Lovie Smith Named Illinois Football Coach

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#1,276      

icengineer

I
Southern Illinois
icengineer
The Rock Says said:
absolutely. Cart is miles ahead of the horse on that one. Enjoy that we're opening up the checkbook for staff, i think that's enough for now.
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Certainly. Let's see if we can get a season or two of winning football games and the subsequent sellouts before worrying about seating upgrades.
 
#1,277      

AutoPoster 3000

AutoPoster 3000
AutoPoster 3000
miggytorres said:
Did she give birth to him? Or have sole responsibility for hiring him? What am I missing?
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I'm not going to completely retract every criticism I had of her (and Killeen and the BOT and others) during the November-January period, but bottom line is, it's now March and all this wouldn't have happened today if Barb and the administration wasn't willing to take a risk on Whitman AND step aside and let him work out the deal pretty much unfettered. And that's 90% of what she has to do to be a good chancellor, at least as far as athletics goes. Delegate, trust, support, and then stay out of the way.
 
#1,278      

IlliniBacker

IlliniBacker
IlliniBacker
BananaShampoo said:
The amazing thing to me out of all this is that not only did a brand new AD, who was literally hours into the job which was two steps up from any previous position that he had had, manage to change the perception of a University and football program from "uncool dumpster fire trainwreck" into "100% cool" in a matter of 48 hours, but the fact that he did it with the utmost level of skill, professionalism, and bravado that was so un-Illinois-like as for it all to seem like an incomprehensible dream. Josh Whitman has to be the coolest of the cool to pull off something like this, and probably made the biggest splash of any new hire in the history of employment. And he pulled it off with ease. Not even a hint of nervousness amid all the media inquiries and rumors and attention. Just smooth. I'm still in awe.
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This +1000

The way this all went down was a work of art. Still can't believe it.
 
#1,280      

Trakis

Trakis
Chicago, IL
Trakis
It is still crazy to me that, if we're being honest with ourselves, all of this started with Simon C's twitter rant. All of this.
 
#1,283      

illveteran1

I
illveteran1
Why should they back away from facilities? In 3 days, Josh Whitman completely changed the idea we've had about the type of coach we can hire, why not let him get to work on facilities?
 
#1,286      

IAmChrisFarley

I
IAmChrisFarley
miggytorres said:
Did she give birth to him? Or have sole responsibility for hiring him? What am I missing?
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Wilson listened to the right people during the AD search. The right people=boosters. She contacted them and got them involved. The search committee was not so high on Whitman as Wilson was. Wilson and Kileen are leaving Whitman alone to do his thing. Whitman has won over boosters, and the pocket books are opened.

IF she remains to Chancellor, she will stay out of everyones way and let Whitman and co. do their jobs. She will leave that to the pros. IMO, she deserves to be Chancellor.
 
#1,290      

sigint

S
sigint
AutoPoster 3000 said:
I'm not going to completely retract every criticism I had of her (and Killeen and the BOT and others) during the November-January period, but bottom line is, it's now March and all this wouldn't have happened today if Barb and the administration wasn't willing to take a risk on Whitman AND step aside and let him work out the deal pretty much unfettered. And that's 90% of what she has to do to be a good chancellor, at least as far as athletics goes. Delegate, trust, support, and then stay out of the way.
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Does any of this happen if she lands her (and everybody else's) #1 choice in Rick George? I'm not sure he fires his coach in March, and that makes it difficult for me to go all in on the idea of Barb Wilson as the mastermind pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

All that being said, her crazy decision making all worked out in the end, so as a major Wilson detractor I have to eat some crow on the whole situation. I'm excited for the season to begin.
 
#1,292      

bredhartmann

B
Centralia, IL
bredhartmann
Wilbon on PTI just referred to the hire as a "genius move" after admitting he hates U of I as a Northwestern grad.
 
#1,295      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
+1 if your eyes welled up with tears of joy during that press conference.
 
#1,296      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
Too lazy to dig up my post, but I said awhile ago that if Wilson and company hire the right guy (like Wisky did years ago hiring alum Pat Richter who hired Alvarez etc.), good things could happen. If the new AD makes a great football hire, all would be judged by the results and everything the committee did would seem to make sense. Here we are. JFW! Babs! Lovie! Yea!
 
#1,297      

redwingillini11

redwingillini11
White and Sixth
North Aurora
redwingillini11
It would be great to be rid of the NEZ (it is exactly like Mount Davis in Oakland, which they have been smart enough to tarp off most of the time now), but we have to deal with it now. Move the students and turn the NEZ into a family-fun area, with family-fun activities on the patios. OR turn the NEZ into a special alcohol available area, with an awesome tailgating-like set up on the patio.
 
#1,298      

IAmChrisFarley

I
IAmChrisFarley
sigint said:
Does any of this happen if she lands her (and everybody else's) #1 choice in Rick George? I'm not sure he fires his coach in March, and that makes it difficult for me to go all in on the idea of Barb Wilson as the mastermind pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

All that being said, her crazy decision making all worked out in the end, so as a major Wilson detractor I have to eat some crow on the whole situation. I'm excited for the season to begin.
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Wilson was all-in on George cause Khan was all-in. She took the right advice from the right people, I.E. boosters.
 
#1,299      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
Fantastic column by Andy Staples, one of the best national college football writers:

But "Will Lovie win?" isn't the appropriate question given the events of the weekend. This is: Does Illinois football seem like a more exciting proposition now that Lovie Smith is leading the program rather than Bill Cubit? That answer is obviously yes, and that's why Whitman made his first 48 hours so tumultuous. There is probably more excitement surrounding Illinois football today than at any point since Ron Zook took the Illini to the Rose Bowl following the 2007 season.
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link
 
#1,300      

Seagee

Seagee
Seagee
BananaShampoo said:
The amazing thing to me out of all this is that not only did a brand new AD, who was literally hours into the job which was two steps up from any previous position that he had had, manage to change the perception of a University and football program from "uncool dumpster fire trainwreck" into "100% cool" in a matter of 48 hours, but the fact that he did it with the utmost level of skill, professionalism, and bravado that was so un-Illinois-like as for it all to seem like an incomprehensible dream. Josh Whitman has to be the coolest of the cool to pull off something like this, and probably made the biggest splash of any new hire in the history of employment. And he pulled it off with ease. Not even a hint of nervousness amid all the media inquiries and rumors and attention. Just smooth. I'm still in awe.
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Indeed !! Whitman could not have oozed more confidence and poise in today's presser. He was almost a tough act for Lovie to follow. I am stunningly psyched about how well everything seems to be coming together. 2017 season bodes to be a turning point for both Illinois Football & B-Ball.
 
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