TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati football team hasn't been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since Oct. 14, 2012. Under first-year head coach Luke Fickell, the Bearcats are working to change that as quickly as possible, but they're already among the national leaders in one category.
UC ranks second in the number of players on its roster who have already completed their undergraduate degrees. When the Bearcats open the regular season on Aug. 31 against Austin Peay, 14 of their players will have already earned their degrees.
Among Football Bowl Subdivision schools, only Northwestern (18) has more, according to figures provided by the National Football Foundation. Coastal Carolina also has 14.
"When I walked in, that was one of those things I had an opportunity to step back and take a peek at and try to evaluate," Fickell said. "In a short period of time, I wanted to look at the entire program and what we needed to do, to see the direction we needed to go in. One of those spots to watch was academics and how they went about it and their plan and their record with things. We didn't touch it one bit because they had done an unbelievable job from their structure to the way they manage and the way they handle things. They've got it all together."
The UC players with degrees are: Kendall Calhoun, Tyler Cogswell, Grant Coleman, Korey Cunningham, Andrew Gantz, Carter Jacobs, Lyndon Johnson, Jaylyin Minor, Chris Murphy, David Niehaus, Josh Pasley, Will Steur, Jon Vincent and Mark Wilson.
Each has a different academic story to tell.
Coleman, a cornerback from Columbus, didn't arrive at UC expecting to complete his degree early and go on to graduate school, but when the opportunity presented itself, he was smart enough to take advantage of it.
"I played my freshman year and I knew that when you play your freshman year you don't have a redshirt year," Coleman said. "They put you on a 3½ year plan so my junior year when I broke my collarbone and redshirted, I was still on track to graduate in 3½ years. Instead of slowing down I just stayed on that track so I would have the opportunity to have an extra year to do grad school.
"At first I was mad when (the injury) happened. I felt like it was a bad break, but when I actually got the time to cool down and think about the opportunity I had, I took advantage of it."
Coleman graduated last December with a degree in organizational leadership. He has applied to study marketing in graduate school.
Unlike Coleman, graduating early was part of the plan from the outset for Jacobs, a safety from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"That was always kind of my goal," Jacobs said. "I knew a lot of guys that graduated early and got their work done fast, and I figured why not me? We have smart individuals on our team and I feel like a lot of the individuals on our team put academics on the same level as football. Just to know that they're as serious about academics as they are about football really shows our drive and it also shows how smart they are. Their football IQ is super high as well."
Jacobs' undergraduate degree is in finance. He plans to study marketing in grad school.
Gantz, a kicker from Dayton, earned his degree in sports administration and plans to get a master's degree in exercise physiology. He wasn't surprised to hear that UC ranked so high nationally.
"It goes to show you how much we really do focus on schooling here," Gantz said. "It's not like one of those things where it's, yeah, you have to go to study tables and yeah, you have to go do this or that. It's one of those things where if you don't show up for class you're facing disciplinary action. They really harp on that.
"We have a lot of guys on this team that are really self-motivated. We have a ton of guys working on master's degree now. And for me, I still have two years left. I might be able to get two master's degrees. That's kind of crazy."
Of course, most of the fans who crowd into Nippert Stadium on Saturdays are more interested in watching the Bearcats win than they are in the players' academic achievements, but Fickell said the two are not mutually exclusive.
"There's no substitute for intelligence in all the things we do," Fickell said. "Guys have got to feel good about what they're doing. They know they're here for a reason and it's not just to play football.
"In the long run, we're taking care of these guys and that's the most important thing we can do is make sure they know that we care and they know we mean that we care. You're going to walk out of here with a meaningful degree and you're going to be ready for life after football, whether it's right when you graduate or hopefully six, seven, eight 10 years down the road."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.
UC ranks second in the number of players on its roster who have already completed their undergraduate degrees. When the Bearcats open the regular season on Aug. 31 against Austin Peay, 14 of their players will have already earned their degrees.
Among Football Bowl Subdivision schools, only Northwestern (18) has more, according to figures provided by the National Football Foundation. Coastal Carolina also has 14.
"When I walked in, that was one of those things I had an opportunity to step back and take a peek at and try to evaluate," Fickell said. "In a short period of time, I wanted to look at the entire program and what we needed to do, to see the direction we needed to go in. One of those spots to watch was academics and how they went about it and their plan and their record with things. We didn't touch it one bit because they had done an unbelievable job from their structure to the way they manage and the way they handle things. They've got it all together."
The UC players with degrees are: Kendall Calhoun, Tyler Cogswell, Grant Coleman, Korey Cunningham, Andrew Gantz, Carter Jacobs, Lyndon Johnson, Jaylyin Minor, Chris Murphy, David Niehaus, Josh Pasley, Will Steur, Jon Vincent and Mark Wilson.
Each has a different academic story to tell.
Coleman, a cornerback from Columbus, didn't arrive at UC expecting to complete his degree early and go on to graduate school, but when the opportunity presented itself, he was smart enough to take advantage of it.
"I played my freshman year and I knew that when you play your freshman year you don't have a redshirt year," Coleman said. "They put you on a 3½ year plan so my junior year when I broke my collarbone and redshirted, I was still on track to graduate in 3½ years. Instead of slowing down I just stayed on that track so I would have the opportunity to have an extra year to do grad school.
"At first I was mad when (the injury) happened. I felt like it was a bad break, but when I actually got the time to cool down and think about the opportunity I had, I took advantage of it."
Coleman graduated last December with a degree in organizational leadership. He has applied to study marketing in graduate school.
Unlike Coleman, graduating early was part of the plan from the outset for Jacobs, a safety from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"That was always kind of my goal," Jacobs said. "I knew a lot of guys that graduated early and got their work done fast, and I figured why not me? We have smart individuals on our team and I feel like a lot of the individuals on our team put academics on the same level as football. Just to know that they're as serious about academics as they are about football really shows our drive and it also shows how smart they are. Their football IQ is super high as well."
Jacobs' undergraduate degree is in finance. He plans to study marketing in grad school.
Gantz, a kicker from Dayton, earned his degree in sports administration and plans to get a master's degree in exercise physiology. He wasn't surprised to hear that UC ranked so high nationally.
"It goes to show you how much we really do focus on schooling here," Gantz said. "It's not like one of those things where it's, yeah, you have to go to study tables and yeah, you have to go do this or that. It's one of those things where if you don't show up for class you're facing disciplinary action. They really harp on that.
"We have a lot of guys on this team that are really self-motivated. We have a ton of guys working on master's degree now. And for me, I still have two years left. I might be able to get two master's degrees. That's kind of crazy."
Of course, most of the fans who crowd into Nippert Stadium on Saturdays are more interested in watching the Bearcats win than they are in the players' academic achievements, but Fickell said the two are not mutually exclusive.
"There's no substitute for intelligence in all the things we do," Fickell said. "Guys have got to feel good about what they're doing. They know they're here for a reason and it's not just to play football.
"In the long run, we're taking care of these guys and that's the most important thing we can do is make sure they know that we care and they know we mean that we care. You're going to walk out of here with a meaningful degree and you're going to be ready for life after football, whether it's right when you graduate or hopefully six, seven, eight 10 years down the road."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.