CSNbbs

If anyone wanted to email MT and tell him THANKS for rallying the fans behind UC and BK this year and especially for helping get 8500 bowl tickets sold, here is his email:

mike.thomas@uc.edu

My wife and I were on the elevator with Mike in the hotel and I let him know how great everything was. I also got to meet Mike Waddell at the Bama Blowout and let him know as well.

I am so glad I could go this year and encourage anyone to try and do so if they can.

I've never seen an athletic dept function any better at this school than this one did during the past fb season. They seemed to be right on top of everything. And the final chapter was best of all: finding private sources to enable BK to agree to a new contract in addition to doing a fantastic job with the bowl game. MT deserves to be congratulated and thanked.

What is amazing is how disenchanted we all were with the guy at the beginning of his tenure, and what an enigma he was at that time. Is this the same guy we were all lambasting for being so unaccessable, and seemingly in hiding?

He is by far the best AD we have had since I have been affiliated with UC (with apologies to Bob Goin, who I think did a fantastic job).

MT definitely made some "half-time" adjustments, and his tenure is markedly improved over those first six months or so. He's getting it now. We want leaders who believe in UC and the Bearcats as much as WE DO.

It's a shame that our athletic successes are sometimes wrongly being attributed to NAncy ZImpher and the board instead of Mike Thomas and the athletics department. Great job Mike!

Jchuges7 Wrote:It's a shame that our athletic successes are sometimes wrongly being attributed to NAncy ZImpher and the board instead of Mike Thomas and the athletics department. Great job Mike!

Uh, I don't think I have ever heard that unless some airhead media type said it.

IMO, this is the best organization this school has had running the athletic department in decades. They don't just roll the ball out there and let the animals file through the gates. They actually have a plan and they are makng it work.

rath v2.0 Wrote:IMO, this is the best organization this school has had running the athletic department in decades. They don't just roll the ball out there and let the animals file through the gates. They actually have a plan and they are makng it work.

Agreed. From first hand experience, guys like Mike Waddell and Mike Thomas get the big picture, and have the ability to get the masses to buy in. I was skeptical when they got to town, but they have proven to me they know how to get the job done...

chatcat Wrote:

Jchuges7 Wrote:It's a shame that our athletic successes are sometimes wrongly being attributed to NAncy ZImpher and the board instead of Mike Thomas and the athletics department. Great job Mike!

Uh, I don't think I have ever heard that unless some airhead media type said it.

I heard quite a few people saying that in Birmingham at the bowl game. Plus quite a few students are in her corner...

Jchuges7 Wrote:

chatcat Wrote:

Jchuges7 Wrote:It's a shame that our athletic successes are sometimes wrongly being attributed to NAncy ZImpher and the board instead of Mike Thomas and the athletics department. Great job Mike!

Uh, I don't think I have ever heard that unless some airhead media type said it.

I heard quite a few people saying that in Birmingham at the bowl game. Plus quite a few students are in her corner...

The world is littered with the uninformed.

I got a reply from Mike Thomas, he also forwarded my email to the alumni association, and I got one from them as well. Here is his reply:

Quote:Dear Chuck,



Thank you for the note and kind words. The bowl experience was a group effort and I will share your note with all of those involved in the various activities. I greatly appreciate your support of UC Athletics and look forward to the opportunity to play in multiple bowls in the future.



All the best,



Mike Thomas

and from the alumni association:

Quote:Dear Chuck,

Mike Thomas forwarded your note onto us at the UC Alumni Association, and on behalf of UCAA and its staff and volunteer leaders, I wanted to thank you for going to such lengths to attend the bowl game and then for sharing your kind thoughts.



What compelled you to make such a journey from Connecticut to Cincinnati to Birmingham? Do you happen to have any good photos from your trip that show the kind of UC spirit we saw down there? I’d love to know more about your personal story and potentially share it with our alumni audience.



Again, our deepest appreciation to you and fellow Bearcat fans. It was our pleasure to put together the trip with our colleagues in UC Athletics, and we look forward to many more such opportunities in the years to come!



Keith

I got an email response back too and the day before Christmas! I like this MT guy a lot.

But hey, won't all your pictures include an intoxicated subflea? That's great. Send them pictures of you wasted around B-ham and at the game.

