The Cincinnati Bearcats 2016 coaching staff is starting to take shape. In a span of two weeks, Tommy Tuberville has completely overhauled the offensive staff.
Now, there doesn’t appear to be any moving or shaking on the defensive side of the ball and I understand if several fans are either confused or downright furious about it. After all, Cincinnati regularly engaged in shootouts last season as a result of an offense that couldn’t stop turning the ball over and a secondary that only boasted just two upperclassmen, one of which was converted quarterback Jarred Evans. As a result, the Bearcats finished 78th in total defense in 2015 allowing 408.6 yards per game and 91st in scoring defense allowing 31.2 points per game.
Their low point came against a South Florida team that dropped a 65-spot on them in late November. It was the most points a Bearcats defense had surrendered since #7 Louisville scored 70 on them in 2004.
But continuity is key right now and I know that’s not what those fans above want to hear. This past season Cincinnati cast off with their third different defensive coordinator during the Tuberville era and fifth in as many years. Tim Banks, John Jancek, Art Kaufman, Hank Hughes, and Steve Clinkscale all were named UC’s defensive coordinator at one point or another in the last half-decade. The constant changes in philosophy and language takes its toll on college players and we’ve seen the results of that over the last couple of years.
So Tommy Tuberville is leaning on a combination of a young players maturing this offseason while fine tuning schemes they should already be at least familiar with. The next seven months are all about perfecting the nuances of what Clinkscale is trying to do.
On the offensive side of the ball, Kentucky reaching out and snatching Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw away certainly threw a wrench in Cincinnati’s plans. The Bearcats responded by bringing in Miami Dolphins interim offensive coordinator Zac Taylor to the fold to coach quarterbacks and also act as UC’s offensive coordinator. He’s essentially filling the role Gran and Hinshaw left but will he garner their combined salaries ($600k)? Nope, probably not.
To round out the staff, Taylor, who was given autonomy to choose his assistants and position coaches, hired veteran offensive line coach J.B. Grimes from Auburn, who brings over 30 years of coaching experience to the role. Unfortunately UC had to make room for him and that meant removing longtime offensive line coach Darren Hiller. Thankfully, it sounds like he found a soft landing spot at Arkansas State.
Jim Turner, who worked with Taylor at Miami, completed the staff. He’ll work with Cincinnati’s running backs, a position also left vacated by Gran going to Kentucky. By the sound of it, that’s the extent of the major changes on this staff. Again, there’s been no movement on defense and Blake Rolan (WRs) and Ty Linder (STs/TEs) still have a desk in the Lindner Center.
I’m sure UC’s athletic department will make all of these changes official in the coming days and weeks but here’s a quick look at the Bearcats’ coaching staff heading into next season.
- Tommy Tuberville: Head Coach
- Zac Taylor: Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
- Robert Prunty: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
- Steve Clinkscale: Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
- J.B. Grimes: Offensive Line
- Jim Turner: Running Backs
- Blake Rolan: Wide Receivers
- Ty Linder: Special Teams/Tight Ends
- Jeff Koonz: Linebackers
- Kenny Ingram: Defensive Tackles