Les Miles went to Kansas of all places. I think he's good.I am an Illini supporter but am always amazed that our fan base thinks we are going to get a top notch coach. 20,000 fans at games and a history of continually firing coaches. Would you come?
Les Miles went to Kansas of all places. I think he's good.
There's a coach out there for us somewhere. Just comes down to making some smart choices and some good fortune. I just hope Whitman has been preparing a list.That’s because he got one offer after an extended absence from employment in the coaching profession. Kansas. It will be a challenge to hire an employed coach with an attractive resume if we are not his only offer.
This is such a myopic perspective.I am an Illini supporter but am always amazed that our fan base thinks we are going to get a top notch coach. 20,000 fans at games and a history of continually firing coaches. Would you come?
This is such a myopic perspective.
Did you think an NFL coach that took a team to a Super Bowl would come to a program like Illinois in January 2016? People take jobs all the time for money or because they wouldn’t otherwise get an opportunity.
We have had opportunities to make good hires. We make bad hires because the people leading the program are incompetent. It has nothing whatsoever to do with “oh poor wittle Illinois. No one would ever come here”. It is simply the function of incompetent ADs hiring bad coaches.
6 sacks of Peters, 8 penalties for 90 yards at the wrong times, seems like EMU rarely had one, injuries to 2 starting safety/CBS and starting DT Walker sure didn't help either. Plus terrible clock management at the end of 1st half. Need to tighten up and I know we have been pretty vanilla on offense. Maybe we shock the world next week.Their QB was better than our QB. Somehow they found a QB that could play. Somehow we didn't.
Their OL was better than our OL. Somehow they found 5 guys that could play. Somehow we didn't.
Their DL, their LB's, their DB's were better than ours. Somehow they found guys that could play. Somehow we didn't.
Their team played with discipline and poise. Somehow they found a coaching staff that made that happen. Somehow we didn't.
I'm out. 55 years of this BS is enough. Beat somebody that's not a cupcake. Then do it again. Then I'll pay attention.
Unfortunately your experience mirrors 1000’s of others. And it doesn’t need to be this way. As others have said, they have watered down the traditions to the point of irrelevance and the games on their own are simply not fun to watch. Hire some consultants, because whoever is making the decisions has no clue what they are doing.My Observations and sad rant: Arrived at 10:30 and traffic was a breeze and the parking lot had tons of great spots left, knew right then the crowd would be sparse. Perfect day for a football game and it seemed no one really cared. Did not see many tailgaters as I walked up. Five of us walked in without delay and found seats on the 50 yard line on the west side with an empty row in front of us and another behind us. Block I was an embarrassment with the top 1/3 empty on the left side and 1/2 empty on right. The sparse crowd is mostly 50+ years old along with some families with little kids. The stadium plays music no one knows except maybe the players and 200 students in the student section. (At Wisconsin the entire crowd will stand and loudly sing as they regularly play classic tunes like Brown Eyed Girl). The "Stand up and Shout" audio spots and the Nick Offerman videos are getting old. I think the in-game production leadership is really dropping the ball. The Illini dance team dances to tunes no one knows and they get hardly a smattering of applause. The Cheerleaders are good, and the Marching Illini are great, but how hard it must be for them to do what they do for a program like this. Half the crowd left after the halftime show. The scoreboard, ribbon led signage, fireworks, sound system, new restrooms and concessions, etc. are very nice. All said, I would care a lick about any of these details if we could win a football game. I've attended every home game I have been able to attend since 1977. I remember when the 80's belonged to the Illini. I remember the 84 team. I remember standing room only. When I was a student the entire campus shut down as we all went to the games. Sadly, the student's don't care, even though student tickets are the same price they were 30 years ago. I used to have a group of 30 people who got season tickets together, now its just 8 of us. We used to plan all week for our tailgates, now no one wants to. Believe it or not, it used to be that if you had an extra ticket you could be someone's hero, now I have to call 10 friends before someone says yes. Today two of our group left after halftime and another two at the start of the 4th quarter. They made no effort to make their schedule work around the game. It used to be that no one planned anything in the C-U area on a football Saturday. I sat in the sparse crowd by myself til the end. The drive home was a walk in the park. Hardly any traffic. Students and the local community have just stopped caring about Illinois football. My 18 year old son is now a freshman at Illinois and he can't even remember a winning football team. His best memory was when he was 6 years old and got to spend a week with his grandparents while my wife and I went to our last Rose Bowl game. He now has no interest in attending the games with me. He prefers studying or working on Saturdays instead. My family has been season ticket holders since the early 80's, myself since 1986. I don't want to add up how much money and time I have investing in Illinois football. Why is our football team so bad? Why, Why, Why??? Will any of my friends or family even want to go to the Nebraska game next week? I can't even look forward to a night game! ugh. I need some kleenex. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, sniff sniff.
