gatnom

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 04:08 PM) Making the trip down. Excited. Let us know how it is on the inside. The pictures make it seem a lot less drab because of the lack of gray, but it kind of seems a little underwhelming to me. I'm hoping it looks better on TV.

As always, I appreciate raBBit's insight into the organization. But, I think it paints a far too rosy picture of it. As shysocks points out, a lot of the problems this article mentions the Sox fixing are directly attributable to KW (and to a lesser extent Hahn). Any rational fan would see that they have been trying to fix their problems, but at the same time the reason we're losing games now is the direct result of their actions in previous years. It's hard to say exactly how much it was really worth keeping them both around. I guess what I'm trying to say is that accumulating all this human capital shouldn't be taken for granted as a positive. I understand you were mostly trying to dispel the myth that JR is cheap, but quite frankly I don't care how much he pays his executives if they can't put a good team on the field. To this point, they haven't.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 01:40 PM) Word out of CoMO & B'more puts #Ravens OC Marc Trestman as emerging candidate for #Mizzou head coaching gig. Interview today w/ top brass. Just saw that, and was going to post it. Still wouldn't be worse than Illinois, but man would that be a failure.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 08:36 AM) More very real quotes from Illinois on hiring Cubit. Oh my god, just stop talking. I would respect the both of them a lot more if they just came out and admitted they don't care. Instead, they just make us all look like fools by saying their cringe worthy statements. That entire article was filled with incompetence and empty buzz words.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 02:27 PM) Surprised Herman stayed at Houston. They're rumored to be trying to join the Big 12, so I have to imagine they sold him on that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 29, 2015 -> 04:44 PM) Where they messed up was not firing the AD with Beckman. Then they could have hired a new one by now and he or she could have hired a new coach. How was their recruiting this year? They probably saved that since there would be no coach in place for a while now. Or they hire a guy their new AD may not know , or they hire the guy the other 20 teams looking for coaches left over. You also might have a ton of transfers if no one knew who would be coaching them for a while. In the short term, it doesn't help them, and it really won't kill them, and it probably saves them from totally bottoming out, and next year, the new AD will be in a position to hire their guy. Frankly, I don't like Cubit, and find it hard to believe he was the #2 guy in the program and he supposedly had no idea what Beckman was doing. If he didn't, that shows something is lacking as well, but the players seem to like him. At the very worst, Illinois is punting, and delaying their rebuild a year or so. But then everything should be lined up a bit better. It isn't like some MAC coach 15 teams passed on is going to get a Harbaugh like turnaround out of them next year. The bolded is what I mean by not understanding college athletics. They put themselves in this position by allowing Beckman to do what he did, firing him one year too late, and then not realizing they needed to get rid of the AD when the rest of the world thought it was obvious. Their recruiting is about 12th in the B1G with the lowest average player rating. It will be about the same next year. When you add in the fact that Cubit is a bad football coach and almost certainly knew what was going on with Beckman, there is literally nothing to like about this situation.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 29, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) "Obviousy, it’s not ideal, but for now, I don’t think it will put a dagger in the heart of the program" That's a real quote on Illinois' AD hiring Cubit. I wish I was making that up. For as little as they seem to care or understand about the reality of college athletics, it's truly amazing they even bother to field a team.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2015 -> 12:57 PM) It's really sad if Khan is offering to be their T Bone Pickens and they did this though. No excuse for it A couple years back the faculty held a secret meeting, which actually violated the state's open meetings laws, to deny him an honorary degree which cost them his support as a donor. They really don't care.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 28, 2015 -> 11:48 AM) Illinois extended cubit. LOL 2YEARS I quit.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Nov 24, 2015 -> 09:36 AM) This. I may be the ultimate glass half full guy when it comes to Illinois basketball, and I do think this team is going to get better when Nunn, Tate, and Black are all 100%. I think if this team continues to be this bad, however, the new AD will have a decision to make. The current roster should be attractive to somebody coming in (assuming no attrition). And somebody with recruiting ties here in the Midwest might be able to save the '17 class. IF this year is bad when the dust settles, I'm on board with moving on... We may be the only two optimists in the entire fan base. Honestly, I think this'll be a decent team once the freshmen learn how to play defense and we get Lewis and Austin off the court (they shouldn't be playing high major basketball). They'll probably dig themselves way too big of a hole over the next month or so to reach the tournament, but I don't think they'll be a team that you can overlook later in the season.

With respect to Groce, I think you just need to let the season play out. At this point, it seems unlikely that this team will do anything, but I think you need to get the new AD in place and allow him to make his own decision on the situation. It makes no sense to fire Groce now and completely punt on the season, no matter how hopeless it may seem.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 09:17 PM) Damn Chi St choked down the stretch. The refs really jobbed them, IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 10:07 AM) Terrible, still 3 top 25 teams Are any of them top 3 in the B1G?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 09:36 AM) And Illinois is not the bell cow program in a horrific division. I dont see how that makes it more appealing. QUOTE (gatnom @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 09:34 AM) This isn't saying anything about Illinois relative to Miami, but you really underestimate how bad the B1G west is. It's not more appealing than Miami, IMO. I do think a decent coach can come in and win a lot of games in the B1G west right now, though. Whether or not Illinois could even find and attract one is another story...

