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QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 09:08 AM) Howard Griffith called M&H this morning and he was talking about the facilities, he said there are end tables in the football facility that have been there since he was in the program. One I remember being tossed around awhile back is that the players are eating in the same dining hall as Dick Butkus.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 06:13 PM) I think it's a step in a respectable direction for Illinois but I don't expect much in the near future. It's going to be hard to attract good assistants at this point and they've never really paid them up to par anyway. He definitely could have done worse though. You need a top notch recruiting coordinator asap. Lovie has never recruited in college the way it is today. A head coach needs to be the closer and everyone else needs to do the heavy lifting. This is the point I was trying to make earlier, but didn't do a good job of it. As for paying the assistants, one would hope that a hire with his kind of name recognition would come with spending like a big boy program for once.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 05:22 PM) "Hi. I'm Lovie Smith. I have coached in two Super Bowls and I have coached some of the best defensive players in the last decade. I think you have what it takes to be an NFL linebacker. Come to Illinois and let's do something special," he said, without any emotions. Yeah, he has an extremely easy sales pitch to sell. He just needs to hire a couple young coaches to sell it for him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 04:16 PM) The good news is that Illinois's university budget is in solid shape these days. They gave the former AD $2.5 million to go away a few months ago, too.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 03:31 PM) He was a team manager for the Flyin Illini. That would be a good move for Illinois, the only question would be if he was successful and the NFL came calling, would he leave? The way I see it, he can do whatever he wants if he manages to achieve any success at all. I'll gladly sign up for 4 years of success, and another coaching search afterwards.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 5, 2016 -> 01:38 PM) I agree with the premise but Whitman was just hired. Him deciding to move on is fine. It sounds like he has a coach ready to take over. Rumors point to Leslie Frazier at this point. Have to imagine he does have a coach in place. We'll see how it works out. I know it's not exactly a perfect analogy, but it kind of reminds me of the Trestman situation with the Bears. There was probably a reason the dude couldn't get a gig in the NFL and had to coach in the CFL, and it's probably not because Emery just outsmarted everyone else. Similarly, there's probably a reason coaches aren't hired and fired in March, right? He may have a guy lined up, but will that guy have an easy time attracting assistants and getting everything in place? Spring ball starts in a week.

It makes me laugh every time somebody tries to defend a move the Illinois administration makes. Has any program ever willingly fired and hired a new coach in March? It's truly amazing all of the crazy things that this program has done in the last year or so. Beckman being fired a week before the season, Thomas being fired a few weeks before the end of the football season, Cubit being inexplicably retained for another interim year, and Cubit being inexplicably fired in March. I guess we'll see how it all plays out.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 29, 2016 -> 09:04 AM) Don't mean to direct this at you specifically because unforunately I agree he's probably coming back. It's just the wrong decision. He's done so well at burying this program that a point guard ranked around 50ish who is the legacy child of a program legend from the schools biggest pipeline in Peoria is somehow a huge accomplishment. Groce success is now becoming the product of his own failure. I don't mean to sound like we shouldn't be excited for the player specifically or anything. Just that we should win that recruiting battle 95% of the time.l no matter who the coach is. The good news is it looks like recruiting won't completely bottom out this year, so if Groce gets fired, hopefully there's enough talent still around for the next guy to build off.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:57 AM) never underestimate the NFLs ability to welcome back big name criminal douchebags with open arms Only if they're good enough to warrant it, usually.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 12:16 AM) JCL is really the only guy I could see transferring out of the underclassmen (well Black if he is booted from the program). Finke isn't going anywhere and I think Jordan and Williams are both Illinois guys more than Groce guys. Black if he isn't booted probably doesn't go anywhere because he isn't going to want to sit out another entire year after redshirting this year so that basically just leaves JCL. JCL is the only guy we really don't want to lose. Programs average over 1 transfer a year. Adding a coaching change to that only makes it more likely.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 11:15 PM) He can't be brought back under any circumstances and people tend to worry too much about transfers. Having to sit out a year is a pretty huge deterrent. The only player that transferred after either of the last two coaching changes was Kyle Wilson who winded up being a good player at Wichita St. but he was almost certainly transferring anyways and that includes Dee who threatened to transfer and never liked Weber. I would be shocked if there weren't transfers. Maybe not before the season, but certainly after. Upperclassmen and redshirted players will likely stay. Everyone else is fair game, though. Once again, not saying this as a keep Groce statement.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 10:19 PM) Hill is extremely under appreciated. He is just asked to do too much. He can't create on his own against very good athletes, but on a normal team he would usually have a PG to get him the ball in better spots in matchups like that. Or if he played for a coach that ran some sort of offense. I do think Hill is a great college player, but I'm really not sure I believe that a good PG would solve his matchup problems like that. Unfortunately for him, Groce will not have ever put him in the position to prove me wrong. Coleman-Lands, on the other hand, has shown a lot of flashes that I think are going to be much more consistent in the future. Once he gets more comfortable driving to the hoop, he's going to be much less streaky, and on top of that we're going to see a lot more of his passing ability, which is a pretty underrated part of his game due to him basically being a spot up shooter right now. Of course, he's already a better 3pt shooter. Defensively, he's been mostly lost, but so has Hill most of his career. He's shown some ability to make steals, so hopefully that continues to improve.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 10:12 PM) I don't even care anymore. Hire a real basketball coach. It's just so embarrassing now. Wasn't really saying it in an effort to keep Groce. He'd be our best player next year if he sticks around IMO.

