Cincinnati Bearcats Football has attended Camp Higher Ground since 1999, with 27 consecutive seasons starting in either late July or early August and staying there for roughly 2 weeks. But this season, after the construction of the Sheakley Indoor Practice facility, the Bearcats are cutting ties with old tradition.
Rick Minter, the Bearcats' head coach from 1994-2003 and father of Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter, started the tradition in 1999. The tradition continued through 6 more coaches: Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Tommy Tuberville, Luke Fickell, and Scott Satterfield. During Satterfield's first two seasons, the Bearcats attended Camp Higher Ground for the usual two weeks. In 2025, they attended for 1 week and then finished "camp" back in Clifton.
Many thought that the Bearcats abandoning this tradition was a bad thing, and many still do; it is always hard to see a long tradition come to an end. But with the completion of Sheakley Indoor, the Bearcats no longer need to go to Camp Higher Ground.
Every year, the equipment staff at Cincinnati transported practice equipment, weight room equipment, training room equipment, medical supplies, laundry, uniforms, video equipment, and meeting technology. In 2006, they reportedly used a 53-foot semi-trailer plus an additional truck to bring everything for an 11-day stay. Camp Higher Ground is only 30 minutes away in West Harrison, Indiana, just across the border.
Reports have also claimed that Cincinnati is going to be saving around $250,000 by staying on campus. That money saved is money that can be used elsewhere to better the program.
Camp Higher Ground made sense when Cincinnati was competing in Conference USA and didn’t yet have a state-of-the-art IPF. But with the move to the Big 12 and the significant investments in on-campus facilities, keeping fall camp on campus is the logical move. https://t.co/KXyxoW5Tj0
— 𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈 𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐑. (@ChiliEnjoyer) July 6, 2026
According to sources around the program, Cincinnati will not be making the trip to Camp Higher Ground for camp this fall. All practices will be held in the IPF and/or Nippert Stadium this season. #Bearcats
— Chad Brendel (@ChadBrendel) July 6, 2026
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