 11 scorer in school history (tied with Darnell Burton). UC has at least 20 games left. Vaughn needs to average 21 points a game to catch No. 2 Steve Logan and 15 points a game to catch No. 3 Danny Fortson.
Right now, Vaughn is averaging a career-low 9.8 points. At that rate, he'll be lucky catch No. 4 Roger McClendon.
The start to his final season as a Bearcat has been shockingly inconsistent.
In the first 11 games, Vaughn has scored in double digits only six times with a high of 16 points against Maryland. He went scoreless in 26 minutes against Miami then in the first half against Xavier.Over the last five games, Vaughn has averaged just 7.2 points while shooting 30.2 percent from the field and 23 percent from 3-point range.
Vaughn is obviously capable. He dropped 34 points on Notre Dame as a junior. His sophomore year he scored a career-high 36 against Coastal Carolina.
In reviewing his stats, I became curious as to how others fared as seniors. I looked back at Logan and McClendon. Why those guys? Fortson only played three years and didn't have a senior season. And there's no sense comparing anyone to Oscar Robertson, who, of course, is No. 1 on the scoring list.
Logan was simply spectacular from the first game of 2001-02 when he scored 31 points against Oklahoma State. He scored 30 or more five times (including two games with 40 or more), averaged 22 points a game and only had one outing in single digits (seven points against Charlotte). You could pencil in Logan for 15 to 20 a night, knowing you might get more. He was incredibly consistent. UC finished 31-4.
Like Vaughn, McClendon got off to a slow start in 1987-88, scoring nine points against Northern Kentucky and seven against Kentucky. But he did come back with 33 points against Miami in Game Four and averaged 15.3 points over the first 11 games. McClendon averaged 14.5 points for the season, down 5.4 points from his junior year. The Bearcats finished 11-17.
None of the top 20 scorers in UC history averaged less than 10 points as a senior. The last 1,000-point scorer to do that was Damon Flint, who averaged 8.9 points in 1996-97 as he took on a different role behind Fortson, Ruben Patterson and Burton.
You could argue Vaughn is doing the same as freshman Lance Stephenson has become the Bearcats' go-to player.
You could - and should - also argue that Cincinnati needs Vaughn to score more and be more consistent to do well in the Big East Conference. Vaughn is still second on the team in minutes played and field-goal attempts and No. 1 in 3-point attempts, assists, turnovers and steals.
He should benefit from the attention Stephenson is taking away, not to mention all the other talented players on the team. Vaughn needs to be playing with the sense of urgency with which seniors typically play.
No fear. No awe. That's what Kerry Coombs sees from the University of Cincinnati players.
The Bearcats' defensive backs coach and associate head coach is helping the team prepare for its New Year's Day matchup with Florida in the Sugar Bowl. It is UC's second straight BCS bowl appearance, and Coombs says there is a noticeable difference from a year ago.
"I think we're much better suited this time than we were the last time because we were star-struck last time," Coombs says. "I believe our players and coaches have a much better feel for what the BCS involves.We've tried to make sure that our preparation is very solid prior to going to New Orleans so we're down there sharpening the sword instead of installing new things.
"I feel very good about the change in the way we're preparing this time over last time. We didn't tackle much (in practice) last time; we've done a lot of that. I think we learned a lot of lessons from the last game."
Virginia Tech easily handled Cincinnati 20-7 in last season's Orange Bowl. UC struck first and led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game. But the Hokies dominated the rest of the way, finishing with 398 yards of total offense and holding the ball 19 minutes more than the Bearcats.
This year, UC is preparing to face the defending national champion Florida Gators and quarterback Tim Tebow, a former Heisman Trophy winner who threw for 2,413 yards and rushed for 1,026 yards this season. He accounted for 31 touchdowns.
"It is a great challenge," Coombs says. "We'll take the field in the Sugar Bowl, with all that history and tradition, against what 20 years from now may be regarded as the greatest college football player of all time. And what a great opportunity for us. I think our kids are looking at it that way. I don't think they're awestruck. I know this - they're not afraid one bit. They're just looking forward to playing."
Coombs says preparing for the Gators is the same as getting ready for all opponents, just with more practice. "You don't have time to pause and think about how good they are," he says.
While UC's high-powered offense attracts a lot of attention, the defense may very well be the key to this game. The Bearcats have allowed 44 (Pittsburgh), 36 (Illinois), 21 (West Virginia) and 45 points (Connecticut) in the last four games - a 36.5 average.
That's after allowing an average of just 12.9 points over the first eight games.
"When you look at the points that we've allowed ... it's been the result of an individual player's breakdown on a certain play or the function of the defense having the right call," Coombs says. "It's not been, boy, we've got 11 guys who have gotten bad all of a sudden. We played great defense for a large part of the year.
"The great thing about our defense is they've played well enough to win. They fight and scratch and claw. If you look at where we were when it was 31-10 to winning that game at Pittsburgh, it was the defense that brought the team back. That's something those kids are very encouraged by. They're really excited and eager to play on this stage. They've heard the talk and they will be prepared."
Since the thrilling victory over Pittsburgh on Dec. 5 that gave UC the Big East title, the program has gone through unprecedented upheaval.
Brian Kelly left for Notre Dame. Offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn was named interim coach for the Sugar Bowl. Butch Jones from Central Michigan was named UC's new head coach. And Quinn accepted the job at Buffalo's head coach while remaining to coach the Sugar Bowl.
Crazy times, for sure.
One constant is Coombs, the former Colerain High School coach who was Jones' first hire for his new staff. Coombs is a Cincinnati guy who wants to be in town and with the Bearcats.
"I'm thrilled at my choice," he says of staying with UC. "I think everybody is going to come out of this thing in a great situation one way or another. These are great men who are great coaches and wherever they are coaching they're going to be successful.
"I love Brian Kelly and I will always be in Brian Kelly's debt because he hired me at the University of Cincinnati when he hadn't even met me before. He's a great coach. Brian is going to be very, very successful at Notre Dame. At the same time, this is the University of Cincinnati, and I am very excited to be here. I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with Butch and the other coaches who will be here, as well."
Jones announced the hiring of Coombs at his introductory press conference. Coombs says the two have known each other for years and used to go head-to-head at a University of Michigan summer camp when Coombs coached defensive backs and Jones wide receivers.
"His style would be a little bit more laid-back (than Kelly) on the interpersonal level," Coombs says. "He will be very intense at practice and at games. In casual conversation he's relaxed.I think he's confident. He feels very good about the situation that's found himself in. I think he's excited about the future.
"He's inquisitive. He wants to know everything there is to know about the team, the players, the recruiting. We haven't even gotten to the city yet. That's coming after we get through this, and that will be a whole nother learning curve for him. The town, the team and the university - everybody is going to be attracted to Butch.
