UC Football Legend Tony Pike Weighs In On Bearcats Coaching Search

CINCINNATI — John Cunningham and the Cincinnati athletic department are in a full-scale coaching search as they try to set UC football up for success in the Big 12.

Bearcats legend and ESPN 1530 host Tony Pike and I have the same top choice to lead this program forward: Deion Sanders.

Pike and Mo Egger batted around the idea of Sanders in Clifton on The Tony & Mo Football Show.

"I honestly would love to have Primetime here. I don't think it's realistic. I don't think Urban [Meyer] is as realistic as many people think," Pike said.

"Why is Deion [Sanders] not realistic?" Egger retorted.

"I don't know if he wants to wait on the bigger job," Pike said. "I don't know if he's a guy that would want to come spend three or four years here. I do think he'd be great for recruiting. I think Deion is the guy that all those recruits that are opening back up their commitment. I think Deion can make one call and they all come back. "

"So some have brought up buzz factor panache, stuff like that," Egger said. "I think that would be great. That's not why I'm hiring him. I'm hiring him because he's 26-5."

Pike played at UC from 2005-09 and was a first-team All-Big East QB in 2009, leading the league in total offense per game.

The buzz around Sanders is building in the UC community, and I wrote in-depth about why it makes all the sense in the world. Check out the conversation and full show below.

Here's this week's Tony and Mo Football Show...

We talked about a hard-fought Bengals win, Luke Fickell, week 12 in the NFL, the CFP, and of course, Coach Prime.

Listen here...https://t.co/QpA1MEiCuG pic.twitter.com/vRoaIzGpT5
— Mo Egger (@MoEgger) November 29, 2022