Butch Jones describes his first season as the head coach at UC as “humbling.”
A 4-8 season will make a coach feel that way, but Jones is hoping the experience will prove beneficial in the long run.
“Now we know exactly where we’re at in the program,” Jones said today. “We know exactly where we need to get better. It challenges your perseverance, but we know what we need to do. Our players know what we need to do.”
Since the 2010 season ended with a 28-10 loss to Pitt, Jones and his staff have been busy putting together a recruiting class that’s shaping up as one of the best the school has ever signed. In between recruiting, Jones has spent a lot of time reviewing a season that saw the Bearcats go from a 12-1 Big East champion and Sugar Bowl team to a 4-8 team that did not play in a bowl game this season.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Jones said. “You look at our turnovers on offense. We talk about not being a team that beats ourselves, but we were a team that really, really fought ourselves
UC ranked last in the Big East in turnover margin at minus-15 and forced only 14 turnovers all season. The Bearcats ranked seventh in sacks and sixth in sacks against.
Getting off the field on third down was another problem for a defense that ranked last in the Big East, allowing 28 points per game.
Jones pointed out that UC scored only five of 14 times after the defense forced a turnover, while the Bearcat defense stopped its opponent from scoring only 32 percent of the time after UC turned the ball over.
“That comes from leadership and mental toughness,” Jones said. “This off-season is going to be geared towards toughness – mental toughness and we’ve got to get stronger. We were a very undeveloped football team. When you’re forced to play so many young players the developmental phase is missing a little bit. We’ve got to get bigger and we’ve got to get stronger.”
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A 4-8 season will make a coach feel that way, but Jones is hoping the experience will prove beneficial in the long run.
“Now we know exactly where we’re at in the program,” Jones said today. “We know exactly where we need to get better. It challenges your perseverance, but we know what we need to do. Our players know what we need to do.”
Since the 2010 season ended with a 28-10 loss to Pitt, Jones and his staff have been busy putting together a recruiting class that’s shaping up as one of the best the school has ever signed. In between recruiting, Jones has spent a lot of time reviewing a season that saw the Bearcats go from a 12-1 Big East champion and Sugar Bowl team to a 4-8 team that did not play in a bowl game this season.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Jones said. “You look at our turnovers on offense. We talk about not being a team that beats ourselves, but we were a team that really, really fought ourselves
UC ranked last in the Big East in turnover margin at minus-15 and forced only 14 turnovers all season. The Bearcats ranked seventh in sacks and sixth in sacks against.
Getting off the field on third down was another problem for a defense that ranked last in the Big East, allowing 28 points per game.
Jones pointed out that UC scored only five of 14 times after the defense forced a turnover, while the Bearcat defense stopped its opponent from scoring only 32 percent of the time after UC turned the ball over.
“That comes from leadership and mental toughness,” Jones said. “This off-season is going to be geared towards toughness – mental toughness and we’ve got to get stronger. We were a very undeveloped football team. When you’re forced to play so many young players the developmental phase is missing a little bit. We’ve got to get bigger and we’ve got to get stronger.”
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