Donnie Jones Continues to Rack Up Big Wins

Maybe it’s easier to knock off the big teams in basketball than it is in football, I don’t know. But in two years (not even) Donnie Jones has more notches on his belt than O’Leary does in eight. Now like I said, maybe this is not a fair comparison. Basketball is a game of 5 on 5 with rosters of 13 players per team. Football is 11 on 11 with two separate units with rosters of 85 scholarship players and rosters of over 100. So it stands to reason that the top schools can’t hoard as many players in basketball as they can in football, thus evening the playing field a bit. Still it is pretty impressive the teams UCF basketball has beaten under Donnie Jones in his first two seasons.

USF- Jones beats them his first time out. O’Leary is 0-4.

Miami- O’Leary is 0-2

Florida- O’Leary was beaten 42-0

UConn- the defending national champions. O’Leary I don’t believe has had a shot at a defending champ, but did come close to knocking off Texas two seasons after a national championship.Memphis- a perennial national powerhouse. Not sure if Georgia football measures up but maybe close.

Here is what we need to be careful of. Right now UCF is a young program. We have no real identity yet. We could become a “football school” or a “basketball school”. And it is not just up to the athletic department, but also the fans. How do the fans decide? Simple. Let’s say you have enough money to buy season tickets to either football or basketball, but not both. Which do you buy?

At most schools that is a no-brainer. At Duke, Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse or UCLA those fans would pick basketball every time. What do those schools all have in common? Their football teams all suck. Why? Because football players and coaches at the highest level do not like playing second fiddle to basketball players. Look at any high school. They take football more seriously than basketball. A case in point: Kentucky in the 1950s. They had Adolph Rupp coaching basketball and Bear Bryant coaching football. Think about that for a minute.

After a season in the early 1950s (might have been 1950), Kentucky was having their end of the year sports banquet. Bear Bryant who’s football team had a big year was given a gold watch. Rupp was given a Cadillac. Bryant promptly quit his job. Kentucky could have been the Alabama of football. But instead they chose basketball. Their football team has sucked ever since.

But wait? What about Florida? Florida State? Ohio State? Texas? They all have good football and basketball teams. That’s true. But again, in the scenario described above, which would their fans choose? Football. Football is king at all those schools. How are they able to also have good basketball teams? Simple. Basketball players are used to playing second fiddle to football. Look at high school. They have their season first. Every home game is accompanied by a huge pep rally. They have a homecoming game. Basketball has to wait until football is over. They play in front of smaller crowds. They may get a pep rally for the arch rival game.

So if the basketball program continues to impress, and I hope it does, it makes it just that much more important that football keep up. We already joined a basketball first conference. The Big East exists and thrives because of basketball. It would be very easy to throw all our eggs into the basketball basket. Pun intended. If we do, it could cost us football though.

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