TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – Despite the University of Cincinnati's 2-3 start, the Bearcats remain upbeat. They still talk confidently of a looming turnaround. There's no sense that a second straight losing season is inevitable.
But there was enough concern after the Bearcats lost to Marshall, 38-21, last week at Nippert Stadium, for the players to request a meeting with UC head coach Luke Fickell. The meeting took place Monday and it involved only Fickell and his players. According to defensive tackle Cortez Broughton, it lasted 20 to 25 minutes.
"We asked for it and Coach, he wanted it," Broughton said. "He loved that we came up with the idea. We've got to put our voice in and express our opinions about how we feel. It was really a discussion. So many times you get coaches that harp on you, harp on you, harp on you. He's a teacher. He teaches you a lot of things that other coaches just yell at you for. He explains to you and shows you the right way to do it."
Calling a team meeting is frequently seen as a chance for a struggling team to right the ship, but it's hard to say how much good it does, even if a team turns around its fortunes right after the meeting.
But Broughton remembers one instance where he's convinced a team meeting made all the difference in the world. It was during his true freshman year in 2014. The Bearcats started the season with a 2-3 record, just like they have this year.
"We went on to win a conference championship," Broughton said. "Anything's possible. Things turned around just like that."
Maybe history will repeat itself Saturday when the Bearcats (0-1 in the American Athletic Conference) take on No. 25 Central Florida (3-0 overall, 1-0 in the American) at 8 p.m. at Nippert Stadium.
Fickell has been in coaching long enough to know that a team meeting is not a magic elixir. If the Bearcats are going to end their two-game losing streak, they'll need much more than that. But it can't hurt.
"We're trying to find ways to generate momentum and create some energy," Fickell said. "Everything is about energy and creating it and creating that momentum. And right now it's really difficult on Saturdays when we get behind. It does create some fighters and it creates some toughness when you get down and you have those bad things happen to you. You're kind of getting calloused and you're getting toughened up and you see them continue to fight. Those are great things for a program to learn how to do and to continue to challenge yourself."
But a few wins would be nice too and it's hard to do that when you're always playing from behind. Football is largely a game of momentum, Fickell said, and when you don't have it, it's very difficult to get it back. Playing with a stiff upper lip as a tool for the future is all well and good, but what this program needs more than anything right now are a few victories.
At some point very soon Fickell would like to see his team get off to a good start and perform with the benefit of some positive energy. Then maybe the Bearcats will have something they can latch onto.
Fickell is concerned that the spate of recent losses many of the players on this team have absorbed in the last 12 months could have a debilitating effect. Remember, the Bearcats finished 2016 with five straight losses, so they've lost eight of their last 10 games, including five straight conference games.
"It affects the psyche of an 18- to 22-year old," Fickell said. "It affects the psyche of anybody. That's one of those big things when you come in the locker room after the game or when you come in here on Monday that you tell those guys. It's not just about going out there on Tuesday and putting in a great game plan. It's about we'd better spend more time with our guys. We'd better go eat with them. We'd better open our eyes. We'd better listen."
Fickell listened to his players this week when they spoke their minds at that meeting. Perhaps at the end of the year everyone will look back on it as the turning point towards a successful season.
Remember, it seemed to work in 2014. Just ask Cortez Broughton.
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.
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – Despite the University of Cincinnati's 2-3 start, the Bearcats remain upbeat. They still talk confidently of a looming turnaround. There's no sense that a second straight losing season is inevitable.
But there was enough concern after the Bearcats lost to Marshall, 38-21, last week at Nippert Stadium, for the players to request a meeting with UC head coach Luke Fickell. The meeting took place Monday and it involved only Fickell and his players. According to defensive tackle Cortez Broughton, it lasted 20 to 25 minutes.
"We asked for it and Coach, he wanted it," Broughton said. "He loved that we came up with the idea. We've got to put our voice in and express our opinions about how we feel. It was really a discussion. So many times you get coaches that harp on you, harp on you, harp on you. He's a teacher. He teaches you a lot of things that other coaches just yell at you for. He explains to you and shows you the right way to do it."
Calling a team meeting is frequently seen as a chance for a struggling team to right the ship, but it's hard to say how much good it does, even if a team turns around its fortunes right after the meeting.
But Broughton remembers one instance where he's convinced a team meeting made all the difference in the world. It was during his true freshman year in 2014. The Bearcats started the season with a 2-3 record, just like they have this year.
"We went on to win a conference championship," Broughton said. "Anything's possible. Things turned around just like that."
Maybe history will repeat itself Saturday when the Bearcats (0-1 in the American Athletic Conference) take on No. 25 Central Florida (3-0 overall, 1-0 in the American) at 8 p.m. at Nippert Stadium.
Fickell has been in coaching long enough to know that a team meeting is not a magic elixir. If the Bearcats are going to end their two-game losing streak, they'll need much more than that. But it can't hurt.
"We're trying to find ways to generate momentum and create some energy," Fickell said. "Everything is about energy and creating it and creating that momentum. And right now it's really difficult on Saturdays when we get behind. It does create some fighters and it creates some toughness when you get down and you have those bad things happen to you. You're kind of getting calloused and you're getting toughened up and you see them continue to fight. Those are great things for a program to learn how to do and to continue to challenge yourself."
But a few wins would be nice too and it's hard to do that when you're always playing from behind. Football is largely a game of momentum, Fickell said, and when you don't have it, it's very difficult to get it back. Playing with a stiff upper lip as a tool for the future is all well and good, but what this program needs more than anything right now are a few victories.
At some point very soon Fickell would like to see his team get off to a good start and perform with the benefit of some positive energy. Then maybe the Bearcats will have something they can latch onto.
Fickell is concerned that the spate of recent losses many of the players on this team have absorbed in the last 12 months could have a debilitating effect. Remember, the Bearcats finished 2016 with five straight losses, so they've lost eight of their last 10 games, including five straight conference games.
"It affects the psyche of an 18- to 22-year old," Fickell said. "It affects the psyche of anybody. That's one of those big things when you come in the locker room after the game or when you come in here on Monday that you tell those guys. It's not just about going out there on Tuesday and putting in a great game plan. It's about we'd better spend more time with our guys. We'd better go eat with them. We'd better open our eyes. We'd better listen."
Fickell listened to his players this week when they spoke their minds at that meeting. Perhaps at the end of the year everyone will look back on it as the turning point towards a successful season.
Remember, it seemed to work in 2014. Just ask Cortez Broughton.
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.