While Jones is not coaching UC in its bowl game and is doing his best to maintain a low profile during preparations for New Orleans, he is already hard at work on the Bearcats' behalf.
"He's been very cognisant of the process that we're going through," Coombs says. "He's not trying to impose himself on that at all, which I think everybody appreciates. At the same time, he's here. He's working on recruiting. He met with a lot of our committed kids over the weekend. And that was good because he was received very well by them. So he's hard at work, but he's working in the future. He's allowing these players and this coaching staff to finish the job, which I think is admirable on all fronts. He wants it to be that way, and I give him credit for that. It's a tough situation for everybody.
"I admire the way everybody is preparing and focusing and working day in and day out. The kids, the coaches, we're just doing our business. That's a really admirable thing to watch."
So many reasons to love the Crosstown Shootout this year - and every year.
I know both coaches hate it, but it's such a great, intense game. I would think Mick Cronin and Chris Mack, when watching video with their teams, will tell their guys they need to play with that kind of passion every game. You know, like against UAB on Wednesday night and Lipscomb (Lipscomb? Really?) on Saturday.
Had major computer issues last night and found later that blog posts never posted. Thought today I'd throw out a few observations from the thriller in Cintas.
·The first half of XU's 83-79 victory told you all you need to know about why this game is different. Fights almost broke out twice. Players had to be restrained. Coaches and staff ran out on the floor. That's not happening against Miami University, folks. The beginnings of these games are often sloppy because of the level of intensity with which everyone comes out. Also guys try to too hard. While I personally like some pushing and trash-talking because it keeps the rivalry heated, unfortunately for the Bearcats they kind of lost their composure and let a seven-point lead disappear. "You've got to be able to walk away," Cronin said later. "True toughness is dealing with the environment and dealing with the game. My guys lost their cool. We were concerned about everything but execution." No question. The guys acted like they've never been in a physical game before. "Just a little talking going on," Rashad Bishop said. "It just kind of escalated a little too far." Cronin stressed composure at halftime, and the players seemed to get the message. The second half was great ball on both sides.
·It's always interesting to see who rises to the occasion in these games and who doesn't. Obviously Xavier's Terrell Holloway (career-high 26 points, 11-of-11 free-throw shooting) and Jason Love (19 rebounds, five blocks) were sensational. UC freshman Lance Stephenson scored a career-high 22 points and is really tough to stop one-on-one. "I felt like every play I could make the basket," said Stephenson, who was allowed to speak to the media for the first time since arriving at UC. "This was a very competitive game. I didn't know it was this tough."
·Holloway, like Stephenson from New York, told Mack during the game that he wanted to guard Stephenson. He did a decent job, making Stephenson work for his points. Stephenson has averaged 19.5 points in the last two games and is clearly UC's go-to guy. Deonta Vaughn had a career-high nine rebounds, but it took him too long to get going offensively. Coming off zero points against Miami, he didn't score against Xavier until 2½ minutes into the second half. He finished with 13 but missed a layup in the final seconds of double-overtime.
·By the way, Mack indicated that Stephenson was, uh, talking to him during the game. Stephenson could not seem to recall that.
·Both coaches used lots of players (9 each played at least 10 minutes) and lots of combinations. Cronin did not start Yancy Gates but needed him quickly when Steve Toyloy picked up two fouls in the first 2½ minutes. Mack didn't start leading scorer Jordan Crawford. Said he wanted to try a different lineup. Uh huh.Darnell Wilks strikes me as very productive: He had eight points and five rebounds in 14 minutes and was 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
·Some stats: This was only the sixth overtime game in Crosstown Shootout history and the first to go into double overtime. "A Shootout to remember," Mack called it. Xavier has won five of these games; UC's only OT victory was in 1967. ... The Musketeers have defeated UC three straight times for only the second time ever. The first was 1984-86, the Byron Larkin era at X. XU has never won four in a row in the series.... UC has lost 10 of the last 14 and has not won at Xavier since Dec. 14, 2001.
·Bearcats were just 10-of-22 from the foul line and may have lost the game because of poor free-throw shooting, which also hurt them in their other loss to Gonzaga. UC missed a free throw in first OT and missed three in the second overtime that could have won it. Xavier, meanwhile, was 28-of-36. "We're not finishing on the interior," Cronin said, reminding that UC also missed close-range shots and layups. "We've got to learn how to close out a game." Cincinnati is shooting just 60.2% from the foul line for the season.
·Wonder if ESPN will broadcast the game next year. Seems relegating it to ESPNU was not the best decision. No matter where in the country you live, that was a great game to watch.
·Pretty cool that both coaches are home-grown (Cronin went to LaSalle High School; Mack to St. Xavier). "Half my family hates Xavier and they root for UC," Mack said after the game.
·Perhaps the best thing about the Shootout is it's so unpredictable that it's predictable. The fact that UC was ranked going in combined with the fact that Xavier had been playing horribly only meant one thing: The Musketeers would have a great chance to win. But that was anybody's game and a blast to watch.
Not to change the subject, turn the page or move on with life ... but here's a thought:
Is there a better moment to get behind Mick Cronin, support the UC men's basketball program, pray that he continues to build on this early season success and takes the Bearcats to the next 20 NCAA Tournaments? Here is a home-grown guy who is not going to stand up in front of a crowd at another school and proclaim it his dream job. He is not Brian Kelly pining for Notre Dame or Thad Matta bolting for Ohio State.
Cronin has his dream job. You think if he leaves and someone else is brought in, it's going to be theirs?
Root for the guy. Hope like heck he duplicates Bob Huggins' success at UC - and then some.
It was another bad, awkward week for collegiate sports in this town. Why, oh why, can't coaches learn how to gracefully exit?
Skip Prosser was the model when he left Xavier for Wake Forest. He came back to Cincinnati, told his players in person he was taking a new job, met with the media and answered all questions, paid proper homage to his roots here, got choked up, hugged everyone and moved on. And everyone wished him well. Is that so hard?
It stinks right now that players and fans are angry and bitter toward Kelly when less than a week ago he was the toast of town. What he accomplished at UC is nothing short of remarkable and was truly unfathomable when he took the job. It's a shame his final chapter in town played out the way it did.
I'd find it hard to root against the guy, though. For now, you can be mad at Kelly, Notre Dame, Charlie Weis, the NCAA, the BCS, the guy who kicks off for Nebraska ... take your pick. But there is no substitute for what he gave the program and the city: A reason to believe, incredible electricity in a sold-out Nippert Stadium, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl appearances and, well, Mardy Gilyard.
Good luck to Kelly. He should always be part of UC somehow.
Better luck to Jeff Quinn, who now owns the monumental task of preparing the Bitter Bearcats for Urban Meyer and Florida.
And, circling back, best luck to Cronin, who wants to be here.
