The Illinois Coaching Search

Status
Not open for further replies.
#2,552      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
Second and Chalmers said:
Uhh, that seems like a gross misrepresentation.

They appear to be universally confident he'll stay.

Meaningless, of course, but your schadenfreude is misplaced.
Click to expand...

I was hoping for a meltdown, after what I read earlier today. And, by the way, why do they think that UI leaked the story? No benefit to that, am I right? Any way, they do seem confident.
 
#2,555      

Mike

Mike
C-U Townie
Mike
Tevo said:
And with KHANzo at the helm, Missouri will end up being buried alliiiive.... buried aliiiive..... burrrrried ALIIIIIVE!
Click to expand...

The Wrath of KHANzo?

Don't know what's more pathetic, the Star Trek references or them making me giggle.
 
#2,556      

illiniknight

I
illiniknight
Illwinsagain said:
I was hoping for a meltdown, after what I read earlier today. And, by the way, why do they think that UI leaked the story? No benefit to that, am I right? Any way, they do seem confident.
Click to expand...

If I was in their situation I would be confident too. They have a coach that has been highly successful at his current job, why would they be worried about him leaving to go to a program that has missed the tournament for 4 years. If I was a Virginia fan, I would be thinking that this would get their coach a raise but that's all.
 
#2,557      

KrushCow31

KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
KrushCow31
Those nice folk over at the Virginia Board seem to think we are a bunch of po dunk country folk in a run down city with an old stadium that's falling apart. Weird Cause Champaign-Urbana has a population of over 120,000 and their city is 50,000.
 
#2,559      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
ski300 said:
If I was in their situation I would be confident too. They have a coach that has been highly successful at his current job, why would they be worried about him leaving to go to a program that has missed the tournament for 4 years. If I was a Virginia fan, I would be thinking that this would get their coach a raise but that's all.
Click to expand...

Point taken. I hadn't thought much about UVa hoops since the Ralph Sampson days. They haven't thought much about UI hoops since 2005. Fair enough.
 
#2,560      

tuffy7

T
tuffy7
StateFarmCenter said:
It'll take a lot for Bennett to leave but this guys twitter reads worse than their fan board.
Click to expand...

This Radcliff guy seems to be a beat writer of some sort with the Uva team in Orlando currently. I wouldn't be surprised if he has access to talking with Bennett directly.
 
Last edited:
#2,562      

Mike

Mike
C-U Townie
Mike
peoriabball13 said:
Oh Lord (no pun intended) where does one acquire one of these? Perhaps it also comes as an Xmas ornament?? Must find.
Click to expand...

It makes Jesus look like kind of a jerk.
Religious, but I want one.
 
#2,563      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
Well after about 2.5 hours and 700 Second and Chalmers posts later....I'm finally caught up. Y'all are entertaining to say the least.

Is it time for Late Night Loyalty?
 
#2,564      

KrushCow31

KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
Chicago, IL
KrushCow31
Also if you look up bleak in a dictionary there's a picture of Champaign-Urbanna[sic] next to it. Apparently Bloomington is a better town than Champaign-Urbanna, located in the frozen wasteland of "Southern" Illinois and is basically the "NC State" of the Big Ten.
 
#2,565      

Mike

Mike
C-U Townie
Mike
KrushCow31 said:
Those nice folk over at the Virginia Board seem to think we are a bunch of po dunk country folk in a run down city with an old stadium that's falling apart. Weird Cause Champaign-Urbana has a population of over 120,000 and their city is 50,000.
Click to expand...

Well C-U certainly doesn't scream urban big city life, but not all potential coaches crave insane traffic & cost of living when Chicago/Indy/SaintLouis is just a quick flight away.
 
#2,568      

IlliniOllie

I
IlliniOllie
ski300 said:
I was going to wait for my 1,000 post to be on big news but this thread is to much to pass up. I agree with S&C that this coaching search feels like the one 5 years ago. Is the Tony Bennet speculation just Shaka Smart Part Two? Look I am cautiously optimistic that JW will make a good hire but I expect it will be the Keatts/Musselman variety. I am not fully discounting the possibility of a "big splash" hire but I am not expecting it. The names that have been mentioned would be extremely difficult to pry away from their current situations. I don't think that this lack of splash would be something to worry about. I think the next coach will have the Illini in a significantly better place within a few years. I know it is the nature of this board, and human nature in general, to panic at the slightest of bad news. But I personally am going to let this process play out and I expect to be happy, if not pleasantly surprised, at the outcome. Carry on.
Click to expand...