Wait, is it true that Chris Creighton has more career B1G wins than Lovie?
The defense was bad, but we almost expected that did’nt we? The offense should have been able to control the game imo. We looked great at times, and inept for much more of the time. Really, we were just bad today, except for that field goal which was terrific.Well, we did score 31 points which should win games, especially against such an average team. Imo, the loss falls squarely on
the defense. I don't see any improvement in the defense from last year.
When I played athletics, I saw coaches, including college, who simply said play ball; who never improved individual players. They never offered even a single bit of advice on how to improve. They got their paychecks and evidently that was enough. Those kind of coaches are a dime a dozen, yet get paid big bucks. Then there are coaches who improve individual players. I don't see the illini football coaches improving players. Very sad.
What's the purpose of having all those coach comm headsets if no one is screaming CLOCK at the end of half? Also wondering just what in the hell this staff does talk about on them at all...
Don't we have someone responsible to help with in game management, who keeps everyone up to date on time outs, clock situation, when to go for 2, calling out when a fake kick is likely, recommending when to try a fake, giving field position observations, etc?
You are a better person than me if you can have optimism and hope after losing to Eastern Michigan at home. Kudos to you.
My Observations and sad rant: Arrived at 10:30 and traffic was a breeze and the parking lot had tons of great spots left, knew right then the crowd would be sparse. Perfect day for a football game and it seemed no one really cared. Did not see many tailgaters as I walked up. Five of us walked in without delay and found seats on the 50 yard line on the west side with an empty row in front of us and another behind us. Block I was an embarrassment with the top 1/3 empty on the left side and 1/2 empty on right. The sparse crowd is mostly 50+ years old along with some families with little kids. The stadium plays music no one knows except maybe the players and 200 students in the student section. (At Wisconsin the entire crowd will stand and loudly sing as they regularly play classic tunes like Brown Eyed Girl). The "Stand up and Shout" audio spots and the Nick Offerman videos are getting old. I think the in-game production leadership is really dropping the ball. The Illini dance team dances to tunes no one knows and they get hardly a smattering of applause. The Cheerleaders are good, and the Marching Illini are great, but how hard it must be for them to do what they do for a program like this. Half the crowd left after the halftime show. The scoreboard, ribbon led signage, fireworks, sound system, new restrooms and concessions, etc. are very nice. All said, I would care a lick about any of these details if we could win a football game. I've attended every home game I have been able to attend since 1977. I remember when the 80's belonged to the Illini. I remember the 84 team. I remember standing room only. When I was a student the entire campus shut down as we all went to the games. Sadly, the student's don't care, even though student tickets are the same price they were 30 years ago. I used to have a group of 30 people who got season tickets together, now its just 8 of us. We used to plan all week for our tailgates, now no one wants to. Believe it or not, it used to be that if you had an extra ticket you could be someone's hero, now I have to call 10 friends before someone says yes. Today two of our group left after halftime and another two at the start of the 4th quarter. They made no effort to make their schedule work around the game. It used to be that no one planned anything in the C-U area on a football Saturday. I sat in the sparse crowd by myself til the end. The drive home was a walk in the park. Hardly any traffic. Students and the local community have just stopped caring about Illinois football. My 18 year old son is now a freshman at Illinois and he can't even remember a winning football team. His best memory was when he was 6 years old and got to spend a week with his grandparents while my wife and I went to our last Rose Bowl game. He now has no interest in attending the games with me. He prefers studying or working on Saturdays instead. My family has been season ticket holders since the early 80's, myself since 1986. I don't want to add up how much money and time I have investing in Illinois football. Why is our football team so bad? Why, Why, Why??? Will any of my friends or family even want to go to the Nebraska game next week? I can't even look forward to a night game! ugh. I need some kleenex. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, sniff sniff.
I still want Mike Leach.So who do we want to see come and start the next rebuild? My vote is for Chip Long.
Need more dbs now! Also IW will know the system better, be bigger and ready next year if not this. They won't change coaches now unless we tank the rest of the year. Worried how our defensive backfield holds up, and they'll dictate the results.Would have liked to see R Smith throw a few quick passes to tight end or slot over the middle with so much pressure on, Peters. I don't think Lovie will be let go even if they win only one more game. I think Whitman is in for another year and i know i'm going to get fried for this, but so am I have the same concerns as everyone else, but i think they're on the right track offensively and are bringing in some slid recruits although more are needed, especially on D.
This is such a myopic perspective.
Did you think an NFL coach that took a team to a Super Bowl would come to a program like Illinois in January 2016? People take jobs all the time for money or because they wouldn’t otherwise get an opportunity.
We have had opportunities to make good hires. We make bad hires because the people leading the program are incompetent. It has nothing whatsoever to do with “oh poor wittle Illinois. No one would ever come here”. It is simply the function of incompetent ADs hiring bad coaches.