John Groce at Illinois

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#951      

TCTORNADO

TCTORNADO
TCTORNADO
BlindLoyalty said:
Off the top of my head here are some guys that played and then coached their alma mater at big schools. There are quite a few more examples at lesser schools and lower division programs.

Phog Allen at Kansas
Branch McCracken at Indiana
Joe B Hall at Kentucky
Guy Lewis at Houston
Frank McGuire at St. Johns
Fred Taylor at Ohio State
Gary Williams at Maryland
Eddie Sutton at OKSt
Jim Boeheim at Syracuse
Norm Stewart at Missouri
Lon Kruger at Kansas State
Bob Huggins at West Virginia
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Great job off the top of your head.
+Matt Painter @ Purdue :D
 
#952      

Lafong

L
Lafong
Hornacek

May be fired, close to Colangelo, from Illinois
 
#953      

Sleepy Floyd

S
Kicking it with Fat Lever
Champaign
Sleepy Floyd
Are there any Bob Huggings disciple that are head coaches at mid majors. I like the way Huggings team play.
 
#955      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
ILL in IA said:
Sounds like maybe you may know more on this then I do. Back when Thomas was fired, I was listening to The Score. Jason Goff made mention of some alumni upset over the state of Illinois athletics (who could blame them), but when on to say that one alumni who had spoken critically of UI was having his air time lessened by a sports network because UI wanted it that way. My first guess would be Bardo. Seems like he has been doing less games this year for the BTN or ESPN (cant remember who he's calling for currently). And def. not doing the big ones. Any truth to this?
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I do not know about this specific incidence. Bardo often jumps the gun and has made disparaging statements about UI in the past, often has foot in mouth disease. But I can't vouch about the validity of this incident (i.e. UI requesting that Bardo reduces his air time).
 
#956      

Ulysses Everett McGill

Ulysses Everett McGill
Ulysses Everett McGill
joeyv2000 said:
Here is what I would do as soon as I became the AD. Let me know your thoughts. I would release the entire coaching staff. I would hire Jerrance Howard as head coach...is he ready? Sure, why not. What else do we have to lose. He loves Illinois, he has recruiting cred, likeable guy. Been working under some legends also...so he has to know something about the game. He's ready...it's time.

I would hire Dee Brown, Roger Powell, and Deon Thomas as assistants. Imagine Dee, Jerrance, Roger walking in to scout a kid. I would also try to get Steve Bardo.

I would go with the all African American staff...be a trailblazer, create some media attention..a buzz at Illinois for doing it.
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Madness.
 
#957      

HeartofaChampion

H
HeartofaChampion
bleedsorangenblue said:
This may all be true but what does Dee bring to team development? We really need strong coaches who can make the team fundamentally better. I really don't think recruiting is the main issue here.
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Yeah, the problem is they're both an issue. We've been woeful to below average at the 1 for four years now and haven't landed a top-100 5 or 1 under JG. And, while he has no coaching experience, Dee obviously knows the game well as a former all-American at UI and a pro player in the NBA and overseas for a decade. A coaching staff should be able to take on one newbie assistant who can provide great recruiting advantages while learning on the job as a teacher and player developer. It would take a bit of time, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dee is a fast learner, relentless worker and can become a quality practice and workout coach while giving us a nice new weapon on the recruiting trail and a lot of positive PR in the media and with donors, fans and HS and AAU coaches.
 
#960      

Hands Malone

H
Quad-Cities, IL
Hands Malone
Lafong said:
May be fired, close to Colangelo, from Illinois
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Other suggestions....John Brady, Arkansas State, Cliff Ellis, Coastal Carolina and Jeff Jones, American. Also I'm done posting on this site for the near future. I'm already in the wait til next year mode.
 
#963      

westms77

W
Gilbert, AZ
westms77
Newman said:
Losing to a top 25 team would not be rock bottom for Illinois. Losing to Minny or Rutgers would definitely be it though.
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I put the odds at 1.5-1 that we lose one of these four games
 
#965      

geneseo

G
geneseo
PerennIaLL said:
That's why I sold those tickets. No way I am going to watch that pounding in person at the SFC with half the crowd being Iowa fans.
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All my neighbors are Iowa fans. Going to hide under the bed for a few days.
 
