The guy that compared this to whack-a-mole was spot on. For the millionth time...Mike Thomas.
The Illinois Coaching Search
- Status
The guy that compared this to whack-a-mole was spot on. For the millionth time...Mike Thomas.
Don't let him back in Champaign. We all know that Kansas is just a stepping stone program until you can get a real elite job.
No idea. "All but hired" may be an over-statement. Actual words were more along the lines of "Illinois was going hire Martin but then there was too much controversy surrounding his staff at the time."
Guy who told me knows Martin...I don't know how connected he is to the Illinois athletic department aside from the actual bball coaching staff. He also may have been messing with me, because he like to give me crap about being such a vocal Illinois fan.
True.
You left off Missouri State. And wasn't Tennessee on probation or coming off of something?
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
It sure feels to me, that the Martin innuendo is all from one side of the aisle. I 100% believe Martin would crawl to Champaign for the job. I don't believe Whitman would have him in his top 5-7 options, if even top 10. There is a narrative being spun here, but I don't believe it is the Illinois Athletic Department doing anything to contribute to the spinning of said narrative.
Same flight that went to Wilmington last night is currently en route to Omaha.
Had heard McDermott was looking to make a move.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N45HG
Had heard McDermott was looking to make a move.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N45HG
Last edited:
Illinois has had 2 long NCAA runs in 28 years. No big time coach wants to roll the dice that he can get the Illini going. Do I think they can get back to the upper tier ? YES, but it is going to be by a coach that is super hungry that can coach and recruit. It will take a ton of energy.
Hoiberg does not seem to have the personality to coach on the NBA level. Dealing with these huge contract walking Brand Names takes a Spurs kind of guy. Whether now or later, Hoiberg will crave getting back to the relative sanitary of the college world. Note that I did say RELATIVE sanity.
I think there's a distinction between being someone who is truly poor at creating recruiting relationships, and someone who just isn't the unctuous smooth operator that will be every Chicago AAU coach's best buddy.
I don't purport to know whether Marshall is either or both, but the idea that Illinois needs the world's most dynamic recruiting personality as their head coach to win the Jabari Parkers and Jahlil Okafors through sheer charm I think is a huge misconception. That was Mike Thomas' concept of what the Illinois job was and what it required and that one-size-fits-all focus both caused him to ignore potentially great options and turned off the targets he did go after.
If we want perennially outstanding, Big Ten title contending status for Illinois basketball (and we should), winning epic recruiting battles for 5-star Chicagoland talent is certainly one path there. But I don't think it's the path of least resistance at all.
The strength of the Illinois job, to me, is the broad access to talent that isn't being put up for auction to Self and Calipari and the like in the Chicago AAU scene. Anyone can dive into that cesspool. Illinois has unique access to other solid players in state and in the surrounding area. Players that an outstanding coach can turn into a sustained dominant program, one that presents its own case to those 5-stars, beyond just the salesman schtick of the head coach.
I can appreciate your negative attitude but I'll bet you the next HC comes from this list (in no particular order)
1. Bryce Drew
2. Archie Miller
3. Kevin Keatts
4. Gregg Marshall
5. Scott Drew
For once the NCAA did the right thing in that case and punished Pearl, not the program.
Just an opinion, but Cuonzo will be in JW's top ten. He checks all of the boxes for JWs requirements for the next coach. He's an established coach that recruits well and has ties to Chicago and STL. I don't think he's the right hire and I hope that JW's number 1 option wants to come here. I'm just not going to be surprised if he ends up here. Disappointed? Yes, but I'll get on board.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Different sanities for different folks. Many people would tell you the NBA is the far saner world. I would certainly rather have an NBA job than a college job, everything else being equal.
But it's true that Hoiberg will always be marketable in college after his ISU tenure, and if the NBA eventually chews him up and spits him out, a big money job in college will probably be awfully tempting over a lesser paying NBA assistant role.
You must be defining "long NCAA runs" as F4.
And out of nowhere.....................Charles Barkley!
And out of nowhere.....................Charles Barkley!
Oh that would be turrible
I don't understand (although I am sure I will be set straight right away by posters here
. And I am not picking on Cheez, but what I don't get is how several posters here have concluded that Williams is no longer a candidate based on one, count 'em, one tweet/source, albeit, a source that is regarded as highly reliable. So Adrian Wojnarowski has never been wrong? As far as I can see (and I certainly could have missed it) there has been no corroborating information. I am not saying I want Williams, not saying I don't, just that I don't know how we can deduce he is out based on one tweet. Both the News Gazette and the Daily Herald have recent articles (today for the News Gazette) that still list him as a top five or ten consideration. Have the writers for those newspapers not seen Wojnarowski's tweet? I mean, it could very well be that Williams has declined but I just don't see how we can say that for sure yet.Having said the above, it seems that the more damning evidence (as reported in this thread) is that it seems as if Whitman is waiting for the tournament to conclude which would imply that he is waiting on a particular team and that team's coach in the tournament to end their season before announcing a replacement which would seem to leave Williams out.
MrOizo
- Chicago
Certainly, the situation at Tennessee was not a winning one!
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2014/4/18/5623480/cuonzo-martin-cal-basketball-stats-efficiency-offense-defense-kenpom
"After Bruce Pearl was fired, Tennessee lost four of their five top options from a team that finished 7th in the SEC and lost by 30 points in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It was a team that probably didn't deserve to even make the tournament, but the best players on the roster all left anyway. "
Regarding the team Cuozo took over at Cal:
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2017/3/6/14825508/cuonzo-martin-and-the-coming-coaching-carousel
"I don’t really want to get into a Monty-vs.-Cuonzo debate. Both have achieved similar results in very different styles. Monty never had a team as bad as Cuonzo’s first team . . . but Monty also never had a team as good as the 2015-16 Bears, and Monty’s lackluster recruiting had quite a bit to do with Cuonzo’s rough first season."
Mind you, those are from a Cal blog. Those are the easiest Google results that weigh in on the state of the Tennessee and Cal teams that he took over.
MrOizo
- Chicago
Let's hope this is the current Plan A and is in the works!!
It is one source, yes. But Woj is the best and single most reliable reporter across all of sports.I don't understand (although I am sure I will be set straight right away by posters here
Having said the above, it seems that the more damning evidence (as reported in this thread) is that it seems as if Whitman is waiting for the tournament to conclude which would imply that he is waiting on a particular team and that team's coach in the tournament to end their season before announcing a replacement which would seem to leave Williams out.
I dunno man, there was a bunch of talent on Cuonzo's first Tennessee team and at whatever he may have inherited at Cal there was at least one five star in Jabari Bird.
- Status