He practiced basketball every day all summer long.Gregory Williams badly wanted be a Muncie Central High School Bearcat. And for that, he was willing to do just about anything. So he'd play 10 to 12 hours a day. Even after football practices started, Williams would come home afterward and play basketball in the evening.
"I learned that if you really want to do something you have to be totally committed out-of-your-mind to it," Williams says now.
He had started his junior season on the varsity basketball team but was demoted around Christmas to the "B team." Williams was driven to make the varsity as a senior.
As you read along in Williams' book, "Life on the Color Line," you're certain he will achieve his goal.
And then all of a sudden - he doesn't.
Williams was cut from the team.
"That was a disappointing time," he says. "I learned that sports were not necessarily as fair as I thought they should be - because I don't know what went into that decision. I hope what went into it was could I contribute to the team (and) was I a good enough player to stay?"
He wonders.
*
You walk into the outer office of new University of Cincinnati President Gregory Howard Williams and you can't help but notice the walls. They are adorned with promotional posters of his best-selling book and photos and letters from dignitaries and celebrities - folks like President Clinton, Colin Powell, Tom Brokaw, James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall and the Prince of Asturias, heir apparent to the Spanish throne.
There are more in Williams' office.
UC's 27th president, who officially started on the job Nov. 1, brings more than a lifetime of academic achievements to his new position. He is an accomplished author who has appeared on "Oprah," "Good Morning America," "Larry King Live," "ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel," "Dateline NBC with Tom Brokaw" and National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross.
He has traveled the world and counts Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, as a friend.
When asked who he would want at his "ultimate dinner party," Williams mentions many of those people. But he starts with his father, who died at age 61.
"I'd like to have my dad at the dinner table - sober," Williams says. "Actually, he did die sober. It was a great thing that he was able to move forward in his life. He was a great story teller and a guy of great wisdom and understanding."
James "Buster" Williams was a driving force in his son's life. Buster was an alcoholic. He was often unemployed. He had more than his share of personal struggles. But he never lost sight of encouraging Gregory to succeed academically.
"His message continued to drive me for many, many years," Williams says. "My dad had his problems but he was totally committed to me as well as he could be dealing with his own alcoholism. And he believed in me when not everyone believed in me.
"I had high aspirations. I had high goals. My dad said, 'Greg you can be president one of these days.' It turns out he was right. I did turn out to be president of two great institutions."
*
Williams started growing up in Virginia. In 1954, when he was 10 years old, his parents separated, his father lost his business and Buster Williams took his two sons to Muncie, Ind., where his family lived.
It was on the bus ride to Muncie that Buster first told his children that they were part African-American and they were going to live with African-American relatives in an African-American neighborhood. Until then, Gregory Williams had been told his father was half Italian and believed he was white.
"Life is going to be different from now on," Buster Williams said. "... People in Indiana will treat you differently."
Suffice it to say, the next several years were filled with highs and lows that are described in the book in candid detail.
Through it all, Gregory Williams never wavered in his goal to be a lawyer. "What I really learned is perseverance and to stay focused," he says.
In his book, Williams refers to a conversation with his high school football coach who questioned him about dating white girls. In reality, it was the basketball coach who had that discussion with Williams.
To this day, he does not know if that played a factor in his not making the basketball team as a senior.
There were hard lessons learned in Muncie.
"Realizing that it's not going to be a day at the beach," he says when asked what he learned most from being cut in sports. "If something's really worth doing, then you really have to deal with whatever adversity or obstacles might be in your way. Be able to walk from it saying, 'OK, maybe I wasn't successful, but I did the best that I could do.' There was never any question that I, as they say, left everything on the field."
Oh, did we mention Williams was Muncie Central's starting quarterback?
*
Whatever it takes.
Williams graduated from Ball State University, earned a masters degree at the University of Maryland and a law degree, masters and Ph.D. at George Washington University.
Whatever it takes.
At the University of Iowa, he was a law professor, associate law dean and associate vice president of academic affairs. At Ohio State, he was dean of the law school. At City College of New York, he was president of the university.
Whatever it takes.
Williams has always had a special drive. His father was a great motivator and set high goals for his son. Miss Dora, a family friend, took in Gregory and his brother six months after they arrived in Muncie despite making just $25 a week as a maid.
"She did everything she could for us," Williams says. "There would be days where I thought, Well, I've had enough; I'm going to give this up. Then I'd say, No, no. There are too many people who supported me, people that supported me during a time when there was a price to pay for being a friend of Greg Williams, people that I felt I just couldn't let down. "Athletics played a role, as well. It's one thing having that dream; it's another thing being able to kind of achieve that dream and figuring out what it is going to take.
"A combination of all of those things created perseverance, that strong will, that desire to achieve, to be competitive and reach for those goals."
*
Over the years, Williams says, he talked with many students about obstacles they were facing and he shared "bits and pieces" of his own story. Many of those students told him he should write a book. His wife, Sara, also encouraged him to tell his story.
Well, not just his story.
Williams was back in Muncie and asked friends and family there what they thought of the book.
"Greg," they said. "This is not your book. This is our book. You told our story. "
"That's what I really wanted to do - tell the story of what it was like to grow up in a very racially divided community," Williams says. "But, of course, it's not just about racial division.It's about overcoming obstacles. It's about living in a dysfunctional family. It's about dealing with poverty. It's about trying to survive. It's about trying to make sense of teen-age years.
"I go back to Muncie at least once or twice a year. I see folks that I grew up with whose life didn't really turn out the way I thought it should have or they thought it should have. Doors of opportunity were closed to them. Some of them closed those doors themselves. I had two close friends I played football with die of acute alcoholism in their late 30s. But I've had others who simply things didn't happen for them.
"People tell me they like the book. What that means for me is they like the stories that I told about the people that are close to me and they feel positive about them in the way that I tried to portray them in the book."
Been racking my brain all season because Mardy Gilyard has reminded me of someone, and I couldn't figure out who. Until yesterday it struck me.
When I worked at a newspaper in Indiana in the 1980s, I remember covering a Purdue football game at Notre Dame early in Tim Brown's final season. Brown was electrifying. You could not turn your back, go to the concession stand or restroom when Brown was on the field because you might miss something special.
I have felt that way about Gilyard all season. I am not alone. Nippert Stadium buzzed when the guy dropped back to receive a kick or punt.
So, remember that Brown became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy? He had 1,847 all-purpose yards and seven TDs as a senior in 1987, and 1,937 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns as a junior.
Ready for Gilyard's season stats? Try these:
2,442 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns. That's almost 600 yards and more than twice as many TDs as Brown when he won the Heisman. Gilyard even has 304 more receiving yards, and he has still has one game left.
Want more?
Brown's stellar college career ended with 137 receptions, 22 touchdowns and a Notre Dame-record 5,024 all-purpose yards.
