The Illinois AD Search

[IlliniOX08]

Do we know that he hasn't had other offers or other interest? How much do we know about any of this?

As fans, there's no real way to know. Doesn't appear to be much smoke surrounding him, other than the stuff coming from Illinois backed websites.

IMO, I don't think he's ready based off experience at a couple of DIII schools - no matter the size. We can agree to disagree I think.

 

[coryfor3]

The Illini are still pitching the job to Colorado athletic director Rick George, who played football at Illinois until 1982 and has previously publicly stated that he planned to remain at Colorado. The Illini also targeted Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips, who declined, a source said.

Illinois interim chancellor Barbara Wilson and the school’s search committee met Tuesday and will meet again Wednesday, the source said, with Northern Illinois athletic director Sean Frazier, Washington University (St. Louis) athletic director Josh Whitman, Eastern Illinois athletic director Tom Michael, Central Michigan athletic director Dave Heeke, Florida Atlantic athletic director Patrick Chun, Maryland deputy athletic director Kelly Mehrtens and CEO of Tennis Australia Craig Tiley, who was a former tennis coach at Illinois.

Only George or Tiley is acceptable among that group.

 

[Flight 33]

I'm on the same journey. Hopefully we won't ever make it.

Me too.

 

[CIIF]

Most folks have enough sense to realize this is not an overnight fix and that it will take time no matter who the new hire will be.

At Alabama they would have their guy within 3 days.

 

[Flight 33]

We are going to screw this up no doubt.

 

[Paul Kleevage]

Hire Tiley and be done with it.

 

[Yost]

The problem is, the excellence of the person making the decision is always determined ex post facto by how successful the coach turned out to be.

That part of the job is really just a crapshoot.

I think I may have misunderstood your comment. Were you saying that the AD choice isn't pivotal to whether the next football or basketball coach (if that's what happens) is excellent, or were you saying that the AD choice isn't pivotal to the future success of our football and basketball programs?

I can agree with the former, but I think the latter is too narrow a way to look at the AD job. I get that most of the public will look at the success of the coaches hired by the AD and use that as its primary metric for determining his excellence. However, the AD's job, and his contributions towards the success of our athletic programs, are not limited simply to which coaches he hires. In that respect, it's so important to get someone who does everything else well.

 

[Illwinsagain]

I know some of us have been disappointed in the length of time it's taken to get this done. BUT... If Tiley expressed an interest in the AD position when it became open, then the timing here makes perfect sense. George wanting the job would have sped the process up considerably. George opting out basically left the position open for Tiley if he wanted it. Unfortunately we had to wait for Tiley to be available to be included in the process. The right thing to do was give Tiley the time he needed to see the Australian Open through to its conclusion. And here we are!

I agree completely. I am glad that he is here interviewing. Hiring him, and giving him a real chance to succeed, will go a very long way to the healing process necessary for UI and it's athletic department.

 

[AutoPoster 3000]

I agree with that. But I think that somewhat misunderstands the nature of the job. The job is to cajole and backslap the usual suspects into opening up their wallets, navigate the awful, byzantine bureaucracy of U of I to advocate for the department's interests, and operate in the coaching market both with their own expertise and in communication with agents and other coaches and the like.

Tom Michael is well-known and well liked by these donors having panhandled them for money for years, he knows where all the bodies are buried in terms of DIA's relationship with campus, and his fingerprints are all over the seemingly well-executed SFC project. If he's Ron Guenther except born after 1865 and without the Nixonian paranoia, that's a pretty nice place to start.

Whitman is also a known commodity to the donor community, and as an advocate within the University, he's basically the platonic ideal of an Illinois student-athlete. No one is going to have more credibility arguing for how to handle the academics of the football team than the Bronze Tablet undergrad, Summa Cum Laude law school grad who is also a Paul Bunyanesque former NFL player with a voice like Don Draper. He's a cold-blooded killer.

I have been convinced that Tiley is the best of the three, for the reasons you mentioned. The guy obviously has a proven "it" factor. But acting like these other two are disasters is just creating stakes and drama for its own sake, IMO.

The thing that would make Michael or Whitman so outrageous is that either guy would have walked over broken glass to take the job the day Thomas was fired. THAT'S the "we don't care" message that would be sent.

I like this analysis a lot, it's pretty much spot on. Except, I think it might underestimate just how much baggage Tom Michael brings with him that Tiley and Whitman do not. I mean, there is a reason everyone groans whenever his name is mentioned. Other than his short stint at EIU, where he has not yet established much of a track record, Michael's resume reads like a U of I athletic department organizational chart. Fair or not, to a generation of fans he epitomizes old DIA and its low accountability, back-slapping, Judge Smails culture. Tiley and Whitman are a decade removed from their Guenther associations with recent accomplishments to highlight and the personal charisma to win over the room that Michael does not seem to exude. Whether any of this portends future success is indeed a legitimate question, but perception wise, Michael would have a much bigger hole to dig himself out of. When you're talking about a free-falling, scandal-rocked program at a crisis point, that matters. DIA needs to start the job of building back goodwill right now. They need a big personality to sell a big vision of what the program could/should be. They can't be perceived as looking backward to the guy that carried everyone's clipboards for 18+ plus years of Illinois mediocrity. And even if Michael has a plan, the school can't just wait another 4-5 years for ex-fans to happen across the B1G standings and realize "Oh, the football/basketball team is doing OK now. I guess that Tom Michael guy is not such a bozo." Because by then, who will be left to care?

