In the middle of a press confernece with Brian Kelly and Mike Thomas.

The two, along with Jeff Wyler and Nancy Zimpher, met this morning.

"I’m here to tell you, that I’m committed to the University of Cincinnati," Kelly said.

Also, "All I can say is, with all the speculation and the jobs that are out there, sometime or later, no means no. No one ever speaks in terms of forever and forever. There’s been a lot of interest in my services, but I want to be here at the University of Cincinnati for the right reasons."

* Mike Thomas said Nippert is being expanded.

More to come later.

* UPDATE: Mike Thomas said there were three parts of the meeting:

1. practice facilities and indoor facilities -- those are on track, he said.

2. 'operation pieces' -- "There’s a laundry list of those things and they’re going to happen." Basically a bigger budget.

3. The expansion of Nippert Stadium, including more seats, luxury boxes and infrastructure such as restrooms and concession stands.

This is the "trigger moment to launch that thing."

"I think you can't put a price tag on what this has done for this program, this department, this university and this community," Thomas said.

Kelly said he was excited about the message he received in today's meeting with Thomas, Zimpher and Wyler.

"I too need the gas to run, and today my tank was filled," Kelly said.

Kelly said he's told other universities that he's not going to be interested in their jobs.

"My name has come out with virtually every job that's out there," Kelly said. "I'm hoping very soon Obama mentions my name as ambassadorship to Ireland, that would be nice. That may continue to happen, but I can tell you that I'm going to be at the University of Cincinnati."

* Another update as I continue to transcribe. This is Mike Thomas' opening statement:

All of you know, Coach Kelly and the success he’s had here, it’s really put things on the fast track for us and I mean that in a very positive way. All the things that we’re talking about today that we need to do for our football program were all things that were important to me when I started three years ago yesterday – always on the radar screen, always part of the plan. But there are times when there’s trigger moments that expedite things based on what’s going on not just on the football program but also the other 17 sports and other things on your campus and community. Well, Coach Kelly, going back to the day he was hired here, certainly we talked about a lot of things, one of them was winning championships. Brian absolutely put that on the fast track and we’re sitting here a couple of years later Big East champions going to the first BCS bowl game in the history of our school. The things that are important to Brian are absolutely important to me. Things that were really on the agenda before Brian Kelly ever arrived here, but success breeds these types of opportunities.

“To talk specifically of what some of those items are – and those have been well-documented, the practice facility piece, which is in the pipeline and as we sit today, and nobody has told me any different, the intent is to have those done on time.”

Operational pieces – Brian and I, this is not new, we’ve talked about this a number of times, there are some things operationally that he needs within his budget in order to be successful, to be competitive and once again to provde a quality experience for his student athletes. There’s a laundry list of those things, those things are going to happen. Those things are going to be either in the pipeline for this fiscal year or the next fiscal year based on where it’s really needed. That’s a conversation Brian and I will have with our finance people and get those things tightened up.

The third piece, which is probably important to all of you and in the last couple of weeks is well-documented, and that is Nippert Stadium. Nippert Stadium has always been to some extent a facility that needs to be addressed. We’re in the midst of a capital campaign and our case statement for athletics, Nippert Stadium was in the capital campaign, but for us as I said then and I’ll say now, we really needed a trigger moment to launch that thing. I’ve been at institutions when you’re looking at something at that scale and you’re looking at the broader campus picture, something needs to happen to provide that opportunity so whe you get that opportunity, you’re going to have success. That’s always been important and I’ve always said the major opportunity for us to raise revenue and increase revenue is in our facilities, our major revenue-raising facilities. I also want to provide amenities for the folks coming to our games that right now we really have an infrastructure that can’t accommodate 35,000 people, let alone adding more seats, adding luxury boxes, premium seats, club seats and all those type of things, but dealing with the infrastructure as it relates to restrooms and concession stands, merchandise stands and all that sort of stuff.

We needed to have all of that as part of the agenda today and I am very comfortable with what chairman Jeff Wyler shared with us and Nancy Zimpher, as it relates to where that sits. For them it is a real priority and it will be a priority in the capital campaign as we move forward and they certainly see the significance of that in order to sustain success at a high level on the field, but also all the other things that it can do for our program and I think that if really you sit there and look at the success of what this program has done this year, it’s more than just athletics. It really is. I have said… that the greatest sports story of the year. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 29 days or whatever to change my mind, I don’t think anything other than I know we’re going to go to the Orange or Sugar Bowl and win, but I think you can’t put a pricetag on what this has done for this program, this department, this university and this community. Because it’s also a community thing and our student athletes wear Cincinnati across their chest and we represent this community and represent it well.