Gilyard has 197 receptions, 31 touchdowns and more than 5,600 all-purpose yards.
And for the capper: The Fighting Irish went 25-21 (and 0-2 in bowl games) during Brown's four seasons. The Bearcats are 37-13 in Gilyard's four seasons.
Brown, of course, went on to a 16-year NFL career and very well might end up a Hall of Famer.
It's often a sore subject across college campuses all over the country how much attention gets paid to athletics.
Today is a prime example why -- right or wrong -- that is the case. The drama of the games involving the nation's top teams can't be matched.
No need to recap UC's thrilling come-from-behind victory at Pitt. But that was just the start of the nail-biting. Tonight's Nebraska-Texas game played out the same way, going down to the last second. Literally.
If not for the Nebraska kickoff going out of bounds ... if not for the horse-collar tackle and penalty ... if not for one second being put back on the clock ... UC just might have had a shot at playing for a national championship. Which even as I write it seems completely unfathomable.
And so for close to 12 hours today, college football consumed us.
Nick Van Exel wants to practice what he's preaching.
As an assistant coach for Texas Southern University, he tells the players to make sure they graduate and how that will help them in the long run. And so 17 years later, Van Exel is going to work on finishing the requirements needed for his college degree.
"I want to get that done," he said Tuesday night after UC trounced Texas Southern 94-57 at Fifth Third Arena. "Probably (it will take) one year. It's something I want to do. It's something I need to do. If I had this brain about 20 years ago, I wouldn't be here talking about that.
Van Exel said he's received his transcripts from UC and plans to finish at Texas Southern.
"For me, it's very personal that I had that opportunity and I let it slip by," he said.
Before the game, Van Exel was recognized upon his return to the arena in which he helped lead the Bearcats to the 1992 Final Four and the 1993 Elite Eight. He averaged 15.2 points, 3.6 assists and totaled a then-school record 147 3-point field goals while playing two years for Bob Huggins at UC. Van Exel was named third-team All-America in 1993.
"It was fun to be back," he said. "It brought back a lot of memories."
The crowd gave him a nice welcome home. Then many scratched their heads and thought, "Nick's coaching at Texas Southern? Huh?"
Van Exel, who lives in Houston, retired from the NBA in 2006 after a 13-year career in which he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs.
He is among the top-10 all-time in 3-point field goals made (1,528), and he finished with 12,658 career points, 5,777 assists and a 14.4 ppg scoring average.
He always knew he wanted to go into coaching and planned to take off two years after retiring before launching his new career.
"Where I made my mistake (was) when I was finishing up playing in the NBA, I wasn't vocal about it," he said of his desire to coach."Before that third year came I really wasn't ready mentally. I sent out a few calls to the NBA, to a few teams, but that didn't work out.
"This opportunity presented itself. I said, 'I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot and let people see that I'm really interested.'When you take a job like this ... it opens up people's eyes, and that's what I wanted to do."
Texas Southern, which plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, is 3-5. It's hardly the big-time of college basketball. That's OK with Van Exel. He knows he's gaining valuable experience.
"I love it," he said. "I love this level. The guys listen. They're receptive. It's a learning experience, and I really need it. Being an athlete you think you can just jump into something and do it. I'm learning a lot of things.I'm learning more about myself. I'm learning how to talk to the kids. I like it a lot.
"I'm totally the opposite of Huggs as far as (being) volatile. I'm very quiet, laidback. I don't have a lot of yelling in me. But his material was great. I still use it."
One thing Van Exel could live without: The bus rides.
Here's a guy who traveled in luxury as an NBA player and now he's taking 9- to 13-hour bus rides to and from games. After the loss at UC, Texas Southern was heading out for an 8- to 9-hour ride to Wichita State for a Thursday night game. Then it will be 9 to 10 hours back to Houston. And it will take 12 to 13 hours for a Dec. 23 game at New Mexico State.
"That's the tough part," Van Exel said. "But you have to adjust. I didn't come from the NBA as far as my life, my growing up. I can get over that."
He wants to coach. And he wants to get as far as he can in the profession.
"I'm a point guard," he said. "That's what point guards do. I have a lot of passion for the game. I have a lot of knowledge of the game. And I have a lot of playbooks."
He smiles.
We're standing outside the Texas Southern locker room. Former UC teammates Anthony Buford and Herb Jones are nearby.
Van Exel is asked about his year's Bearcats, which are ranked No. 22 this week.
"They're very good, very talented, very big,' he said. "They use their bodies. They beat you up. We were expecting that. We tried to get our guys prepared for that.
"There are some big bodies out there. One thing about playing at this level as opposed to the level we're on, you're not going to get anything easy; you're not going to get anything cheap coming through that lane. Guys are going to knock you all over. We weren't ready for that."
Nice UC football story in Cleveland Plain Dealer. Good exposure for Bearcats up north. http://tinyurl.com/y87orru. Written by UC alum and former News Record staff member Branson Wright.
Should the crowds remain sold out, this is going to become a bigger and bigger issue. It is a challenging experience going to concession stands and bathrooms right now (not to mention just getting to your seats). Especially with little kids in tow. Great quote from Athletic Director Mike Thomas: "I tell people we have more contact on the concourse than we do down on the field." Made me laugh out loud.
The practice is facility is huge for Brian Kelly and his program. Nippert improvements will be important for the fan experience.
Steve Sanders was a wide receiver from Cleveland, Ohio, who played four years for the University of Cincinnati football team. But that's not how he will be remembered on the UC campus.
This is what made Sanders part of Bearcat basketball history: It was his 3-pointer from the corner as time ran out that gave Cincinnati a 66-64 victory over Minnesota in the first game ever at Shoemaker Center - and the first game of the Bob Huggins era.
That was 20 years ago this week.
Here is what led up to Nov. 25, 1989 ...
Sanders' last football season was 1988. He knew he was coming back to UC for a fifth year to try and complete requirements for his degree. In the spring of 1989, Sanders was playing intramural basketball and caught the eye of new assistant basketball coach Larry Harrison. Harrison, who was on the lookout for players, asked News Record reporter Branson Wright about Sanders and another football player, Roosevelt Mukes. Wright was friends with Sanders, who played pickup games every off-season with UC basketball players, felt he held his own and often wondered whether he could play Division I basketball.
The next fall, Sanders joined the basketball team for preseason conditioning, then had second thoughts.
"That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life," Sanders said. "I talked to Coach Harrison and said, 'I don't know if I can do this.' We just ran so much. I actually stopped for about two weeks."
When practices officially started, UC held walk-on tryouts. Sanders and Mukes both showed up.
"Coming in, I didn't really expect to play a lot," Sanders said. "I thought maybe I could play five or 10 minutes a game and just enjoy the experience. But as time went on, I started feeling more and more comfortable. I thought to myself, 'I could play a lot.' "
Huggins was beginning to assert himself as the Bearcats coach and certainly grabbed the attention of the players.