Coleman-Lands: 21 pts. Rest of team: 26 pts. I hope he sticks around if Groce gets fired.

Wisconsin was in the bonus with 13 minutes remaining at Kohl. There was only one way this game was going to end.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 12:44 PM) It sure as hell doesn't help him Having two players get kicked of the team for committing crimes is not a good look when your team is losing a lot of games.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 09:42 AM) Ha, dumpster fire continues: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/201...r-arrested.html Just when I say that maybe Groce can be successful next year this happens, lol He has a great mugshot, though.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:21 PM) Again, Groce is the least of Whitman's worries, really. Yeah, they haven't been good, but Illinois' injured players could beat their starters. Groce gets another year with all his guys (except Malcolm Hill) Despite whether or not Groce would have been fired for his performance at another program, this is true. Mostly due to the fact that Illinois is a dumpster fire, but Groce could actually turn it around next year despite the fact that basically nobody believes in him anymore. He's got a PG coming in, Abrams returning, and Morgan appears to be a serviceable C. Put those guys with our talented wings, and we should be pretty good. I'd be surprised if Hill doesn't return for next season. He can't deal with NBA length and athleticism (look at how he always goes quiet against teams like OSU), and I feel like he wouldn't forgo his last year to go pro overseas. You never really know, though. QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 08:07 AM) And hes a big part of that awful Illinois run. Despite the fluky tournament run, he was also a worse in season coach at Ohio, which is a terrible program to begin with, than the guy preceding him, and Illinois decided to hire him anyways. I always wonder how things would have played out if Groce would have stayed at Ohio for another couple of years. He had a less than stellar regular season record in his time there, but he also really appeared to be building something. Would his record look so bad if he had continued coaching there and was able to put guys like Caris LeVert on his team? I know it's not exactly a perfect example, but Gregg Marshall was only 38-34 in conference his first 4 years at Wichita.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) Does he really not start til late march? Ugh. Well, I think that says everything about the Groce situation.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 06:07 PM) Whitman officially I've been saying that he'd be the guy all along. I like the hire because the guy has all the tools to be successful. Hopefully, he gets lucky with some coaching hires.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 12:01 PM) So latest is George and Tiley are out and rumor right now is that Groce is probably safe for another year. f***ing ridiculous and I'm about ready to cut bait on Illinois athletics altogether. Not worth my time until the university shows they give a f***. They haven't in awhile and probably never will. This has been obvious since Thomas was fired in November with no actual plan in place. And, truth be told, the signs have been there for a long time if you really wanted to see them. At some point they will hire a coach who wins a few games, though.

Lol, what a weird ending to the Illinois game. Refs waved off the game tying shot on minimal contact and then swallowed the whistle when Hill gets tripped. It's hard to care because Illinois sucks, but classic B1G road officiating right there.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 09:28 AM) Sounds like it's down to Whitman and Michael, praying for Whitman. Sources the past few weeks were one of two things: "George denied us again, but he's still listening" and "Whitman has really impressed." I think smart money has been on Whitman all along.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 07:34 PM) What did Groce see in Khalid Lewis? Missed a lay up and than that foul. He's pretty bad. He's a 5th year transfer they didn't pick up until Abrams was injured in August. Obviously, doesn't excuse the lack of a better player already on the roster. Depressing win. I wish the team were at full strength, so it would be easier to blame Groce directly. It's hard to comprehend just how good or bad the team would be with the other half of its top 8 players.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 06:47 PM) Groce better not have a job in the morning. Who's going to fire him?