By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mark Dantonio's first spring as a head coach has been all about establishing an attitude. His first spring game at the University of Cincinnati will be no different.

PARKING

Fans attending UC's spring game on Saturday will be offered a special parking rate of $3. For convenience, fans are encouraged to park in the Corry and CCM parking garages on Corry Street, and enter Nippert Stadium from the south side at Gates 5, 6 and 7. Fans utilizing the garages north of the stadium off Martin Luther King Drive may enter via the tunnel near the termination of Woodside Drive.

"What we're looking for are guys who will compete in an environment of game-like situations," Dantonio said. "We want to be able to operate on the clock, which we've done all spring. We want to try and see how they handle adversity when they're put in bad situations.

"We've tried to emphasize that this program will be built on toughness, effort and knowing what to do. We want to establish that as a foundation."

Dantonio will preside over his first Red and Black intrasquad spring game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Nippert Stadium. It will be UC fans' first chance to see the football program under Dantonio's direction after 10 years under Rick Minter.

The new UC coach is approaching this game differently than his predecessor, who pitted the offense vs. the defense and awarded points to the defense for stopping drives and for other assorted defensive accomplishments.

Dantonio divided his seniors into two groups and allowed them to draft players for two separate teams who will compete in a real game, complete with hitting in special teams situations.

"We're going to play a regular game," he said. "What we'll do is tell them they can do certain things offensively, tone it down so we're not showing everything we do."

Dantonio has been impressed during the spring with the play of senior quarterback Gino Guidugli and running back Richard Hall.

"We made the quarterback live this spring," Dantonio said. "We have not put a shirt on him. We've asked our offensive line to protect him and they've done a good job, but sometimes he's taken a couple of shots. ... He's throwing the ball very, very well, right on the money."

Hall, the Wyoming High School graduate who's preparing for his final season at UC, has shown that he intends to be the starting running back, even though the Bearcats received quality performances from others last year while Hall was hurt.

"Richard Hall has had a great spring," Dantonio said. "Derrick Eddington, Terry Arnold and Carl Jones all have shown flashes. They've all had their moments, but nobody has come above Richard Hall. I think he's the guy right now."

The receiving corps, a major problem for the Bearcats last year, remains unsettled. Senior George Murray has played well, but the other positions are up for grabs.

On defense, the Dominic Ross experiment has shown promise. The former linebacker has been moved to free safety and has been solid there so far. Senior Mike Wright and junior Adam Roberts have both played well on the defensive line and appear to have the inside track to play alongside talented ends Trent Cole and Andre Frazier.

After nearly four months on the job, Dantonio says he's still making the adjustment to being a head coach instead of a defensive coordinator, which he was at Ohio State for the past three years.

"I'm going to try to delegate and let our (assistants) coach so that I can coach attitude as much as anything," Dantonio said.

FREE CLINIC: The UC staff will conduct a free youth football mini-camp, open to youth of all ages, at 10:15 a.m. Saturday at Nippert.

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com