Goodness, if the Khan/George thing is true
Rest easy, it's not.
Goodness, if the Khan/George thing is true
Michigan took 15 months to hire an AD. I`d love to see what you would say if Illinois took that long.
There was a middle ground between George/Tiley and Tom Micheal that the administration simply bypassed in their insistence that the hire be an "Illini guy."
I may be reading too much into it, but it does not sound like preparting for a home run hire.
I may be reading too much into it, but it does not sound like preparting for a home run hire.
You are reading way too much into the letter. Dee does not know who the new AD will be, because that decision has not been made. Dee has been working on the idea for this letter for a couple of weeks and this letter would have come out regardless of who might have been the choice, had the announcement already been made.
Their insistence? Wisconsin-loving Barb Wilson and Welshman Tim Killeen, not to mention a BoT on which only 4 of the 11 members attended UIUC, insisted the hire be an "Illini Guy"?
The Illini Guy thing was a mandate applied to the process from the outside. The money wants someone they have total control over.
Ok, I see that. My wording was poor. I guess I'm more lamenting that they permitted themselves to be strong armed into the "Illini guy" foolishness when the result is the appointment of an unaccomplished second fiddle like Tom Michael that wouldn't be on the radar at any other university in the nation at this point in his career. It's one thing to have Illinois connections; it's another to have only Illinois connections.Their insistence? Wisconsin-loving Barb Wilson and Welshman Tim Killeen, not to mention a BoT on which only 4 of the 11 members attended UIUC, insisted the hire be an "Illini Guy"?
The Illini Guy thing was a mandate applied to the process from the outside. The money wants someone they have total control over.
an unaccomplished second fiddle like Tom Michael that wouldn't be on the radar at any other university in the nation at this point in his career.
some cabal of big donors is trying to control the hire to satisfy their own desire to thereby control the DIA
Why is everyone freaking out? Its like a NFL head coaching search, they deny everything. When the Eagles hired Doug Pederson as their HC the owner of the Eagles said "Doug was the only candidate we made an offer to", that was with Adam Gase as a candidate for the job.I have to think Tiley is still in play, if he was asked what motive would there be to say "Oh yeah Im talking to Illinois pretty seriously now". He doesnt want to lose his job with Tennis Australia.
I think someone on here knows a hell of a lot more about this situation than the others. Most are surmising. Some are filtering and surmising. And one knows what he is talking about. And it isn't me.
Let's dispel this one real quick.
Michigan outsted Dave Brandon as AD right around the time of the football season when we fired Mike Thomas. And they had the Brady Hoke era clearly going off the rails which needed addressing, so they faced the same sort of time squeeze with a football coach we did.
What Michigan did is bring in Jim Hackett from outside, who was a bigwig in the donor community, make him a fully empowered, semi-permanent interim AD, and make clear both publicly and privately that Hackett had full hiring and firing powers, and that the search for a permanent AD was on the backburner for the time being. Any decisions on Hoke and his replacement were Hackett's show.
Now, the subtext there of course was that everyone knew an all-out courtship of Jim Harbaugh was coming, which would be an effort involving the whole University from top to bottom. A "search" wasn't part of the plan, at least not Plan A. And Jim Harbaugh might have said no, and if he had, having a guy with no college administration experience searching for Plan B with a chastened, angry, desperate fanbase might have gotten messy. But it was going to be Hackett's cross to bear regardless.
That's the opposite of what happened at Illinois, it bears no relationship to our situation whatsoever. We pretended that our interim AD had authority and then ripped it away from him in favor of a non-decision that essentially mothballed the football program for a year. Michigan hired a new AD immediately, it was just a temporary one. We have had gone without leadership of any kind in the DIA for months now, through the depths of a five-alarm leadership emergency.
At EIU I have over the past several years had the good fortune to be asked to an annual dinner. This dinner's guests include donors above a certain price level. In past years, the former A.D. would travel from table to table and talk to the guests. I was always amazed how she (Dr. Barbara Burke) could remember my name and ask about my job, as well as ask about my son. I didnt have many interactions with her outside of this event except maybe 1 or 2 others per year. When Tom Michael was hired, with me being an Illini fan, I was excited. We went to the annual dinner with high hopes. He stood up to speak and I had never been more underwhelmed with a speaker. Everything seemed canned/fake. I brushed it aside thinking that perhaps I had built up too high of expectations for him and his first speech. We were there for about three hours and not once did he come to our table and introduce himself. I was extremely taken back at this, as were the others at my table. One would think that at an annual dinner to thank donors at a struggling university with a new AD that he would try his hardest to meet everyone. Not Tom Michael. He settled in with 2 tables and that was it. There were maybe 7 tables in the room. Maybe 40 guests. Maybe. Tom Michael is not the answer.
When Tom Michael was hired, with me being an Illini fan, I was excited. We went to the annual dinner with high hopes. He stood up to speak and I had never been more underwhelmed with a speaker. Everything seemed canned/fake.