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News Nuggets, 12.02.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Weak fan support spells end for Cincy coach

The University of Cincinnati fired football coach Rick Minter on Monday and offered him another position within the athletic department. Minter was fired three days after the Bearcats (5-7) ended their season with a 43-40 loss to Louisville.

Minter has been at Cincinnati for 10 years, and with a 53-63-1 record had the most wins and losses in Bearcats' history. He had three years remaining on his contract.

Minter took Cincinnati to bowl games four of the past six seasons but had come under increasing criticism for failing to create a larger fan base and national profile.

"When I came here, in retrospect, it wasn't a very good job," he said of his 1993 arrival. "We got it better. The guy who comes in next is going to find it a more desirable job than I found it."

There was more pressure on Minter to produce a consistent winner when Cincinnati accepted an invitation last month to leave Conference USA for the higher-profile Big East.

Athletic director Bob Goin declined to say what new job Minter has been offered. "I believe he has some administrative talent," Goin said. "We'd be happy to have him do that."

Minter said he would consider the offer to complete his contract in another capacity but was disappointed to be fired as football coach. "You know when you get in the business, it's liable to happen," he said. "At heart, I'm a football coach."

Cincinnati walloped East Carolina in the Sept. 1 season opener for both teams in front of the ESPN television cameras. The Bearcats went on to start the year 3-0, but Minter's squad lost seven of its final nine games for the program's first losing season in four years.

Only 11,993 fans — slightly more than one-third of the stadium's capacity — showed up on a cold, snowy afternoon to see the final game. One banner during the game pleaded, "Minter Please Step Down."

Contentious bowl picture settled for C-USA

Texas Christian held out for the sake of academics and pulled off a deal to stay home to play its bowl game.

Conference USA's other four postseason berths quickly fell into line in spite of pressures that could have muddied up the league's postseason fortunes.

The 19th-ranked Horned Frogs (11-1), who earlier Monday turned down an invitation from the GMAC Bowl because it conflicts with final exams at the school, will instead play in the inaugural Fort Worth Bowl against an undetermined opponent.

Before losing 40-28 at Southern Mississippi on Nov. 20, TCU was undefeated and eighth in the Bowl Championship Series rankings. TCU athletic director Eric Hyman said that about three weeks before the USM game, the school's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, William Koehler, had approached him and said the team couldn't play a bowl during exams.

Hyman said he expressed those concerns to Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky, who then told bowl officials about the potential conflict. Despite its preference, TCU was formally invited to the GMAC Bowl on Saturday night after winning its regular season finale 20-13 at SMU. Hyman declined the offer the next day.

Two of the five bowls with C-USA ties, New Orleans (Dec. 16) and GMAC (Dec. 18), fell during TCU's exams from Dec. 15-19.

"It was probably the toughest five days in my professional career," Hyman said. "Our athletes were in harm's way and caught in the politics that were going on."

Hyman said Banowsky and Koehler even discussed the matter with GMAC officials during a conference call Friday, a day before the invitation was extended. TCU officials offered a compromise, saying it would come to Mobile, Ala., the day before the game, but bowl officials wanted them there Dec. 13.

"It was an institutional decision, and I supported the decision," Hyman said. "There was no maneuvering. This was not Eric Hyman or (coach) Gary Patterson trying to get out of the game. It was a pure academic issue."

GMAC got the second pick from C-USA. League champion Southern Miss is going to the Liberty Bowl.

After TCU turned them down, GMAC officials considered going outside C-USA before Louisville was invited and accepted to play No. 14 Miami of Ohio of the Mid-American Conference. The Frogs could have been left without a bowl game had the GMAC taken a team from outside C-USA.

As for TCU's opponent in the Fort Worth Bowl, the Big 12 won't be able to provide a team for the game if the league gets two teams in the BCS as expected. Air Force, Boise State and Connecticut are possible non-Big 12 teams.

The other C-USA bowl matchups are league champion Southern Mississippi against Mountain West champ Utah in the Liberty Bowl, Houston against Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, and Memphis against North Texas in the New Orleans Bowl.

Blue Devils big man to transfer

Duke center Michael Thompson has decided to transfer, coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore has played three games this season, averaging 2.3 points. Thompson, from Joliet, Ill., played in 16 games as a freshman.

``Michael has decided to pursue opportunities at another school,'' Krzyzewski said. ``He is leaving Duke in good academic standing and we wish him well in the future.''

Where the backup center was heading couldn't immediately be confirmed.

Bowl Championship Series standings

Below are the BCS standings announced on Monday. The BCS conferences are the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, PAC-10 and ACC. The champion of each BCS conference is guaranteed a berth in one of the four BCS bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls). BCS affiliate Notre Dame, an independent, may also qualify for a BCS bowl with a finish in the Top 12 in the standings.

Teams from other Division I-A conferences or independents other than Notre Dame can be assured of a berth in one of the four BCS bowls by finishing in the Top 6 of the standings. Teams without direct BCS affiliation are denoted in bold:

 No./Team/Record/Rating/Previous
 1 Oklahoma 12-0 2.06 1
 2 Southern Cal 10-1 6.90 2
 3 Louisiana State 11-1 8.43 3
 4 Michigan 10-2 10.22 4
 5 Ohio State 10-2 14.83 5
 6 Texas 10-2 15.18 6
 7 Georgia 10-2 15.33 7
 8 Florida State 10-2 18.44 9
 9 Tennessee 10-2 20.37 8
10 Miami (FL) 10-2 20.89 10
11 Miami (OH) 11-1 27.40 13
12 Iowa 9-3 27.90 12
13 Purdue 9-3 30.53 14
14 Florida 8-4 34.71 11
15 Kansas State 10-3 35.66 NR

Associated Press basketball poll

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's college basketball poll, as announced on Monday, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

[Conference USA and Carolinas teams in bold.]

Rank/Team/Record/Points/Previous
 1. Kansas (52) 2-0 1,750 6
 2. Florida (8) 2-0 1,604 8
 3. Connecticut (1) 4-1 1,524 1
 4. Missouri (3) 1-0 1,487 5
 5. Michigan St. 3-1 1,389 3
 6. Duke (1) 3-1 1,325 2
 7. Arizona 1-1 1,302 4
 8. Texas (2) 3-0 1,272 11
 9. Kentucky (1) 2-0 1,234 10
10. North Carolina (1) 3-0 1,200 9
11. Illinois 3-0 1,071 12
12. Saint Joseph's 3-0 916 13
13. Georgia Tech (3) 5-0 874 _
14. Oklahoma 3-0 835 14
15. Wisconsin 3-0 720 15
16. Syracuse 1-1 692 7
17. Gonzaga 3-1 570 16
18. Wake Forest 3-0 552 18
19. Cincinnati 3-0 527 19
20. Purdue 4-0 493 _
21. Stanford 3-0 471 20
22. Pittsburgh 4-0 391 22
23. Notre Dame 2-0 342 21
24. Marquette 4-0 205 23
25. Oklahoma St. 3-0 117 24

Others receiving votes: Louisville 99, N.C. State 83, Iowa 71, Maryland 59, Dayton 53, Texas Tech 32, Oregon 20, Indiana 17, Arizona St. 13, Auburn 12, Mississippi State 11, Providence 10, Charlotte 9, LSU 9, BYU 5, Georgia 5, Vanderbilt 5, Butler 4, UCLA 4, Florida State 3, Ohio State 3, George Washington 2, Xavier 2, Arkansas 1, California 1, Manhattan 1, Murray State 1, Nevada 1, Niagara 1..

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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