Fool Us Once, Shame on You; Fool Us Twice, Shame On Us

It was a conversation everybody around Mount Pleasant was having and we were all making the same jokes at the expense of the University of Cincinnati as Brian Kelly was ducking and dodging questions about going to Notre Dame.

"Boy, that sure sounds familar!"

"We heard the same things three years ago!"

"He's good as gone."

While everyone was making the jokes about the man who abandoned CMU before the 2006 Motor City Bowl, everyone in denial or were ignoring the chain reaction that Brian Kelly leaving Cincinnati for South Bend would set off.

Nobody wanted to think that after Kelly left, the man who made the absolute most sense for Cincinnati to hire was Butch Jones.  Jones was offensive coordinator at CMU for Kelly's first year at CMU in 2004, has previous Big East coaching experience (he was wide receivers' coach under Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia from 2005 to 2006) and runs the same wide open, spread offense that Kelly has used at all of his coaching stops.

The Mount Pleasant faithful fell for the same empty lines that the faithful in Cincinnati fell for and countless other college football fans have fell for.

"I love the area."

"My family loves the community"

We should have been more prepared.  College coaching is a constant game of leapfrog and using stepping stones to earn your living.  After his first season as CMU's head coach, Jones interviewed at West Virginia for the chance to succeed Rodriguez in December 2007 just days before CMU's 2007 Motor City Bowl matchup with Purdue.

The timing was right for Jones, with Dan LeFevour, Frank Zombo, Bryan Anderson, Tommy Mama and Eric Fraser all graduating and taking the core of the team that had won 3 MAC Championships with them. 

Also, you don't get many chances to take over the No. 3 team in the nation, coming off a 12-0 season with back-to-back conference championships and was one second away from playing in the BCS National Championship game.  Cincinnati will return many of their key offensive players in 2010 and since they wont have to learn a new system, Jones should have immediate success with the Bearcats.

The sad fact is that despite all the ESPN appearances, the 3 conference championships, the 4 straight bowls and the number 25 ranking; CMU is barely even small potatoes.  The best offer that CMU AD Dave Heeke could give Jones was about $400,000 to stay in Mount Pleasant, Jones will atleast double that salary at Cincinnati.

So Chippewa fans, its time we get used to that our universitty is a stepping stone.  So whether its Jeff Quinn, Steve Stripling or whomever it is, just don't get too attached to the next football coach.