Illini Coaching Staff

#626      
Also, the OSU AD probably wanted to be able to show he's retaining a nice chunk of the remaining "successful" staff as for some people this would help to combat how poorly he handled retaining Underwood - from an OSU fan perspective. Whether the assistants will be successful without Underwood, as well as whether Underwood will be successful without those particular assistants will remain to be seen for a couple years. I honestly hope both work out well.

OSU lost Underwood and opted for the inexperienced assistant. From a financial standpoint, they saved a ton. From a fan and PR perspective, they went cheap. So offering an attractive package to the other assistant coach to soften the blow was kind of expected.
 
#629      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
I think it's worse than Beckman's staff.

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#630      

illynifan34

That's a winner!!
OH
You, too, should have a Snickers.

Snickers make you fat and putting together a bunch of guys that have never worked together and hoping they can go in one coherent direction is a gamble I don't want to be taking.
 
#633      

sacraig

The desert
Snickers make you fat and putting together a bunch of guys that have never worked together and hoping they can go in one coherent direction is a gamble I don't want to be taking.

The dude's been coaching for several decades and hails from the fairly robust Huggins coaching tree. I am pretty sure his success doesn't hinge on the choice of a single past assistant.
 
#635      

TownieMatt

CU Expat
Chicago
I'll beat this drum with you. I think it's worse than Beckman's staff.

What in the world is happening in this thread? One piece of bad news and the sky is falling. Have some prospective people. We just pulled off a universally praised hire, retained a sought-after assistant and still have a great recruiting class coming in.

As BWood has mentioned several times, he's been in the biz a long time and has relationships all over. We have the biggest asst pool in the B1G. We will hire quality assistants.
 
#637      

illynifan34

That's a winner!!
OH
Beckman's staff was good. Or at least it had talented coaches on it, who have gone on to success elsewhere. But such is the difficulty of rebuilding something out of nothing with no continuity.

Now, Beckman is Beckman. We didn't see Underwood attempt to eat one of his own shoes at his introductory press conference, so we can safely assume he's working with a bit more intellectual and managerial horsepower.

But the difference between those situations is one of degree, not type.

It might have been a bit of hyperbole. Point still stands I'm concerned we won't all be on the same page.
 
#639      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
If Underwood's success or failure depends so heavily on one assistant coach, then we're paying the wrong guy a lot of money. Doubt this is anywhere near as big a deal as some make it out to be. Seems more like an opportunity to me. If there was one thing (besides coaching ability) that I didn't like about Groce, it was his refusal to make any changes to the coaching staff.
 
#640      
If Underwood's success or failure depends so heavily on one assistant coach, then we're paying the wrong guy a lot of money. Doubt this is anywhere near as big a deal as some make it out to be. Seems more like an opportunity to me. If there was one thing (besides coaching ability) that I didn't like about Groce, it was his refusal to make any changes to the coaching staff.

:thumb:
 
#642      
Which, again, would be an utterly laughable usage of our highest-in-the-B1G budget.

Let's maybe wait until we actually officially announce at least one of our assistant coaches before we start going to worst case scenarios.

Out of Underwood's three assistants at OK State only one of them was an assistant with him at SFA. Hiring new assistants isn't exactly something he doesn't have experience with.
 
#643      

ivwilsoniv

Aurora, IL
When it ends up being Jamal Walker, Shane Heirman and the DOBO from South Carolina and there's dysfuntion next year I won't wonder why.

Based on your username and "dysfuntion" in your post, you seem to like replacing "i" with "y". Maybe you should replace your pessimism with a wait-and-see approach.
 
#646      
Let's maybe wait until we actually officially announce at least one of our assistant coaches before we start going to worst case scenarios.

Out of Underwood's three assistants at OK State only one of them was an assistant with him at SFA. Hiring new assistants isn't exactly something he doesn't have experience with.

Yeah, and it's basketball not rocket surgery. This upcoming season was going to be transitional in nature regardless of who's on the staff.
 
#647      
Ok. Obviously not good news but I am not going to panic yet. Let's see who rounds out the staff. If he gets another good recruiter and guy familiar with his system it could be great. I am withholding judgement until the entire staff is named.
 
#648      

UofI08

Chicago
I can't be the only guy on this board who had never even heard of Mike Boynton or Lamont Evans before this week. Now today they are the most important assistant coaches in clearly all of college basketball.
 
#650      
Wow

:eek: This thread dove-tailed quick. Way to much doomsday prognostications. Do your u know how many assistants get 283k/yr? That will be the average for our staff. What if we get Roger Powell? Pastrana? Gates? Etc.

If a College level asst can't learn an offense and follow through on teaching techniques, then we really made a bad hire.

Just chill.