Yep, agree with this. I mean, clearly Whitman personally wronged IdahoIllini at some point, but for everyone else’s benefit, recall it was springtime and we were picking up the pieces following a player abuse scandal. Being able to land a coach with 1) an impeccable reputation for professionalism 2) high visibility and name recognition in Chicago and St. Louis and 3) the ability to shed our albatross of never having an African American head coach in either revenue sport was a truly incredible feat considering it happened at a time when most schools are hiring basketball coaches. You can quibble with the results - and I have - but you can’t argue that in terms of the intangibles in play, Lovie Smith, at the time he was hired at Illinois, was a bet a good AD would make 9.5/10 times.
Likewise, Brad Underwood was hailed as the victory of the coaching carousel by most professional college basketball journalists. I was elated - I did not think Oklahoma State was in the universe of P5 schools we could conceivably steal a coach from. In addition to getting a guy who just piloted to OSU to the #1 offense in the country and burned his previous conference competition entirely to the ground, it was an affirmation that yes, Illinois Basketball is still a cut above (or at least should be, in the right hands).
You guys beefing about Whitman’s letters to fans - I get it. I’m human, those grate on me too when the product is something that is actually ruining my days from September through March. But what else is he going to do? Honestly, I’m asking - what utility is there in publicly burning these guys?
I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that, despite the results, I actually would trust Whitman with additional hires, because his process and thinking already led to good hires - if not great coaching regimes.