"He was a maniac," Sanders said. "The yelling and the screaming didn't bother me. I came from a football background, and that's all football coaches do is yell and scream. But it was something to go through, just the hard work. Practice was so intense for 3½ hours. He never let us cheat ourselves. I was in the best shape of my life playing basketball."
By the first game, the 6-foot-2 Sanders was in the starting backcourt with Andre Tate.
"The whole time leading up to the Minnesota game, he never let us think that we weren't good enough to win," Sanders said of Huggins. "We had an awful lot of confidence, which he gave us. And the coaching staff did a great job with the scouting report. Everything he said that they would do during the game, they did."
Sanders, who would average 7.0 points and 2.5 rebounds for the season, had four points all game. Until the very end.
In the final seconds, Kevin Lynch of Minnesota tried to save a ball from going out of bounds and throw it off the leg of UC's Keith Starks. He missed, and the ball bounced down the court and went out of bounds right under the UC basket. Eight-tenths of a second remained on the clock.
Huggins called a timeout. The first thing he said was, "You guys are going to win this basketball game."
The play designed called for Tate to inbound the ball and lob it toward the basket for either Starks, Levertis Robinson or Lou Banks, all great leapers. As the huddle broke, Huggins grabbed Sanders by the arm and said, "Steve, if they can't get it inside, you have to break around because Andre's going to throw you the ball."
Sure enough, Tate couldn't get the ball where he wanted. Sanders broke toward the ball, faked back, then went to the corner in front of the UC bench. Tate delivered a perfect pass. Sanders caught it and shot it, his first 3-point attempt of the night.
"It felt perfect," Sanders said. "It felt like I just placed the ball into the basket. It had to go in. I saw it and when it went in, I was so happy. There was so much energy flowing through my body I cannot explain. I jumped up and down and ran, and they chased me and caught me. They dived on top of me. They picked me and then I got down and ran across the court and up into the stands. Everybody was off the court but me. I'm still running around in the stands. Then I run down back through the court again. When I finally got in the locker room, I was so hyped and excited, I just had to go lay down on the floor in the shower. ... It was truly amazing."
It's now 2009. Sanders laughs when he gets the call for this story.
"When you say it's been 20 years, my first thought is, Wow, I'm getting old," he said laughing. "My second thought is, I always go back to a conversation I had with Coach Harrison right after the game. He told me I would go down in UC history, and I told him that in two weeks nobody would remember that shot. So here we are 20 years later and we're talking about it.
"What I see now is that it was the beginning of the resurgence of Cincinnati basketball. I know what it was before I played, and I see how it is now."
Sanders, whose daughter Brianna was a star at Princeton and now is on Ohio State's women's basketball team, remains in Cincinnati. He is a senior program director for the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati working at the Carl H. Lindner YMCA in the West End. He's worked with the YMCA for 17½ years, including stops at branches in Lincoln Heights and Madisonville.
"It just feels like it gives me a chance to give back to a community that's similar to where I grew up (in East Cleveland) - a lot of single-parent homes, families that are not as fortunate as they would like to be," Sanders said.
"We're in a $10 million state-of-the-art facility. The kids have a chance to feel good about where they're going and what we're doing for them. I just love what I am doing."
Make no mistake; the University of Cincinnati's new president is a sports fan. Gregory Williams checks out ESPN, loves to watch the Super Bowl and Final Four and enjoys watching college football and following coaches with whom he has crossed paths at previous stops.
He's witnessed big-time college athletics during years as a student or administrator at Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa, where he served on the Board in Control of Athletics. During his tenure as City College of New York president, the Division III school added baseball, and Williams talks about attending volleyball games where the announcer spoke Spanish because of the school's diverse student body. He also enjoys pointing out that CCNY is the only school to have won men's basketball NCAA and NIT titles in the same year (1950).
Williams discussed a wide range of topics in close to an hour and skillfully handled questions about the college football playoff debate, the money and attention lavished on college sports and, of course, whether Cincinnati and Ohio State should play every year in men's basketball and football (I had to ask, right?)
On Ohio State, he said, smiling, "I'm going to leave that up to the athletic directors and coaches. (Ohio State) President (Gordon) Gee is a good friend of mine, but I don't think neither he nor I will be scheduling games."
Here are questions and answers from the session related to sports.
In the context of higher education, how do you view college athletics?
"I think college athletics have an important role to play in an institution. Obviously it's an opportunity for the school (and) the alumni to really come together and show pride. A common purpose and a common goal can be a great unifying factor and bring prestige and recognition to the institution in a way that is very hard to emulate in other things that you might be doing."
Impressions of athletics here at UC?
"From what I've seen so far it certainly is a unifying factor, not only on the campus but in the entire city, and throughout Southwest Ohio folks are very supportive of UC athletics. That's obviously quite gratifying."
You have many priorities. Where do sports fit in? When do you start to think about your goals for athletics here?
"I think sports play a big role. Obviously it's hard to figure out where they are on the priority list. No. 1 the university is an academic institution. The No. 1 priority is to be the best we can be academically - that means in the classroom, in the programs that we offer students, in the research that we do and that the faculty is engaged in. We want to be a complete university, and part of that is the opportunity for students to participate in athletics, as well as for students to be involved and engaged in following the teams and being supportive of the teams."
Do you have goals in mind for UC's athletic program?
"I want us to be the best we can be."
Are you familiar with the drive for the indoor facility and potential stadium expansion?
"I have some familiarity with that." (He laughs)
How do you view that need and where that fits into things?
"There are certainly needs that we're going to try to address. A number of those are being addressed right now. I would anticipate we'll be able to move fairly quickly on addressing the most urgent needs. I want to emphasize that Athletics is pursuing private dollars for these needs so that the financial burden does not fall back on the University's general fund."
There's always the debate about college athletes - that coaches get huge salaries and there is a disproportionate amount of attention paid to athletics. How do you view where athletics is, the priority it gets and the money spent?
"The priorities, of course, are clear. As I said earlier, we are an academic institution. That's what we are and that's what we always will be. In fact, we don't call them 'athletes,' we call them 'student-athletes.' Ultimately they're going to graduate and go onto a number of different professions, and we want to be supportive of that."
Will you be visible? What kinds of sporting events will people see you at?
"I try to attend as many sporting events as I can. You might see me wearing my Bearcats jacket."
What kind of relationship will you have with Athletic Director Mike Thomas?
"We're very fortunate to have a great athletic director. As the president, I have responsibility for everything. While I am not a micromanager, I expect to be informed as to what's going on, and Mike has done a tremendous job in keeping me informed and abreast of what's happening."
Will you have face-time with UC student-athletes? Will you meet them? Will you be available to them?