#966      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
This thing is getting really rough, but I just don't see how you can fire him at this point when he doesn't have an actual boss.
 
#968      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
TheBucket said:
I met Roger Powell in person at a UIC vs. Valpo game. Took a picture - really nice dude.

That said, If we aren't getting excited about hiring MAC coaches, how are we supposed to get excited about hiring a Horizon League assistant?
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On Drew and Powell...Regardless of the league, they are doing something right. Valparaiso has RPI in the 20 s ahead of Duke, Mich state, and many others.
 
#970      

HeartofaChampion

H
HeartofaChampion
illinitiger said:
On Drew and Powell...Regardless of the league, they are doing something right. Valparaiso has RPI in the 20 s ahead of Duke, Mich state, and many others.
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Interesting that they have players from five different countries on the team. Valpo has built connections overseas and in Canada as well as Chicago and the suburbs, including Keith Carter out of Proviso East. Also have Rik Smits' son on the team. He's 7-1, just like his former Pacers center papa.
 
#971      

UIGrad03

U
UIGrad03
HeartofaChampion said:
Interesting that they have players from five different countries on the team. Valpo has built connections overseas and in Canada as well as Chicago and the suburbs, including Keith Carter out of Proviso East. Also have Rik Smits' son on the team. He's 7-1, just like his former Pacers center papa.
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That guy was a manimal on Tecmo basketball
 
#972      

DudeAbides

D
DudeAbides
mattcoldagelli said:
Really?

I'd press you to lay out your argument as to how that could be the case. A program that has won at least 23 games every year since 2011 and most recently lost its coach to one of the NBA's marquee franchises is not just better than us, but significantly so.
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You answered your own question. They lost their coach to the Bulls. Since 2011, ISU has signed 3 4* HS recruits. Illinois has signed 10. For all our moaning about recruiting, it has been, ranking wise, much better than ISU. The difference is that Hoiberg is a fantastic coach and Groce, unfortunately, isn't. That's why Chicago hired Fred and not Groce.

I could also argue things like Ames being in the middle of nowhere, 3+ hours from any major recruiting ground (which would be shared with Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas) and a rather boring college town. Most of the state is made up of Hawkeye fans. Hilton is not nearly as nice as SFC. The Big Ten is a better conference than the Big XII, both in terms of revenue and stability and competition. I could also argue that wins are easier to come by in the Big XII than people realize. Check out how many total S16 berths B12 teams earned since 2011. Hint: 8 total from 10 teams. MSU and UW have 8 total between the two of them.

There is also the fact that Iowa State hasn't been to an Elite 8 since 2000 and hasn't been to a Final Four since Hitler was alive.
 
#973      

Foggy Notion

Foggy Notion
San Francisco
Foggy Notion
HeartofaChampion said:
Interesting that they have players from five different countries on the team. Valpo has built connections overseas and in Canada as well as Chicago and the suburbs, including Keith Carter out of Proviso East. Also have Rik Smits' son on the team. He's 7-1, just like his former Pacers center papa.
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Rik Smits is 7'4". He's tall.
 
#974      

Deleted member 586966

D
Guest
Deleted member 586966
bleedsorangenblue said:
This may all be true but what does Dee bring to team development? We really need strong coaches who can make the team fundamentally better. I really don't think recruiting is the main issue here.
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Do we know what Walker, Ford, and Parham bring to team development?

Parham is the only one that I've heard touted as a good recruiter. Talent is always an issue if you're losing consistently.
 
#975      

WesterveltVictoryCigar

WesterveltVictoryCigar
WesterveltVictoryCigar
DudeAbides said:
You answered your own question. They lost their coach to the Bulls. Since 2011, ISU has signed 3 4* HS recruits. Illinois has signed 10. For all our moaning about recruiting, it has been, ranking wise, much better than ISU.
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Sure, Hoiberg built that program off of transfers - Royce White, Chris Allen, Chris Babb, Korie Lucious, Will Clyburn, DeAndre Kane, Jameel McKay, Abdel Nader. So using HS stars is probably not a good comparison for "recruiting" or talent levels.

Having said that, while they've certainly had better teams recently, I agree with you it doesn't necessarily elevate their entire program that far above us.
 
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