 

[mhuml32]

At Alabama they would have their guy within 3 days.

Illinois does not equal Alabama

 

[illinoisportsfan]

Illinois does not equal Alabama

And this is one of the rare instances where that is a bad thing.

 

[BZuppke]

I like this analysis a lot, it's pretty much spot on. Except, I think it might underestimate just how much baggage Tom Michael brings with him that Tiley and Whitman do not. I mean, there is a reason everyone groans whenever his name is mentioned. Other than his short stint at EIU, where he has not yet established much of a track record, Michael's resume reads like a U of I athletic department organizational chart. Fair or not, to a generation of fans he epitomizes old DIA and its low accountability, back-slapping, Judge Smails culture. Tiley and Whitman are a decade removed from their Guenther associations with recent accomplishments to highlight and the personal charisma to win over the room that Michael does not seem to exude. Whether any of this portends future success is indeed a legitimate question, but perception wise, Michael would have a much bigger hole to dig himself out of. When you're talking about a free-falling, scandal-rocked program at a crisis point, that matters. DIA needs to start the job of building back goodwill right now. They need a big personality to sell a big vision of what the program could/should be. They can't be perceived as looking backward to the guy that carried everyone's clipboards for 18+ plus years of Illinois mediocrity. And even if Michael has a plan, the school can't just wait another 4-5 years for ex-fans to happen across the B1G standings and realize "Oh, the football/basketball team is doing OK now. I guess that Tom Michael guy is not such a bozo." Because by then, who will be left to care?

+1000! Can't agree more. Michael would be ok, maybe very good if he were the right hand man of a very successful AD and he was stepping in after a retirement. That's not the case here. I would not choose him as our AD under the current circumstances, not even as a 7th choice.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

Whether any of this portends future success is indeed a legitimate question, but perception wise, Michael would have a much bigger hole to dig himself out of. When you're talking about a free-falling, scandal-rocked program at a crisis point, that matters. DIA needs to start the job of building back goodwill right now. They need a big personality to sell a big vision of what the program could/should be.

I really think this perception that the skies are going to open up at the new AD's introductory press conference is really naive. That was the initial reaction to Mike Thomas. That was even more so the initial reaction to John Groce, who is to public relations what Bill Self is to actually being a basketball coach.

There is an outside game and then there is an inside game. The inside game is far more important for Illinois at this juncture. Words are not going to bring anyone back. Instant success is impossible. It's the behind-the-scenes stuff that needs overhauling.

The perception will be if Michael is hired that Barb Wilson pounded her fist on the table and demanded the candidate who was most a clueless ineffectual bureaucrat like her. But that's just a pouty fiction. If Michael is hired that will mean he outmaneuvered much bigger names with much stronger resumes in the wretched impregnable swamp that is the U of I power structure. He politicked his way into the support of big-money donors as well as the ivory tower pencil pushers. That REALLY matters. That's what the job is.

Anyone would rather hire Tiley to run a Fortune 500 company, but we're looking for someone to command a corrupt bureaucratic hellscape straight off the cliff of financial irresponsibility and moral bankruptcy that is the cutting edge of NCAA athletics. It's a different job description.

 

[ILLmatic04]

Anyone would rather hire Tiley to run a Fortune 500 company, but we're looking for someone to command a corrupt bureaucratic hellscape straight off the cliff of financial irresponsibility and moral bankruptcy that is the cutting edge of NCAA athletics. It's a different job description.

You had me at "corrupt bureaucratic hellscape."

 

[mhuml32]

I really think this perception that the skies are going to open up at the new AD's introductory press conference is really naive. That was the initial reaction to Mike Thomas. That was even more so the initial reaction to John Groce, who is to public relations what Bill Self is to actually being a basketball coach.

There is an outside game and then there is an inside game. The inside game is far more important for Illinois at this juncture. Words are not going to bring anyone back. Instant success is impossible. It's the behind-the-scenes stuff that needs overhauling.

The perception will be if Michael is hired that Barb Wilson pounded her fist on the table and demanded the candidate who was most a clueless ineffectual bureaucrat like her. But that's just a pouty fiction. If Michael is hired that will mean he outmaneuvered much bigger names with much stronger resumes in the wretched impregnable swamp that is the U of I power structure. He politicked his way into the support of big-money donors as well as the ivory tower pencil pushers. That REALLY matters. That's what the job is.

Anyone would rather hire Tiley to run a Fortune 500 company, but we're looking for someone to command a corrupt bureaucratic hellscape straight off the cliff of financial irresponsibility and moral bankruptcy that is the cutting edge of NCAA athletics. It's a different job description.

Wasn't the Aussie Open in dire financial straits before he got there?

