Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly today told reporters today that he is staying put at UC, which means Pat Hill has one less obstacle in his way for the University of Washington job.
Kelly is 21-5 in two-plus seasons at UC and has been a hot name for open slots this season, including the job at Tennessee.
He told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "There's been a lot of interest in my services, but I want to be here at the University of Cincinnati for the right reasons," he said. "My family loves it here. I've got good people to work with. It's a really good situation, and it's only going to get better."
Seems like Kelly is getting what he wants out of UC, which is facility improvements ... maybe Hill was hoping for the same thing here. He hasn't been getting the same results, with some in town thinking Fresno State could use a change to rejuvenate the program.
A hot name if Hill leaves: former OC and current Alabama OC Jim McElwain ...
Hill isn't gone yet though. He still has a major obstacle in Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.
Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times is reporting that a passenger spotted Leach on a flight to Seattle earlier today.
Other possible candidates are TCU coach Gary Patterson, UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker and Utah's Kyle Whittingham.
Boise State's Chris Petersen left some wiggle room about leaving Boise but was adamant that he wanted to stay in comments to the Idaho Statesman. Contract negotiations have stalled, though. (see half way down the page on that last link)
Ooooh boy...
Alabama OC Jim McElwain? Hmmm, "Hi I'm Jim McElwain, I think I'll leave the #1 team in the nation with a HUGE multi-million dollar football budget, non-wavering booster support and freakish amounts of talent at my disposal to go a HUGE step backward to fickle Fresno fans who ALWAYS want something for nothing and will bail everytime the season gets tough.." Yea right, i'm sure he'll be banging on the door to come here and get some "head coaching experience" in the oh so powerful WAC. Nice try but I think not. He's the OC in the SEC folks...not going to come back to the WAC. Maybe when something in the PAC10 opens up, or the Big 12..but the WAC?
Nope, the only reason Pat Hill stuck around so long is he genuinely likes Fresno and has a loyalty to the program. He is one of the hardest working coaches in the nation who has had to constantly deal with low fan support, milking as much talent out of tier 2 recruits as possible, injuries and lack of depth, a woefully lame athletic budget and inadequate, aging facilities, Title 9, CSU-Fresno folks that are bitter and resentful of athletics, etc..
And through all that we still have a better APR than most of the PAC 10, MWC and all but Boise in the WAC Thanks to Pat and his emphasis on prepping his kids for life after football as well as competing on the field:
"Under Hill, the Dogs have produced 109 Academic All-WAC players. Over the last 11 seasons that's more than any other WAC school. The 2007 total of 16 Academic All-WAC selections is one better than the previous Fresno State record of 15 set in the 2005 season. Prior to Hill's arrival, Fresno State had only produced nine Academic All-WAC players. In the Hill era, the Dogs are averaging 9.9 Academic All-WAC selections per season."
No, sorry to say we won't be getting much better than Hill. We may go back to dominating our conference (after Boise jumps to the Mtn West) like we did back in the Sweeney days from time to time, but even those teams had 11-1, 10-2 seasons followed by 6-5, 5-7 etc..
Good Lord! I've even heard someone float the name Charlie Weis as if that's a good thing..yikes!!
We've beaten Washington, UCLA, Oregon State, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Virginia etc., all in the Pat Hill era and we should be proud that our team can and will play with anyone without fear or ever giving up (last Friday excepted).
Yes this season sucked and I mean sucked, but seriously let's not run Pat out on a rail just yet..truth be told there is hope for the future...the Brandstator era is over after all.
So, what happens if Hill doesn't leave? Every poll I've seen has a big majority of people wanting Coach Hill to take the Huskies job. But if he stays??? How will the fan base treat him?