RockRaines

I think that was Eaton's high water mark

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 09:50 AM) What I like most is that we finally have an AD that gives a s*** about football. It's been a long, long time. Like late 80's long. I think Illinois football is like 60-160 in that time span. Pathetic. WGN was hilarious, Pat said "this is the first big name hire for Illinois in football since, well since....I dont know"

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 09:43 AM) Bill Cubit got like an $800,000 raise to be interim coach and just got close to a million dollar buyout to not coach at Illinois next year when he never should have gotten the job in the first place. Anyone feeling sorry for him is nuts. He just made like $1.8 million by simply being in the right place at the right time. He's also probably going to find a job pretty quickly since he's a good assistant.

Kaplan is angry at the firing of guys that make millions? Aw too bad.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 09:09 AM) Reminder that it snowed into April last year and maybe the year before... You shut your dirty mouth

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 09:17 AM) Yeah that's pretty pathetic given they just renovated the stadium/facility. They are in the planning stages of a big renovation so its in the cards at some point based on whats out there. I also found this link in searching. The money spent on these places is staggering http://247sports.com/Gallery/Photos-Rankin...l-2015-42015109

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 08:48 AM) Wow. Laser tag and mini-golf? I had no idea. It's only getting worse every year. The best football facilities in the state of Ohio are in columbus and its not even that close (OSU has put 250 million into football facilities only in the last 10 years). Every time Oregon or Bama or OSU pumps more money into something everyone tries to outdo it. The SEC was on a whole new level but now the Big Ten, PAC and Big 12 are joining in. The amount of money being spent is ridiculous. The dietary programs at these schools are amazing. The players are wearing technology that tracks their every move on the field and its being cross referenced with strength and nutritional plans. Those types of ridiculous things that have come up in the last 5 years or so are what people are referring to when they say negative things about Illinois "facilities." Neb, Michigan, OSU, PSU, Maryland, MSU, Rutgers and even f***ing Purdue have completed or are planning to complete massive upgrades. Rutgers is putting 100 million dollars into it, Purdue somehow is getting 60. I had to edit because I dont know how I missed the 225 million NW reno, though thats supposed to benefit all programs the football team gets a huge upgrade.

Austin Jackson is going to start in CF, I have no doubts about that. Eaton and Melky with Avi sharing time with Melky and Laroche.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 08:26 AM) Why, mere years after a major renovation, do I keep hearing and reading that Illinois' football facilities are "below average?" Is that just a lazy, stale narrative, or did the school screw up the renovation, too? The football facilities are definitely in the bottom half of the conference. Werent they going to plan some additional work in the next several years? You've got to remember that the fieldturf or the stadium itself isnt what people are referring to when they talk about the facilities "arms race." Its things like the dining area, the training area, the weight room, the indoor practice facility or facilities, the locker room, lounges etc. These have been getting MASSIVE in in the last several years. Many of the larger programs are pumping 2+ million dollars per year into incremental updates to some of those things not to mention every few years going big with 20-50 million dollar upgrades. For example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colle...48bb_story.html

Rosenbloom writes a snuff piece on the hire however he cites Mark D’Antoni as a key coach I conference. Way to be taken seriously dude.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:50 PM) Ryan Baker reporting that Lovie Smith's official announcement will be tomorrow I've seen the same Tedford info being shared around. Is that close to official?

That's a big swing in WAR

The pace of this IU Maryland game is awesome

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 03:50 PM) Holecek is that exact person. Oh now that would be interesting. Extremely well respected coach. Then someone else plus Lovie for Texas and someone for Ohio and Fla on the staff or a big name that can go anywhere and its a great start.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 03:35 PM) My argument is the same: Chicago is the largest single recruiting location in the B1G and Lovie has connections. You seem content to contribute nothing, as usual. Totally and when Illinois out recruits everyone for the single rivals 100 guy that Chicago produces every year it's on. I'm totally on board with you dude. Amazing research.

Bad timing on that post. Yikes.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 02:15 PM) The state of Illinois is second in the midwest in top 100 recruits in the last 5 years with 22 behind only Ohio, and no metropolitan area in Ohio has more top football recruits than Chicago. But please, continue to not make an argument. Lol keep changing the target every time you make a post. That's an awesome strategy. I'm fully excited to see this recruiting domination occur in the hotbed of Chicago.

Evansville is tough.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 11:36 AM) Mike Sherman or Jeff Tedford as OC. John Holecek may be coming on board. Urlacher rumors. Wow those would be good. I'd also target one of the prominent high school HCs in the area on he defensive side to make immediate impact in recruiting the area. That would all combined make for a quick improvement.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 08:42 AM) IMO, this is about as good as Illinois could do, so they should be applauded for the move. I have no idea how Lovie will recruit, what kind of assistants (other than his sons) he will be bringing, but Lovie does know defense and is one of the most respected defensive coaches in football. My main concern is what is the goal with Lovie? Is he going to build the program and stay 10 years? Or is this a 2-3 year move with the goal that Lovie improves Illinois recruiting with his name, brings energy back to the program and then hire a young coach who can lead the program for 20+ years? The bottom line is Illinois was getting nowhere with the Cubits and Beckman's of the world, so this move cannot be worse. Spot on. Even if it's a short stint on his way back to the NFL it's a momentum starter for the program.

Any rumblings on staff yet from the message boards?

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 06:37 AM) That's what I told my buddy who is an Illini fan. In that division, it should be easy to turn any of the programs into a competitive one. Exactly. Looking at last years Illinois top 40 rivals top 40 If you can grab a bunch of the higher three stars that go to Iowa etc and steal a four star or two and you've already turned the talent around. I've mentioned it many times this year, Illinois was missing on lots of talent simply by not identifying it or putting effort into it. That can be easily changed.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 09:23 PM) At this point, there's no way the talent level doesn't improve at Illinois. Lovie doesn't have to be a good recruiter, he just needs to make Illinois not one of the worst teams in the conference. Once he's comfortably done that, we can talk about whether he needs to get better at recruiting Just has to be competitive in the division really. If Illinois overhauls the staff and pays them it should be an easy way to turn the program around. It will be interesting to see who he has in line to hire this late in the game.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 08:42 PM) He has such an easy job relative to any other Illinois coach and he'll likely be a top ranked recruiter in the Big Ten, particularly on defense. Come on man, Urlacher, Briggs, Tilman. These are great connections to have and I don't care if they were 7 or 8, the Bears are a religion in Chicago, the number one recruiting bed in the mid west and everyone knows it. Well, apparently except you. Maybe you should google it. Or better yet, ask Dan Bernstein for more witty responses with no argumentative content. The number one recruiting bed in the Midwest for football is Chicago? Wow you know less than I thought. Your "number one recruiting bed of the Midwest" has 3 4 star recruits. 3. But continue.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 08:07 PM) Very interested to see what Lovie would be getting paid. His salary in the pros was $5 million, that would leave him 3rd in the B1G behind Harbaugh and Meyer. No way Illinois pays him that much, but how much of a pay cut would he take? Maybe they decided to buck up and he's getting that and much more for his staff. That would be a way to turn a programs around.