"The basketball coach wants me to speak to the team, and I look forward to that. I've already had the chance to meet some of the football players. I enjoy meeting athletes. Every place I've ever been I've had the chance to interact with athletes. That's always a fun experience to hear about the challenges they're facing and talk about their goals and aspirations."
What advice or thoughts do you share with them?
"Student-athletes really face great challenges. When I was on the Board in Control of Athletics at the University of Iowa, we did a study on what time it took to be a student-athlete. For instance - this was a long time ago; I don't remember this exactly - but in a week that the football team would have an away game, we found that students were spending over 48 hours that week on things related to athletics and football. Obviously they aren't practicing all that time. It was like having a full-time job. You really have to have your priorities in order. I think athletes that are successful learn to establish those priorities and learn how to negotiate that. It is very difficult and it requires a single-mindedness if you're going to be successful both in the classroom and in the field."
As time goes on, what are people going to learn about you as a person?
"I think they're going to learn that I'm a very hard worker. I'm very dedicated. I'm focused. I am competitive, and I think that comes from my own time as a student-athlete. From my own background, I understand many of the struggles that our students have in terms of facing financial and other obstacles to pursuing their education."
How was attending the Big East meetings on your first day on the job (Nov. 1)?
"It was great. The reception was very warm from my fellow presidents. I knew a couple of them and had had good relationships with them before I started. They were very excited to a person about the great things that are happening with UC football right now. The Big East members take great pride in that. I didn't have anything to do with that, but it's on my watch." (He smiles)
How familiar are you with the Big East overall?
"I am familiar with the conference, I am familiar with some of the challenges that they face. I came away from that meeting feeling that the Big East is a very strong conference and folks are very committed to it. The presidents are excited about the conference and what the potential is in the future. There was a real energy and enthusiasm in the room for the Big East among the presidents."
I know you played football and basketball as a kid. Do you still play anything?
"I played basketball up until a few years. I don't do much basketball (anymore). I try to work out pretty regularly. I do a lot of aerobics, as well as weight-lifting. I try to do bicycling from time to time. My wife and I were avid bicyclists."
Sports heroes growing up?
"Sure. Growing up in (Muncie) Indiana, it was basketball, and one of my heroes was Oscar Robertson, who was a few years older than me."
Have you met yet?
"Yes, actually we have met and we have a number of friends in common, folks I know who live in Indianapolis, who grew up in Indianapolis and other people he played with over the years, particularly from my hometown of Muncie. ... I think we met at an alumni gathering. It was great. Absolutely I was l looking forward to meeting Oscar Robertson; no question about it. Once the decision was made for me to come to Cincinnati, I was thinking of folks I was looking forward to meeting and obviously Oscar Robertson was one of them."
Pro teams that you follow?
"Since I have two cousins who are assistant coaches with the Cincinnati Bengals (Jonathan and Jay Hayes), I root for the Bengals."
How are they related?
"Our grandmothers were sisters. "
Were you a better quarterback or a better basketball player?
"In retrospect, I was probably a better football player than I was a basketball player. But in Indiana, in those days, it was all about basketball. As I look back on it, I certainly had more success playing football because I played quarterback and I played linebacker, as well. Those were the days when you played both ways. But I loved basketball."
This is Part I. Part II will deal more with Williams' background and his book, "Life on the Color Line." I expect to post that the week after Thanksgiving. I've got a fun story for next week which should bring back some fond memories.
Got a little nervous watching the first half of last night's UC basketball opener against Prairie View A&M. Bearcats didn't look excited to play, which was surprising.
Not to put too much stock into a single play, but Yancy Gates missed an easy dunk on the opening possession, and I thought that set the tone. If Gates dunks and scores, maybe the team and crowd get into the game sooner. As it turned out, it took the Bearcats five minutes to get their first field goal.
Made me think of the 1991-92 season when, if you recall, the Bearcats LOST to Athletes in Action in one of their exhibition games, 82-79. UC blew a 20-point lead in that game. Talk about shocking. "This is a great lesson for us," then-coach Bob Huggins told the team afterward. Among other things.
How did the Bearcats respond? They stayed in the locker room by themselves for hours after Huggins' outburst ended. The leadership of the team emerged. The players wrote down the goals they wanted to achieve that season. Aside from winning the Great Midwest Conference and advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the goals included "Work hard every day in practice" and "Leave the attitude at the door."
Of course, you know how the story goes: UC advanced to the Final Four that season.
Be fun to see how this season's team responds to Monday night's less-than-impressive showing and whether leadership emerges.
Coaches like to quote Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who once said, "A season is a lifetime."
Was around UC a lot in the past week. A few observations:
1. Caught the women's basketball exhibition Monday night against Kentucky Wesleyan. The Bearcats won easily 72-36 but I came away even more impressed with new coach Jamelle Elliott. Afterward she and her players talked about her insistence that they play with intensity at all times in practice and in games. Elliott backed that up by pulling senior guard Kahla Roudebush with 7:26 left in the first half and having her sit the bench the rest of the half. Why? Elliott thought Roudebush, last year's leading scorer, stopped playing after committing a turnover. Sent a good message to Roudebush and the team. I liked it. I should mention there were more people in attendance than a home game against Providence I saw last season.
2. Got a chance to spend almost an hour with new President Gregory Williams. Really enjoyed it. Soon I will be posting stories from that interview. He was very easy to talk to even though it was an interview. My take: He is far more interesting talking about non-sports-related topics than about athletics. My stories will cover both.
3. Win or lose, UC football is fun to watch. Amazing perspective to think that now fans are "worried" about the defense after allowing 40+ points and were sweating out a two-point victory. It's no longer "will they win?" but "by how many points?" ... Wouldn't want to be Coach Kelly having to make the decision on which quarterback to play. Nothing like a win-win situation, though.
4. UC volleyball team might be one of the better kept secrets in town. Coach Reed Sunahara is in his 10th season as head coach, and his teams have never had a losing record. This is the ninth time UC has won at least 20 matches under Sunahara. Five of his last nine teams have gone to the NCAA Tournament, and this year's team has a chance, too. The Bearcats have a set a school record by winning 25 consecutive times at home. Not much more you could ask for from Sunahara's program.
OK, back to work on the President Williams stories.
There's always something gratifying about hearing that a student-athlete has prepared for life after sports.
In some ways, Jill Stephens has been thinking about her future since shortly after she accepted a scholarship offer to play basketball at the University of Cincinnati.
"My mom was bound and determined that I come into college with a major," Stephens says. "She said you can't be undecided because you'll just take a bunch of classes that you don't need and you'll waste all this time."
Good advice. Not coincidently, Mom used to teach pre-school and kindergarten and is now an adjunct professor at Washington State Community College in Marietta, Ohio.
And so here is Stephens, 19th on the UC women's basketball career scoring list, still in college even though her eligibility has expired. She remains at UC working toward a Ph.D. in audiology.
