Lovie Smith Named Illinois Football Coach

Status
Not open for further replies.
#1,451      
ChicagoIllini
The Pontiff said:
Yep, Kaplan is probably just being a contrarian to rile up folks, like you said. But it's such a joke to think that this doesn't happen a lot.

When Gerry Dinardo was on B&B I believe, they asked him the exact same question, as to whether it was bad form to have offered the job to Lovie before Cubit was fired. He said something to the effect that's just how it's done at big-time schools, that it's part of the business.

Maybe, as I think others have speculated, if Lovie says no, Cubit is still here. Unless he had another card up his sleeve.

Go :shield:
Click to expand...


Not only that, on BTN Dinardo said that twice he was contacted and had an agreement in principle to be a head coach before the current head coach was fired. And a third time he actually signed a contract BEFORE the current coach was fired. It's just the reality of big time college athletics, something we (thankfully) have to get used to now. :chief:
 
#1,457      
Doak1960
I agree. Cubit gave us everything he had. Putting together a nice staff of coaches and bringing in the recruits under the circumstances was remarkable. Lets keep positive and #WeWillWin
 
#1,458      
sacraig
I mean, this is big-time college sports. Of course there is a dark side. In this case, the dark side is that Cubit, who seems like a genuinely good guy, and his assistants were hosed. Still, I don't know how this situation on the whole could be interpreted as anything other than a huge net positive development for the school and its athletics programs. This is especially true if Cubit's assistants get a severance of sorts that tides them over until the carousel starts to turn again, in which case there was very little actual harm done.
 
#1,459      
Joel Goodson
My only problem with Cubit was his gifting his son the OC position. I have no issue with Illinois terminating him. He was interim, if not in name, and made out damn well financially.
 
#1,461      
icengineer
Do some of you really think that Cubit had no idea this could happen? It's part of the biz. I am willing to bet that Cubit himself knew that the chances of him being gone sooner were astronomically higher then being gone later. You don't pull the shenanigans he did with the OC position if you honestly believe that you are going to be around a couple years.
 
#1,463      
RyanK
Can't wait for some Spring ball. Lovie is going to relate so well to these kids.

[YOUTUBE]4N9H9kY_gTM[/YOUTUBE]
 
#1,464      
icengineer
Second and Chalmers said:
Guys, it's really not that weird that Ryan Cubit was named OC. He was our OC all of last year in duties, if not title and salary.
Click to expand...

So you must be the only other person, besides his father, that thought he did a good job and deserved the OC position outright along with what, 3 times his previous salary?!?!?
 
Last edited:
#1,465      
Second and Chalmers
icengineer said:
So you must be the only other person, besides his father, that thought he did a good job and deserved the OC position outright along with what, 3 times his previous salary?!?!?
Click to expand...

He was made the lowest-paid OC in the Big Ten, IIRC.

You guys are acting like finding a highly qualified OC was a no biggie in the situation we were in. We were just trying to keep the ship from capsizing. Cubit wasn't going to let anyone go who he trusted.
 
#1,466      
UIGrad03
Cubit and lil Cubit will get paid over a million bucks for ~3 months of work. They signed the silly short contracts they did because they had no better options, and they knew upfront that their fate would be placed into the hands of the new AD. Bill Cubit has been around long enough to know how this game works. That's why he did such a good job of playing it to he and his son's favor.
 
#1,467      
bombayIllini
Did we not pay everyone that was not retained? I know it sucks, but that has always been the downside of this profession and I do not think it happens very often - there is only one Bill Cubit (not a knock on him).

The problem is with inter-collegiate atheletics. Did anyone expect JW to make a different decision? And, Telander has the sequence , conveniently, backwards. He hired Lovie, then fired Cubit. IMHO, the right thing to do. Then he ensured no one was thrown under the bus.

And footing the bill? It should pay for itself. The assumption here is that provided Lovie delivers. That expectation is there.

Well, perhaps Illinois fans need to stop there subscription of ST for a year, giving Telander as the reason. :). And let market dynamics take over. Much what JW faces on a daily basis.
 
Last edited:
#1,468      
Illwinsagain
Been gone from the board, but when I heard this, I have to say it was a fantastic hire. Adds credibiltiy to a team that could really use it. I hope he gets into the living rooms of the top kids. I really believe that the parents can and should trust Lovie.
 
#1,471      
Bob Christiansen
An excellent read indeed.

Having lived down here in FL for the last 35 years (15 in Orlando, 20 in the Tampa Bay area), I am all too familiar with the teams thet have "been there, done that" regarding national prominence...and National Championships. Gators, Seminoles, Hurricanes. Other than the Canes, who are rebuilding, and the Gators, who are sorta rebuilding, it's odd when at least 1 out of the 3 (usually 2) aren't in the talk for the NC when the season starts. Granted, along with Cali and TX, FL is the hotbed of talent when it comes to HS football, I know that. An 8-4 season for these guys is a massive disappointment, usually accompanied with calls for a coaching change.

Obviously, the success of those 3 teams has come mainly in the form of recruiting. Not that I've had to continually remind my friends, but from time to time do give them an occasional "remember what I said", the football team the Illini fielded this year are NOT Lovie's recruits...are not Hardy Nickerson's recruits...are not Tim McGee's recruits. The men this season are who the coaches were given, who they had to work with. No offense to the fine young men that were out on the field this year, but the old adage "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" definitely holds true.

So from this day forward, we will start to see the young men that Lovie and his staff bring in. We will start to see how their mindsets affect the freshmen and sophmores from the previous coaching staff. We may even see some players who Beckman and his staff brought in no longer playing for the Illini...players who don't quite "measure up" to the standards that are going to be demanded of them. But I know I am REALLY looking forward to the next 2-3 years, to see where the coaching staff leads us regarding the landscape of college football. It's an exciting time to be an Illini alum and fan, we just all have to have a little patience...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back