HUNTINGTON - Rick Minter will tell you, with a straight face, that this is just another week in the football coaching business.

But the defensive coordinator at Marshall will admit, ever so slightly, that this week is different for him. As his son Jesse will testify, it will be very different when Cincinnati visits Marshall in a Friday night game at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Kickoff is 8 p.m. for the ESPN-televised nonconference bout.

"The first time he sees the red and black run on the field, it's going to be an eerie feeling for him," Jesse Minter said. "Because he ran out there with them for 10 years."

If you want to draw up a hypothetical parallel, imagine Marshall taking the field against Virginia, with Bob Pruett upstairs in the Cavaliers' coaching box. Pruett led the Herd for nine seasons and is the program's winningest coach; Rick Minter led the Bearcats for 10 seasons and can make the same claim there.

And just to make the Bearcats' visit a little more interesting, Jesse Minter is a graduate assistant for the Bearcats.

By all accounts, that won't interfere with Rick Minter's mission. His son calls him one of the hardest-working coaches in the business, and there's no doubt he heard that from other sources.

But you have to know that Rick Minter had this weekend circled in his mind when he accepted the Marshall job.

"It's a strange feeling. I don't get too hung up on the logos on the helmets or the names on the jerseys, and that's really the same this week," Rick Minter said. "It's five years now I've gone on, my life's moved on and I'm happy to be here at Marshall. But it will be kind of interesting looking at that insignia of Cincinnati, not only that, but to see my son across the field on that sideline, also."

Rick Minter's stamp on the Bearcats hasn't gone away. His record from 1994-2003 was a rather mediocre-looking 53-63-1, but it absolutely shines in context with the program's not-so-illustrious history.

Consider this: When the Bearcats went to the Humanitarian Bowl in 1997, it was their first postseason appearance in more than four decades. Minter led them to three other bowls, plus a tie for the Conference USA championship in 2002.

Before Minter arrived, the Bearcats often served as dark humor in the Queen City. They once went on NCAA probation and were branded "the school that couldn't even cheat successfully." After a 69-3 loss at West Virginia in 1989, they were branded the worst team ever to visit Mountaineer Field.

Jesse Minter, the youngest of two sons, watched his father work from a distance and knows how much sweat was invested.

"He has the most wins and the most losses. He really outlasted everybody," Jesse Minter said. "He took us to four bowls in 10 years and put us in the position where we are now, to be invited to the Big East. I think he takes pride in getting this program to this level, and probably regrets that he couldn't do it [coach the Bearcats in their new league]."

Rick Minter left the Bearcats after the 2003 season. He coordinated the defense at South Carolina in 2004, and went to Notre Dame the next two seasons. After he was let go there, he returned to Cincinnati, where he was an analyst for an all-sports radio station.

HUNTINGTON - Rick Minter will tell you, with a straight face, that this is just another week in the football coaching business.

But the defensive coordinator at Marshall will admit, ever so slightly, that this week is different for him. As his son Jesse will testify, it will be very different when Cincinnati visits Marshall in a Friday night game at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Kickoff is 8 p.m. for the ESPN-televised nonconference bout.

"The first time he sees the red and black run on the field, it's going to be an eerie feeling for him," Jesse Minter said. "Because he ran out there with them for 10 years."

If you want to draw up a hypothetical parallel, imagine Marshall taking the field against Virginia, with Bob Pruett upstairs in the Cavaliers' coaching box. Pruett led the Herd for nine seasons and is the program's winningest coach; Rick Minter led the Bearcats for 10 seasons and can make the same claim there.

And just to make the Bearcats' visit a little more interesting, Jesse Minter is a graduate assistant for the Bearcats.

By all accounts, that won't interfere with Rick Minter's mission. His son calls him one of the hardest-working coaches in the business, and there's no doubt he heard that from other sources.

But you have to know that Rick Minter had this weekend circled in his mind when he accepted the Marshall job.

