Brian Kelly Stabs Cincinnati Players in the Back

The rampant and rapid speculation is over, it's official now.

After weeks of rumors that slowly but surely gained a head of steam, the official announcement was finally made. The break-up of Brian Kelly and The University of Cincinnati is an ugly one. A bitter ending that leaves the breakee in mourning while Kelly sprints to greener ($$) pastures at Notre Dame.

Many thought that the historical season and legendary Pittsburgh game might have swayed Kelly to stay. Nope

After months of telling the Cincinnati media how much his family loved the city he left it in a heaping pile of depression. Cincinnati football is just a pit stop, nothing more. There is always a bigger and better job out there.

He flirted with the city long enough to surgically rip its heart out as you can read here .

Kelly, who posted a 24-5 record in three seasons at UC, led the Bearcats to back-to-back BCS bowls including a New Year’s Day meeting with Florida in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, '10.

He teased Cincinnati into thinking there could be a marriage between the two. 'Til Bobby Bowden or Joe Paterno like old age do we part. He was quite possibly the most talked about person in the city in this almost extinct 2009.

Over 70 local public appearances, demands for bigger and better facilities, helicopters onto the field at local high schools, he was more or less a politician (just like his dad).

Instead it turned out to be nothing more than a three-year fling.

Has a coach ever left an undefeated 12-0 team heading to a major BCS Bowl game before it's played??? This is an unprecedented for jumping ship.

But the city is one thing. People will move on to the Bearcat basketball team and forget about its football team once again.

More than anything else this is a blatant and deep stab to the players. The way Kelly handled his last week as UC's head football coach was a disgrace.

He didn't mentioned anything to his players leading up to the epic 45-44 thriller over Pittsburgh. As the rumors mounted the players were left answering questions to the media that Kelly refused to address.

Judgement day turned out to be the player banquet on Thursday. Kelly did not meet with the team before hand. Most hadn’t seen or heard from him since he met with Notre Dame officials earlier in the week.

“He told us from the get-go that we’d be the first people to know whatever he decides,” senior quarterback Tony Pike said Thursday evening before the team banquet.

“We’re going to keep him at his word. We’ve trusted him this far and we’re going to believe what he says.”

As it turns out, Kelly’s players were among the last to know. They were left to find out through ESPN and media folk. Kelly didn't address the team until too many players had found out.

"We don't really care what he has to say anymore, he can go talk to his Notre Dame team," tight end Ben Guidugli said after the post-banquet team meeting.

Players were openly shell shocked. After three years of demanding media attention and respect for the program, he flushed them both down the toilet in one swoop.

"I didn't want to hear it," said star senior receiver Marty Gilyard.

"I'm fairly disgusted with the situation—him letting it last this long... Everybody and their mamma knew what was going on. I feel like he did our team an injustice. Hopefully he'll pack his things up and get to South Bend in a hurry."

What positive can Bearcat fans from all this? Well, Kelly never got a first down or a tackle for loss this year. He just taught them how to.

"We were the ones out there playing every play, every snap. He was just the one calling the plays," reminded defensive lineman Alex Daniels.

Kelly finally emerged from the escalator into the hotel’s Gibson Foyer after the banquet, side-by-side with two police officers. He is on a one-way ticket the South Bend as he tosses the Sugar Bowl keys to assistant Jeff Quinn.

He issued no comment about the Notre Dame job. Boy oh boy how Zach Collaros and company would loooooove to play the Jimmy Claussen-less and Golden Tate-less Fighting Irish next year.

The Irish lost to UCONN and Pitt in the two games both teams played, while UC survived both. Notre Dame was 6-6 and the equivalent of a mid-level Big East team with Calussen and Tate . UC was the 12-0 undisputed conference champ with only one returning starter on defense from a year ago.

Kelly made it to the second best game of the year in the Sugar Bowl. He might have just decided to skip his only chance at winning it.