 

[mattcoldagelli]

I really think this perception that the skies are going to open up at the new AD's introductory press conference is really naive. That was the initial reaction to Mike Thomas. That was even more so the initial reaction to John Groce, who is to public relations what Bill Self is to actually being a basketball coach.

There is an outside game and then there is an inside game. The inside game is far more important for Illinois at this juncture. Words are not going to bring anyone back. Instant success is impossible. It's the behind-the-scenes stuff that needs overhauling.

The perception will be if Michael is hired that Barb Wilson pounded her fist on the table and demanded the candidate who was most a clueless ineffectual bureaucrat like her. But that's just a pouty fiction. If Michael is hired that will mean he outmaneuvered much bigger names with much stronger resumes in the wretched impregnable swamp that is the U of I power structure. He politicked his way into the support of big-money donors as well as the ivory tower pencil pushers. That REALLY matters. That's what the job is.

Anyone would rather hire Tiley to run a Fortune 500 company, but we're looking for someone to command a corrupt bureaucratic hellscape straight off the cliff of financial irresponsibility and moral bankruptcy that is the cutting edge of NCAA athletics. It's a different job description.

C'mon, man. Do you really think people are expecting instant change? I don't read that in any of these posts. Literally none. Step 1 is getting someone competent to chart the path. That's all people want - to be able to take step 1 in getting our sports back to where they should be.

And I'm having a tough time with your reticence on Tiley when earlier in this thread you were waving the Mike Small flag pretty aggressively.

 

[sigint]

Anyone would rather hire Tiley to run a Fortune 500 company, but we're looking for someone to command a corrupt bureaucratic hellscape straight off the cliff of financial irresponsibility and moral bankruptcy that is the cutting edge of NCAA athletics. It's a different job description.

I don't think these two things are as far apart as you make them seem.

 

[BZuppke]

In my opinion, if Michael is hired over any of the other candidates it would only mean that the big donors S&C mentions wanted someone who would answer to them rather than it being any comment on Michael's prowess in navigating the landscape. The only time in our modern history Illinois took a giant leap forward was under Neale Stoner, and he was eventually run out of town by the same group.

That being said, I believe Michael was interviewed as a courtesy. I don't see him being hired.

 

[EJ33]

C'mon, man. Do you really think people are expecting instant change? I don't read that in any of these posts. Literally none. Step 1 is getting someone competent to chart the path. That's all people want - to be able to take step 1 in getting our sports back to where they should be.

+1 I have no such fantasy about immediate results - I just want somebody who can restore hope.

As for the comments in this thread about the randomness of coaching and AD hires. Yes, there is an element of randomness, but there is also an element of skill. Raising money, building facilities, getting admission exceptions for football - these things will be accomplished by someone with skill and they will help us build a better foundation for success. They will not be random. With a few more building blocks in place we might also get access to a better, less risky hiring pool than average MAC coaches. The right AD might also be able to sell Illinois to better coaches.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

C'mon, man. Do you really think people are expecting instant change? I don't read that in any of these posts. Literally none. Step 1 is getting someone competent to chart the path. That's all people want - to be able to take step 1 in getting our sports back to where they should be.

Not instant change, but instant confidence that all of a sudden we have the right leadership in place to start building. And even if it's Tiley, or Rick George, or Jim Tressel or whoever I think that's a tad naive. The process of credibility-building is not going to be done in front of a microphone.

And I'm having a tough time with your reticence on Tiley when earlier in this thread you were waving the Mike Small flag pretty aggressively.

I am sold on Tiley as a great hire, but not as a sure thing.

 

[KBLEE]

The right AD might also be able to sell Illinois to better coaches.

And anyone who thinks Tom Michael is that individual is completely delusional.

 

[TooHot4Tots]

At Alabama they would have their guy within 3 days.

Probably right, but I was not referring to hiring timeframe. Just that once a hire is made, it's not an overnight fix.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

In my opinion, if Michael is hired over any of the other candidates it would only mean that the big donors S&C mentions wanted someone who would answer to them rather than it being any comment on Michael's prowess in navigating the landscape.

That's a fair counterpoint.

 

[mattcoldagelli]

I am sold on Tiley as a great hire, but not as a sure thing.

Well, yeah. But we're Illinois fans still spending time discussing sports post-Cubitpocalypse, so I don't think anybody around here is expecting a sure thing in any regard.

 

[CUWPC]

Not instant change, but instant confidence that all of a sudden we have the right leadership in place to start building. And even if it's Tiley, or Rick George, or Jim Tressel or whoever I think that's a tad naive. The process of credibility-building is not going to be done in front of a microphone.



I am sold on Tiley as a great hire, but not as a sure thing.

I agree with the fans wanting/needing instant confidence. I think people want someone with a track record. Tiley and George are fan favorites because they’ve been successful at high levels. Tiley was extremely successful in turning the Illinois tennis program around and the Australian open into a premier tennis event. George is currently an AD at a Power 5 school and he earned it. For me the icing on the cake is the connection to Illinois. People see the connection and think the person will be more passionate about seeing Illinois succeed than someone from the outside. I’m guilty of seeing the connection ti university as passion. This job is such an uphill battle the AD needs to be proven and passionate about turning this thing around.