Stephens, who expects to finish in June 2012, earned her undergraduate degree in communication sciences and disorders in three years (thanks to some AP credit from high school and summer school every year of college). There is no master's program for audiology, so she went straight to the doctorate program, which she started last year as a senior on the Bearcats.
"I was lucky," she says. "I knew what I wanted to do when I started."
When she was in high school in Mineral Wells, W.Va., Stephens thought she might want to teach but then decided she didn't want to work with large groups of children at once. Her mom suggested audiology. Stephens had never heard of it. But once she checked it out, she thought it could be a good fit.
"I knew that I wanted to work with children," she says. "Eventually I want to specialize in pediatrics."
Meanwhile, the 6-foot-3 Stephens went on to score 1,053 career points at UC. She averaged 12 points and 5.3 rebounds as a senior last year, including a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds against Providence. She has the fifth-best career free-throw percentage in program history (.791).
Twice she received CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, and last year she won the BIG EAST Scholar Athlete of the Year award for a combination of athletic and academic success as voted on by the league's coaches.
Over the summer she played in Italy for 10 days with a USA Athletes International team. She played some open gym in the summer with the Bearcats and occasionally plays some pick-up ball. But otherwise, for Stephens, it's time to move on from basketball (other than cheering on her former teammates).
"It was a great experience," she says of her college career. "I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about how to get along with other people. I grew up a lot. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think I'm a much tougher person now than I was before. When I first got here I was really homesick. I had a hard time being away from my parents. I let little things bother me all the time. I learned that you can't do that."
This quarter Stephens, 22, is working at Jewish Hospital, primarily with older patients. She's involved with hearing tests, basic audiograms, some specialized tests, hearing-aid fittings and helping people who show up with hearing-aid problems.
Next quarter she'll have a rotation at Children's Hospital. Her fourth year, Stephens will have a clinical externship that could be anywhere in the country. She would be like to be part of a cochlear implant team.
Will she wind up working and living in Cincinnati? Will she return to West Virginia?
"I haven't decided," she says. "I have long time to think about where I want to end up."
Good to chance this week to get some signed books for your holiday gift list.
Associate head football coach Kerry Coombs will talk football with authors Josh Katzowitz, John Baskin and Lonnie Wheeler as they discuss their books "Bearcats Rising" and "Cincinnati Schoolboy Legends" Thursday, Nov. 5 (7-9 p.m.) at the new LaRosa's in Colerain (3657 Stone Creek Boulevard, Shoppes of Stone Creek). Both books feature Coombs.
If you go, head to the family dining area in the back of the restaurant, Coombs and the authors will be on a panel to discuss the books and the history of football in Cincinnati. After the discussion, you can buy books and get them signed.
He is trying his hand at radio and TV, learning whatever he can and working with whoever will teach him. He wants to be part of the national media scene. And he's willing to put in the time and pay his dues to get there.
The former UC Bearcat football standout is becoming a regular on 700 WLW at 3 p.m. on Mondays with Eddie Fingers and Tracy Jones. He has his own show called 2 Deep Zone on
on 1530 WCKY every Tuesday night (6-7 p.m.) with former NFL player Charles Fisher and Mixed Martial Arts fighter Rich Thurston. Hawkins also joins Mo Egger at 4 p.m. every Friday for the Bengals Breakdown show live from Chi-nnati's in Madeira (3-6 p.m.).
"The thing that stands out most is he really works at it," Egger says. "He comes prepared. He doesn't wait for me to pepper him with questions. He has things he wants to talk about. You can really tell he wants to be good at this."
Egger says Hawkins brings a unique perspective. He played for Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. He played for Bill Belichick in New England. He has many existing relationships with NFL players and coaches, and he's not afraid to critique teams and players, which is important for a good broadcaster.
"He really adds an incredible amount of credibility," Egger says. "He just got out of the league; he knows just about everybody in the game. He really brings an insider's perspective.
Every week there's always something that comes up that he can relate to."
Hawkins was a sideline reporter for the UC football team's 2009 spring game and was an analyst in the booth for the UC-Southeast Missouri home-opener football game that aired on FOX Sports Ohio.
"Artrell did a nice job of 'getting the story' from the sidelines during the spring game," producer David Ashbrock says. "Artrell's player interviews were relevant and cogent. He got more relaxed as the game progressed.
"When Artrell found himself in the booth in September, I think he was a little surprised. Now that he wasn't counted on for an occasional 'hit,' he was expected to have a comment after every play. I don't think he quite expected the job to be that difficult. ... Like football, 'reps' can make all the difference between a so-so career and a great one."
Hawkins knows he needs more experience. That's why he's started broadcasting high school football games with Channel 19 sports director Brian Giesenschlag. They worked Princeton-Oak Hills together for the Princeton Media Network and will team up for Saturday's Princeton-Middletown game (airs live on Channel 19 at 2 p.m.).
"I'm just doing everything I can," Hawkins says. "Pay or no pay. I don't really care. I'm in it right now for the experience and the know-how."
Giesenschlag says Hawkins has the kinds of attributes that can't be taught: Great voice, intelligence, playing experience. "He's just raw," Giesenschlag says. "The good thing is he knows it, and he just wants to get the experience. He's in the process of doing that."
Hawkins has chosen wisely for someone to emulate: Solomon Wilcots. Wilcots, too, is a former Bengals defensive back who started locally and has worked his way up to co-host of a Sirius NFL Radio show, analyst on the NFL Network and color commentator for CBS' football telecasts.
Wilcots has told Hawkins not to try to go too far too fast. "He says to learn the business," Hawkins says. "That's kind of what I am doing."
Hawkins, 32, was selected by the Bengals in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft out of UC. He played six years with the Bengals, one year with the Carolina Panthers and finished in 2005 and 2006 with the New England Patriots. His NFL career included 303 tackles, 11 interceptions and four sacks.
Truth be told, he was not one of those athletes who was always interested in a career in the media.
"I had been told my whole life about how great my voice is," Hawkins says. "But I really never had any interest in any type of communications or broadcasting. I thought I was going to be a business guy. And then I figured out pretty quickly that I don't like business."
In 2007, he applied for - and was accepted to - the NFL's first Broadcast Boot Camp, held over three days at NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J. Those interested had to submit answers to essay questions. Only 20 players were selected.
They got experience working in-studio with James Brown, field reporting and had a chance to simulate calling a game with Dick Vermiel, analyst and former NFL coach.
"I got really good feedback," Hawkins says.
Last year, he mentioned his new career interest to Dan Hoard, radio voice of Bearcats football and baskeball. Hoard put Hawkins in touch with Lexington-based sportscaster Alan Cutler and other broadcast colleagues. Cutler had Hawkins on air several times. And so the ball got rolling.
Now, here's a lesson for all athletes, college and pro.
