I know that things have been rough
The relationship between you and us has been tough
You tired your best and you worked your asses off but it was never enough
Bearcat Nation got far too used to the good life
The Conference Championships, the NCAA trips
The sweet sixteens and the national rankings
All of the trappings of success were viewed as birth rights
Inaliengable things that couldn't, and shouldn't be taken away from us
We forgot how hard it is to build something
even as we relished in the joys and experiences of building something new
So what if it was Football, we as a fanbase should have known better
We should have enjoyed the progression instead of bitching that it wasn't fast enough
Thats our bad, 100 per cent on us
What you have done for the program in the last four years is deeply impressive
You commited to a program that was only a few years removed from greatness
But the reality was that the program was light years removed from its zenith
The kind of confidence and self assurance required of a player to enter that situation is impressive
It was always going to be a hard slog, you had to have known that
Taking a program that had been neglected for two years while its patron was burned at the stake
And returning it from whence it came was never going to be easy
Doing that with a convoluted interim process and a controversial hire
Well that just added to the degree of difficulty
Doing that all the while we fans turned on you
While some of the wealthiest among us pulled their money out of the program
While the Bob Huggins Zealots actively rooted for your demise
While the entire University of Cincinnati community wallowed in the decisions of years past
We didn't think it would be this hard, we didn't think the program was in that shape
Or more accurately we didn't want to think the program was in that shape
While we as a fan base lost our collective heads
You as a team kept your shape, you kept your cool and went to work
And work you did, you as a group worked your asses off
And that labor has finally born fruit
Under your steady watch the fortunes of the Bearcat Program have pointed inexorably upward
There have been some downward blips, some horizontal stretches
But the trend line of your collective tenures is overwhelmingly positive
So while this might all seem like it is too little, too late
We as a fan base need to show you what your contributions have meant
While there have been classes before you
And there will be classes after you that eclipse your records and performance
You guys need to know that your class will never really be far from our minds
We as a society are obsessed with the heights buildings can reach
We don't look at the foundations, and that is a shame
You guys are the foundations for all that comes after you
This class is genesis for what will hopefully be the Second Great Bearcat Revival
So if I can speak on behalf of Bearcats everywhere let me just say
Thank you; Larry, Ibrahima, Darnell, Biggie, Eddie and Rashad