At the pregame rally in Birmingham, there was no podium in the room rented at the hotel , so the speakers had to stand on a chair to talk to the crowd. Ole nancy was being propped up by her 'supporters' while standing on the chair. how lame is that hotel for not having a podium.

a few boo birds in the room - but they are starting to wimp out.

go cats!

I think Mike Thomas has done an outstanding job after his first six months on the job and I doubt few new ADs have ever had to come into a tougher situation. IMO the first 6 months were a learning curve coming from Akron to BE (I see it often in industry and have had similar experiences professionally myself in getting promotions). Yes he was an AD before, but it was at a MAC program and he came into a larger school with huge problems.

When considering where he fits into Bearcat history that is hard. I think he enjoys some advantages earlier ADs NEVER had. He has a MUCH Larger athletic budget than his predecessors and the coffers are being filled in part by the success of the BE and the BCS affiliation (as well as NCAA BB Tourney shares and TV contracts for FB/BB). He has athletic facilities and a national prominence previous adminstrators did not.

I give him a lot of credit and believe he has made some great strides, I have gone from a critic to being glad he is our AD.

But I still believe Bob Goin is the man.

Quote: In 1993, the year before Minter succeeded Tim Murphy as UC's coach, Murphy was saddled with a team that had only 59 scholarship players and faced the loss of 19 more in upcoming years because of NCAA sanctions.
Back then, UC's home field at Nippert Stadium was condemned, there was no conference affiliation - Cincinnati was a Division I-A independent - and the football program received little support from the community, although the Bearcats finished 8-3.

"This is a consistent program, a program that people enjoy," Goin said. "I've seen some games at Nippert Stadium that are fun Saturday afternoons, whether it's Indiana or Louisville or Wisconsin or Purdue. I've seen that environment where people have enjoyed the atmosphere, enjoyed the day. That's not done every Saturday, but it's more frequent now than it has been."

"I remember coming over here to the gym to play basketball when I was in high school," said junior defensive end Antwan Peek, who grew up 15 minutes from UC's campus. `One day someone opened the door, and I said, `What's that?' They said it was the football office. I said, `Wow, I didn't even know UC had a football program."

Peek, who played one season of basketball for Huggins as a walk-on, now has become one of the stars of the football team, compiling a school-record 12 1/2 sacks this season.

Toledo Blade Article

It's amazing to think we went from that to a BCS conference under Bob Goin's Leadership.

Varsity Village was built under his leadership and provides for all sports at UC, the building of these facilities were a key component to getting UC into the BE IMO.

Quote:1. A good deal of behind-the-scenes maneuvering occurred to get this done. How close did UC come to getting left out of the Big East?

What scared me was that when this thing (the Big-East expansion) first broke, the University of Cincinnati wasn't on their radar screen. My job was to have the Big East do due diligence on this university.

And they did that. They took a look at our research, at our academics and at our comprehensive program. They saw that we are complying with Title IX. They saw that we are making a commitment to new facilities, and all of a sudden, we became more and more logical. There was no question that I had some indigestion when this thing first started. I sure didn't want us to be left out.

UC Horizons Article

I think a case could be made for Mike McGee as well.

Goin was big time - Huggins was big time - Kelly looks to be big time.

Cut the BS of worst situations - UC was IN the Big East, HAD the varsity village - and that is a tough time? If you are can't succeed with those situations you are 100% inept.

Maybe the difference between Goin and mt suit is that Goin didn't have to learn on the job - he just did.

THE BearcatBrent Wrote:Cut the BS of worst situations - UC was IN the Big East, HAD the varsity village - and that is a tough time? If you are can't succeed with those situations you are 100% inept.

Brent, I think the worst situation doesn't come from conference affiliation or facilities... Mike Thomas had to come into the University when the Department was in so much turmoil because of the BB situation and a fan base that was hostile.

The biggest fall out of all this is that there is a HUGE divide in the fan base that continues to this day. This board is arguably filled with the most loyal and ardent fans yet we continue to fight amongst ourselves and where simple threads praising accomplishments of former coaches we should be thankful for are treated as criticism of our current one.

I interpreted it differently -

my bad -

i don't believe UC needs to hire people to grow into their jobs - it's either there or it isn't.