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 08:07 AM) Miami is in a relatively weak conference. You could go to Miami and conceivably win a conference championship within 5-10 years. That isn't happening at Illinois. This isn't saying anything about Illinois relative to Miami, but you really underestimate how bad the B1G west is.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 07:35 PM) Who told the ncaa it'd be a good idea to give the refs more power and call more fouls? Just an awful awful idea making for garbage games everywhere that aren't fun to watch. Yeah this is brutal.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 09:22 AM) I think they will bet better and that this will be a decent team if healthy. The problem is that in year 4 simply being decent isn't good enough and the fact that before getting Lucas this year the best PG Groce had recruited was Tate is simply unacceptable. Tate wouldn't even be a decent mid major player. I've said since the end of last year that Groce needs to be gone for sure if he misses the tourney this year and that merely sneaking in to the tourney wouldn't be good enough for me. Groce had a good first year and nobody was winning in year 2 with the roster Weber left unless they brought in multiple 1 and done players but by year 3 and year 4 in basketball a good coach can have things turned around and I just don't see things really heading in the right direction. We are basically treading water and that just isn't good enough. Yes, we have injuries right now hurting us but I can't give him the benefit of the doubt on Abrams since Tracy wasn't supposed to be here anyways which would have left the best PG on the team as Jaylon Tate in year 4 which is a joke. Along with Jeff Jordan he is the worst guard that has actually played minutes for Illinois in my lifetime. The bottom line is Mike Thomas correctly fired two bad coaches who should have been fired years before they were but replaced them with coaches who haven't made things any better which is why he was correctly dismissed. The sad thing is I just have no confidence in Illinois getting the next AD hire right. I'm not sure where I stand on Groce overall. I mean I totally get that he should be on a pretty warm seat right now, but over his tenure I can really only think of a few mistakes that he made: Starks/Cosby/Paul and not recruiting Tyler Ulis. And, the idea behind the transfers was a sold one as well: Weber left him little upperclassmen talent, so Groce tried to get some upperclassmen transfers to balance things out a bit. It made sense, but he obviously got the wrong guys. On the other hand, not recruiting Ulis might be the one thing that costs him his job. Obviously, there's no guarantee he lands him, but our roster with Ulis on it gives us a completely different outlook on the program's future, IMO. QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 09:34 AM) Re: Thomas, i'd disagree on Beckman. I mean the guy wasn't a good coach (clearly) but the program is in a better spot now than it was at anytime post 2006-7. They have depth. They have a solid core. They have decent players with a few really nice players. They went to a bowl and have a good chance to go again this year. Illinois isn't getting a coach that will make them title contenders in 2 seasons. They needed a guy to come right the ship and that's what they got. I 100% agree with this. From a roster perspective, the team is better now than when Beckman got it. Unfortunately, he was a bad coach overall and an even worse human being.

Maybe they'll get better when they get Nunn and Black back. It's hard to give up an entire season after one game...

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 12:06 PM) Why would that make them incompetent? I'm sure he'd take that deal and UI isn't stuck with another buyout if they move on. Frankly I'd rather they stick with Cubit and see how much they can get better with some key guys back next year than rush and make a dumb hire. "Hey, generic recruit, any chance you'd like to play for a coach next year at Illinois? It might even be me!"

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) Isn't it a logical option given the circumstances within the AD's office and the available coaching spots around the country? I think it'd be weird if the interim-AD gets to make the hire, and then has to hire an AD afterwards. What coach wants to walk into that position? I could see them offering him a 1 year contract. I could see them sticking with Cubit because of their situation, but no way are they incompetent enough to only give him a 1 year deal.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 10, 2015 -> 10:57 AM) Seriously. Barring beating OSU this weekend he should not even be in the conversation. There's not a single scenario that I'd be happy with Cubit as the coach next year.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 9, 2015 -> 12:27 PM) As someone who has been here the entire time, not even close. There has been a steady stream of racism since Ferguson. There have been notable events. Grads had health benefits and tuition waivers cut. Planned Parenthood's university sponsorship was removed due to political pressure. Protests were had, rallies were had, letters and petitions sent. Wolfe didn't respond ever. That was the problem. I don't know enough about Missouri to know whether or not this guy deserved to lose his job, but those two bold statements don't add up IMO.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Nov 9, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) I don't think it matters. It sounds like the school did some actual due diligence and handled the situation just fine. Time to start looking at AD candidates. It matters because football coaches start getting hired in about a month.

What awful timing. This couldn't have been done a couple months ago?

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 10:57 AM) Zach Norvell to Gonzaga. No clue why Illinois didn't try harder for him. He's better than DJ Williams. Timing, it seems. They are looking for more defense at the moment.