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(Ex-AD) Babcock takes blame for UC football schedule
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EcFlay Offline
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(Ex-AD) Babcock takes blame for UC football schedule
Still not the most ideal, but I would rather play @Miami (FL) with this schedule as opposed to opening against Stony Brook.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/ucathlet.../14532945/

Coach Tommy Tuberville is displeased that his University of Cincinnati football team will not open its season until Sept. 12, and former UC athletic director Whit Babcock said he will take the blame.

The Bearcats will be the last major college team to begin their season, with two open dates to start the year. A handful of teams, including UC's American Athletic Conference rival Houston, will have played three games by the time UC kicks off against Toledo on Friday, Sept. 12 (7 p.m.) at Paul Brown Stadium.

"I don't mind one open date but two is kind of ridiculous, to be honest with you," UC coach Tuberville said. "But it is what it is."

So, what happened?

The short version is that UC last year canceled its Aug. 30, 2014 opener against Stony Brook to add a marquee game Oct. 11 at the University of Miami (Fla.). That left the Bearcats with two open dates to begin the 2014 season, and attempts to move other games did not materialize.

"Somebody dropped the ball on our schedule," Tuberville said. "We had a couple problems with some of the guys that previously did the scheduling that just didn't get the job done."

Babcock, who left UC last January to become athletic director at Virginia Tech, was the AD who hired Tuberville at UC in December 2012. Tuberville thus is reluctant to publicly criticize Babcock for the 2014 UC schedule, but Babcock said the fault can be assigned to him.

"I'll take whatever blame anybody wants to give," Babcock said, in a recent telephone interview with The Enquirer. "I can understand where coach Tutberville is coming from. I certainly know the schedule is not ideal, and I don't have any issue with his comments."

Football schedules generally are made several years out. Athletic directors, associate athletic directors and coaches typically all get involved, and television partners also come into play.

When Babcock canceled Stony Brook and added the Miami Hurricanes, he said he had the indication that the American Athletic Conference would move one of UC's league games to be the 2014 opener.

A similar scenario happened in 2012, when the former Big East agreed to have UC play conference opponent Pittsburgh in the season opener. But Babcock said UC's new league, the AAC, was not prepared to move a league game to become UC's 2014 opener.

"A year ago at this time in Newport, Rhode Island (AAC media day), we were told we couldn't move a conference game there (as the opener)," Babcock said. "That's when it got to a code red. There also was some membership turnover in the conference. With everybody going in and going out, we couldn't make it happen."

Mike Bohn, who replaced Babcock as UC AD, inherited the scheduling issue. Bohn also tried to get some games moved up for 2014, to no avail.

"We engaged in the league offices and with institutions across the country, with everybody trying to help us," Bohn said. "We couldn't change anything without negative ramifications."

UC players take it for what it is.

"It kind of stinks not playing until Week Three, but it's something to overcome," quarterback Gunner Kiel said. "It's just another thing we've got to adjust to."

Tuberville said UC will make the best of it.

"We'll have another couple weeks of preparation and get to watch everybody else play," Tuberville said. "Who knows, we might move into the Top 25 and not play a game. You never can tell."
 
08-25-2014 07:24 AM
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EcFlay Offline
2nd String
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Posts: 270
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I Root For: the Bearcats
Location: Springboro
Post: #2
RE: (Ex-AD) Babcock takes blame for UC football schedule
Didn't see it already posted. Please delete.
 
08-25-2014 07:27 AM
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