"It's a strange feeling. I don't get too hung up on the logos on the helmets or the names on the jerseys, and that's really the same this week," Rick Minter said. "It's five years now I've gone on, my life's moved on and I'm happy to be here at Marshall. But it will be kind of interesting looking at that insignia of Cincinnati, not only that, but to see my son across the field on that sideline, also."

Rick Minter's stamp on the Bearcats hasn't gone away. His record from 1994-2003 was a rather mediocre-looking 53-63-1, but it absolutely shines in context with the program's not-so-illustrious history.

Consider this: When the Bearcats went to the Humanitarian Bowl in 1997, it was their first postseason appearance in more than four decades. Minter led them to three other bowls, plus a tie for the Conference USA championship in 2002.

Before Minter arrived, the Bearcats often served as dark humor in the Queen City. They once went on NCAA probation and were branded "the school that couldn't even cheat successfully." After a 69-3 loss at West Virginia in 1989, they were branded the worst team ever to visit Mountaineer Field.

Jesse Minter, the youngest of two sons, watched his father work from a distance and knows how much sweat was invested.

"He has the most wins and the most losses. He really outlasted everybody," Jesse Minter said. "He took us to four bowls in 10 years and put us in the position where we are now, to be invited to the Big East. I think he takes pride in getting this program to this level, and probably regrets that he couldn't do it [coach the Bearcats in their new league]."

Rick Minter left the Bearcats after the 2003 season. He coordinated the defense at South Carolina in 2004, and went to Notre Dame the next two seasons. After he was let go there, he returned to Cincinnati, where he was an analyst for an all-sports radio station.

That put him back in contact with the Bearcats, and he developed an admiration for new coach Brian Kelly.

"I've had a chance to see that very up close and personal last season," Rick Minter said. "Getting to know Brian Kelly and getting to know his staff, watching the games, watching some practices, and got great admiration for what he's doing over there, and great respect for what he's accomplishing.

"And now that I can study it on an in-game basis, you put it all together and see how it's structured, how he gets it done, how meticulous it is. Not only in the program, but putting this offense together - he's been successful at every level, at every stop he's made."

Jesse Minter played wide receiver at Mount St. Joseph, an NCAA Division III school in Cincinnati. He served as an intern under his dad at Notre Dame, gaining valuable experience but learning one cruel aspect of the business - when his dad was fired, so was he.

He returned to Cincinnati with his girlfriend (now his wife) Rachelle. He got an interview with UC, landed a graduate assistant job and is in his second year with the Bearcats. He helps coordinate the defense and helps William Inge tutor the linebackers.

It's the lowest rung on the coaching ladder, an unglamorous job that guarantees long hours and not much else.

"It's a grind," Jesse Minter said. "You're the first to get there and the last to leave, but I think it's really a fun deal. Some days you're ready to go home [early], but it's something you want to do for the rest of your life, so it makes sense to have the hours that you have."

Those hours don't guarantee advancement to a full-time Division I job, even if your last name is Minter.

"It's hugely difficult," Rick Minter said. "Invariably in this business it is, particularly early in your career. It's more who you know, early on, about connections, because it's such a business of loyalists - at least we claim it that way. We want to surround ourselves with people who know how we think, and we can trust.

"The best way to get a jump-start into your career is be at a place where somebody on the staff is about to get his inaugural opportunity to be a college [head] coach and wants to surround himself with people who know, let's say, the Brian Kelly way, or the UC way, if that's where Jesse's coming from. From there, you've got to market yourself, you've got to make phone calls, beat the bushes, walk the halls of the conventions.

"Unfortunately, in this business, particularly at the college level, there's a whole lot more good coaches than there are jobs."

And this week, Dad's Herd will try to slow the son's progress. That's the way football works, but it doesn't mean Rick Minter won't look across the field with pride.

"I'll be in the box and he'll be on the sidelines," Rick Minter said. "I'll always have my eye on him when I get the opportunity. Hopefully, he's smiling if something good happens for the Herd."

Reach Doug Smock at 348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.