I feel like the Tony Bennett speculation is more like the "LVG's UPS guy seeing Coach K buying land in Mahomet" Part Two.
 
#2,569      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
I'm fairly confident Walker will stay, but it depends completely on who we hire. If we hire a respected head coach who wants to keep Walker then I think he stays. Going to Mizzou is such a risky move. Yeah you might be good or even elite with Tilmon, Porter, and company but after those first couple years all you are left with is a head coach that has underachieved in a program that can sink about as low as possible.

But if Whitman makes a good hire, Walker can stay and keep this really good recruiting class and build off of it. Staying at Illinois seems like a much safer/smarter career decision IMO.

But obviously I don't know what Walker's career goals are. Plus maybe he really respects Cuonzo. Who knows, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
#2,570      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
As S&C said there's some great stuff in the last coaching thread. Take a look and post anything good!

This time our coaching search media echo chamber rumor mill candidate is Tony Bennett. Last time we all know it was Shaka. I've only looked at the first few pages but here's some great quotes from the media.

@DanWolken

Sounds like Shaka is going to take Illinois or is leaning that way, from what I hear.
Click to expand...

NBC Sports

Already names like Shaka Smart, Frank Martin and Anthony Grant are making the rounds
Click to expand...

Doug Gottlieb

Shaka Smart 100% has to take the Illinois job if it's offered. You don't turn a job like Illinois down.
Click to expand...

Dan Bernstein

Shaka Smart is 1st choice. Fallbacks with strongest support right now are Reggie Theus and Anthony Grant.
Click to expand...

Who made the best recommendation? Dick Vitale!!!

@DickieV

Young & talented-Chris Collins with Illinois background as a HS STAR-Can recruit ,teach, & motivate ILLINOIS should HAVE GUTS & hire him.
Click to expand...

These are just some funny quotes from Loyalty users:

Magoo2

Stevens is Weber V2.0. His offense is not explosive and I would say is just as methodical as Steven's personality. We have been arguing against that sort of offense for years. Why go with another coach who is going to play grind it out basketball?? He is a good coach, but he is not a game changer for UofI.
Click to expand...

Kramer116

The closest candidate out of Smart, Theus, and Grant to Bill Self is Reggie Theus.
Click to expand...

zpfled

Yeah, I'm pretty high on Theus or Smart. Not so much Grant or Stevens.
Click to expand...

There's so much more...great stuff.
 
#2,573      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
On that Virginia board I saw earlier that Bennett turned down a raise not too long ago? They're talking about it like it's no big deal he'll just get one this time, which might be true. But man I'd be concerned if I offered someone a raise and they didn't accept it.
 
#2,574      

Ramrod2010

R
Ramrod2010
EJ33 said:
As S&C said there's some great stuff in the last coaching thread. Take a look and post anything good!


There's so much more...great stuff.
Click to expand...

You're right, there is some great stuff (like from me):

Is there a specific reason why Gregg Marshall isn't being mentioned more? Is it because he's middle age and still in the MVC (ie too much like Bruce)?
Click to expand...


A bit loopy with my thinking, but nearly five years to the date I was honking the Gregg Marshall horn.
 
#2,575      

Swamp Donkey

Swamp Donkey
Swamp Donkey
madcrazeeballa said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't mind watching good defense and his offense may be slower, but is incredibly efficient. I honestly don't care if it's not the fast paced exciting style that some teams play as long as he wins games. He's been very successful at Washington State and Virginia which are two programs that, imo, don't offer the basketball resources that we are able to offer. I'd be thrilled if Bennett came here.
Click to expand...
It will be interesting to see if this view remains the same if we hire Bennett. I can see it now 48-43 win at PSU BORING! There will be long lists of complaints if we are winning games like this and we are not in top 25.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.