I had more than one conversation with people from Cincinnati this summer that would go something like, "so when Brian Kelly leaves for Notre Dame and Butch Jones is your new coach ..."

The discussion would only be in half jest. Most people around the program knew that Kelly would jump at a chance to coach Notre Dame, and that Jones would be the most likely candidate to replace him. That appears to be the exact situation now, with Jones set to be officially hired by the Bearcats as early as today.

He is a logical and smart choice. Athletic director Mike Thomas gets to keep a small piece of the Kelly connection going -- Jones was an assistant under Kelly for one year at Central Michigan -- while also bringing in an established, up-and-coming head coach. Thomas also brings in a coach who knows the Big East, as Jones was an assistant for two years under Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia and at Rutgers in the early 1990s. The Central Michigan connection served Thomas well the last time he went that route, with Kelly.

Thomas apparently interviewed two main candidates, with East Carolina's Skip Holtz the other one. Holtz, though, is more of a defensive-minded coach. Cincinnati needs to not only win but to be entertaining offensively to attract fans in a pro sports city. Jones knows how to build an entertaining offense.

His Chippewas averaged 33.2 points per game this season, which ranked 17th in the FBS. They scored 30 or more points 21 times in his three-year tenure and 40 or more points 11 times. Quarterback Dan LeFevour set the NCAA record for career touchdowns with 148. LeFevour was a threat to run or pass; Jones will have the same type of quarterback next season with Zach Collaros.

Jones, though, wasn't just a coach whose teams piled up stats. His Chippewas won, too. They've claimed two MAC titles in his three years, including this season's 11-2 squad that won at Michigan State early in the year. Jones benefited from inheriting a program Kelly had built up. Now he'll get a chance to do the same thing at Cincinnati.

You have to feel kind of bad for Jeff Quinn in this whole deal. For the second time in four years, he'll be the interim coach for a bowl game at the program where he was the No. 2 man in charge. And yet, for the second time, he'll get passed over for the head coaching job in favor of Jones.

Perhaps Quinn can convince Central Michigan to hire him this time. And who knows? Maybe Thomas will need to pluck another Chippewas coach in a few years.