Hawkins tried to be cordial with the media as a player. And now media types have gone out of their way to help Hawkins land some opportunities. "There have been a host of people who have aided me in what I am trying to do without expecting anything in return," he says.
"When you play football, for some reason the players have this mind-set that they're the end-all be-all," Hawkins says. "Some guys are very good at treating people the right way and other guys tend to think they're the man and they're more important than what they are. The truth of the matter is, when you're done playing football, you're done playing football. How you treat people is always going to come back to either help you or hurt you later on.
"I'm super happy my momma taught me how to be cordial and respect everybody and to not think more of myself than I should."
He's made his home in Cincinnati. His wife is from here. Hawkins thinks it's a great place to raise a family. And where else would he be as "relevant" (his word) as he is here?
Now the question is: How far he can go? He'd love to have a syndicated radio show. He'd be thrilled to work games for ESPN or the NFL Network. He is learning to do voice-overs.
"I want to take over," he says laughing - but serious."Triple threat.
"It's a lot more work than I anticipated. I'm busier now than I was when I played. But it is fun, and it does keep me involved with what I know best - and that's football."
I might end up writing more about this. The university magazine is looking for some reviews. And rumor has it, I may get a chance to interview Williams next month.
Meanwhile, I recommend adding this to your reading list.
How closely are you following the Bearcats in the NFL?
There are 14 former UC players currently on NFL rosters, according to sports information guru Ryan Koslen. Thought it might be fun this week to check in and see how they all are doing.
Also thought it might be fun to turn it into a little quiz.
So, here are the 14 players:
Connor Barwin, Trevor Canfield, Brent Celek, Antonio Chatman, Trent Cole, Troy Evans, Andre Frazier, Tyjuan Hagler, Kevin Huber, Mike Mickens, Haruki Nakamura, DeAngelo Smith, Brandon Underwood, Mike Wright.
And here are the questions (each guy can only be used once):
1.Which three are on their team's practice squad?
2.Who is on injured reserve?
3.Which one of the remaining group plays offense?
4.Which one of the remaining group plays exclusively special teams?
5.Of the defensive players, which three have more than 10 tackles this season?
6.Who plays for a team that is still undefeated?
7.Who plays for a team that has beaten the Bengals?
8.Which three play for teams that have lost to the Bengals?
I won't make you wait. Here are the answers:
1.Trevor Canfield (Arizona), Mike Mickens (Dallas), DeAngelo Smith (Chicago)
2.Antonio Chatman (Cincinnati)
3.Brent Celek (Philadelphia). Celek has caught 30 passes for 378 yards (third among all NFL tight ends) and two touchdowns. He is averaging 12.6 yards per reception.
4.Kevin Huber (Cincinnati). Huber has punted 36 times for a 43.6 average, which ranks 21st in the NFL. He has a long punt of 61 yards and has nailed 12 punts inside the 20-yard line.
5.Trent Cole (Philadelphia), Tyjuan Hagler (Indianapolis), Mike Wright (New England). Cole has 24 tackles, 3.5 sacks and one forced fumble. Hagler has 19 tackles. Wright has 15 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble.
6.Troy Evans (New Orleans). The Lakota High School graduate has eight tackles in five games. This is his third season with the Saints and eighth in the NFL.
7.Connor Barwin (Houston). The rookie defensive end has six tackles and one sack (Carson Palmer) in six games.
8.Andre Frazier (Pittsburgh), Haruki Nakamura (Baltimore) and Brandon Underwood (Green Bay). Frazier has nine tackles in five games. Nakamura has four tackles and a forced fumble in six games. Underwood, a rookie cornerback, has only appeared in one game.
This
feels a little strange. I have to admit that right from the start.
Consider this my introductory blog post as a new contributor to the UC
Athletics Web site. Why does this feel weird? A few reasons:
1.
I am writing in the first person and probably will be a lot. Because that's
what blogs do. I'm a former newspaper reporter, and reporters were always
taught that they were not the story and no reader cared about them. But
over the last five years or so, media outlets have been asking reporters to
blog and chat with readers about their personal experiences. Heck, former
Enquirer reporter Dustin Dow once blogged about buying shoes in Italy when
covering the Winter Olympics and it was considered hilarious and fascinating
stuff by his editor: Me. I'll try to get used to this quickly.
2.
I am allowed to write for a UC-related Web site. Let me explain
that.
I was in newspapers for most of the last 25 years (not anymore, obviously). I
have covered sports at just about every level - high school, college, pros,
international.
The majority of my reporting career was spent covering college basketball at
Purdue, Xavier and Cincinnati (the Steve Logan years). I became deputy sports
editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2002 and sports editor in 2004.
Reporters and editors pride themselves on objectivity. I may own clothes with a
team logo on them, but I would not wear them in public. You can't let anyone
perceive that you have a bias.
Quick story: When my first child was born, I was the Xavier beat reporter. One
night the kid was sick and I had to quickly dash to Kroger for medicine. It was
cold. I reached into the closet and grabbed a sweatshirt. It happened to be a
UC sweatshirt. Hadn't worn it for years. Well, sure enough, there I am going
down an aisle and I get stopped by a Xavier fan who knows I cover the
Musketeers and wants to ask me a recruiting question. But I notice that he
can't take his eyes off my sweatshirt. He did not comment on it, but I am
grateful he was not running home to post on a chat board that the Xavier
reporter is a UC fan. I did not make that "mistake" again.
Where was I?
Oh yea, objectivity. Not a concern with this blog.
Here in this space, my charge is to help link the past and present of
University of Cincinnati sports. That means I may write some items with
historical perspective (whatever that means), I will track down some former
players and write about what they're up to, and other than that I plan to make
things up as I go.
Just to establish a little Bearcat credibility:
I am a 1984 UC graduate. I covered the 1992 Final Four team for what was then
called Horizons, the alumni magazine. I wrote the book "Tales from
Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball" in 2004 after interviewing 75 to 80 former
UC basketball players, coaches and staff members. I was editor of the book
"Cheer Cincinnati: The Bearcats' Special Season," which was produced
by Enquirer Media and came out at the beginning of this year. I am a former
News Record sports editor and editor. I am teaching advanced journalism at UC
this quarter and serve on several UC-related committees. And, I am working on a
few new side projects that involve UC sports (more on those some other time).
I hope to have fun here, but mostly I want to keep this interesting. Feel free
to send me questions, comments, ideas and former players you'd like to know
about in any sport.
One final thought for this post: I find blogging to be kind of like doing a
radio interview. I never think anyone's listening or reading or paying
attention until later when I run into someone who comments on something I said.
So, don't hesitate to lemme know if you're out there.
And if you are one of my former Calhoun Hall dorm mates who used to use my News
Record articles to line your bird cages ... get your printer ready - I'm back! :)
