New coaches facing varied challenges in Big East

The Big East has three new coaches facing three drastically different challenges.

At Cincinnati, Butch Jones is again following Brian Kelly and trying to keep a good thing going. Skip Holtz has the task of mending a South Florida team fractured by scandal. As for Charlie Strong, his job is to rebuild Louisville, a program that has plummeted since peaking four years ago.

It was no surprise that Kelly outgrew the Bearcats and became the coach at Notre Dame after the 2009 regular season. And it wasn't much of a surprise that Cincinnati went back to Central Michigan, where they found Kelly, to find their next coach.

Jones took over for Kelly, his friend and former boss, at Central Michigan and the Chippewas never missed a beat, winning 27 games in three seasons.

Now again his job is to build upon the foundation laid by Kelly.

A capsule look at the Big East in predicted order of finish:

CONNECTICUT - Key players: QB Zach Frazer, RB Jordan Todman, LB Scott Lutrus, LB Lawrence Wilson. Returning starters: 8 offense, 8 defense.

Notes: Schedule sets up nicely even though Huskies play four league road games. Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Cincinnati all come to Rentschler Field. ... Frazer, a Notre Dame transfer, gives Huskies their best QB since Dan Orlovsky left Storrs.

PITTSBURGH - Key players: RB Dion Lewis, DE Greg Romeus, WR Jon Baldwin, S Dom DeCicco. Returning starters: 5 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Lewis was the league's offensive player of the year as a freshman, running for 1,799 yards and 17 scores. ... Romeus was the defensive player of the year, and passed up a chance to enter the NFL draft and be an early round pick.

CINCINNATI - Key players: QB Zach Collaros, WR Armon Binns, LB Jake Schaffer. Returning starters: 7 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: While the offense will have a very similar look under Jones, the Bearcats' defense goes from a 3-4 to a 4-3 scheme ... WR Vidal Hazelton, a USC transfer, should help make up for loss of star Mardy Gilyard.

WEST VIRGINIA - Key players: RB Noel Devine, WR Jock Sanders, S Robert Sands. Returning starters: 7 offense, 9 defense.

Notes: QB Geno Smith, a sophomore, is a first-year starter but a touted prospect with some game experience after backing up Jarrett Brown last year

RUTGERS - Key players: QB Tom Savage, WR Mohamed Sanu, S Joe Lefeged. Returning starters: 6 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Savage completed 52 percent of his passes with 14 TDs and seven interceptions as a freshman.

USF - Key players: QB B.J. Daniels, RB Moise Plancher, DT Keith McCaskill. Returning starters: 10 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: Daniels ran for 772 yards and passed for 1,983. ... Daniels expects less designed quarterback running plays under Holtz.

SYRACUSE - Key players: RB Delone Carter, LB Derrell Smith, LB Doug Hogue. Returning starters: 5 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Orange made good strides in Doug Marrone's first season as coach, even though they won only four games, but still much work to do ... Sophomore Ryan Nassib takes over at quarterback.

LOUISVILLE - Key players: RB Victor Anderson, WR Doug Beaumont, KB Brandon Heath. Returning starters: 7 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Adam Froman and Justin Burke vie for quarterback job though neither looked particularly promising last season.