Heading Into His Third Season, Is Tommy Tuberville Starting To Feel The Heat?

This post is might read like a criticism of Cincinnati Bearcats head football coach Tommy Tuberville and I promise you it’s not. There are few people in college football I respect more than The Ol’ Gunslinger.

Just the fact that Tuberville took a job at a Group of 5 school having spent the majority of his career in the SEC and Big 12 earns him huge points in my book. Sure, he’s getting paid well to be at Cincinnati. Really well, to be honest, and the return on investment for UC seems to be paying off. Tuberville has brought legitimacy to a football program that struggled with it even when they were going to BCS Bowl games. He’s also proven his worth on the recruiting trail, showing a knack for identifying diamonds in the rough early and bringing them into Clifton. Plus Tuberville is 18-8 in two seasons at Cincinnati including an AAC Championship, which in a vacuum is a better winning percentage than Butch Jones.

But we don’t live in a vacuum and fair or not he’ll be benchmarked against Jones and Kelly before him. Unfortunately it seems like he’s off the mark.

Brian Kelly stands as the most successful Bearcats football coach in the last 50 years, maybe more. He’s the pinnacle to which all others after him will be compared and it’s pretty clear Tuberville hasn’t reached that point yet. Then there’s Butch Jones. While Tuberville technically has a better winning percentage than his predecessor (69% v. 62%), the level of competition was night and day. Plus Jones hit the double-digit win mark.

In addition he brought home a pair of Big East Championships during his time at UC, battling out the likes of West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt, and Rutgers for the conference crown. That’s a far cry from Tulane and Tulsa. Tuberville’s also thrown up a big fat goose egg in two bowl games during his time with the Bearcats. Jones is undefeated and while Kelly only went 2-1 in postseason games in which he coached, the loss came in Cincinnati’s first ever BCS Bowl so we can give him a pass for that.

So I wonder if Tuberville is starting to feel the heat. You know, that unmistakable pressure in the back of his mind to finally live up to the performance level of his predecessors. I don’t think that’s especially unfair to put on him. All Tuberville has to do is not lose or at least get blown out in middle tier bowls to 6-6 ACC teams, not lose to 2-10 South Florida, and win double-digit games. To be clear, his job is about as safe as there is in college football. Winning nine games and going to bowl games every year is going to make most people happy.

But after the heights Kelly and to a lesser extent Jones took us to, don’t we as UC fans deserve better? After all, Cincinnati’s pouring more money into their football program than nearly every other Group of 5 school (and some Power 5). They’re upgrading Nippert Stadium to make it a state of the art facility and spending $87 million to do so. The football team’s also built for success, with a NFL caliber quarterback leading an offense loaded at running back and receiver. Plus the recruits Tuberville’s been pulling in have been rated at or near the top of the Group of 5.

It’s about time all of that culminated in ten- and 11-win seasons, Access Bowl games against the best in Power 5, and bowl wins. That should be the expectation for Cincinnati Bearcats fans heading into the 2015 season. In year three, this is bar none Tommy Tuberville’s most talented team. Even more importantly, it’s his team, compiled by more players he and his coaches recruiter than ever before. They should be hitting their stride this season, resulting in exactly what I listed out above.

Any less than that will be a disappointment and, quite honestly, I might have to start changing my tone on Tuberville. Again, this isn’t a critical post of UC’s big man but I can’t promise such kind words this time next year if he doesn’t elevate Cincinnati’s performance this season.