That's exactly how I saw it then and still do. Need to take some risks and have some fun. Rinse repeat until it clicksHe was my number one choice too. UI is going to have to take risks in any coaching search because of their place in the collegiate landscape. I think this holds true for basketball now too, it didn’t use to.
Leach is a wildcard but the dude can coach and recruit to his system. He plays an exciting brand of ball too. Lovie’s style is like watching paint dry.
We needed a guy with some edge. I’d take a guy like Leach who tells it like it is.
To paraphrase my Navy friends, no matter how many bells and whistles are on the plane, a bad pilot is going to find a way to auger it into the deck.Would have been interesting to see if Tre Watson, Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Patrick Nelson, Desmond Cain, Dominic Thieman, Tito Odenigbo would have made a difference?
In a hypothetical world, we certainly would have seen those guys playing a lot of minutes this year considering how all the injuries have played out.
As an OC?Kliff Kingsbury is likely done at Texas Tech a guy I wouldnt mind here.
I think with Kliff you should be 6-6 to 9-3 any given year and thats all Illinois fans should hope for. It's simply hard to win here.As an OC?
I would rather roll the dice on an up and coming coach having success, vs the post-hype name that was just forced out.
I think with Kliff you should be 6-6 to 9-3 any given year
6-6 to 9-3 any given year and thats all Illinois fans should hope for. It's simply hard to win here.
Right now I am curious, do pirates like lasagna? Anyway, I was never a Lovie fan and thought he was a bad hire at the time. I would still give him at least one more season. But what do I know. I thought firing Zook and Weber was a bad idea when it happened
That would still be a big Defensive problemKliff Kingsbury is likely done at Texas Tech a guy I wouldnt mind here.
6-6 to 9-3 any given year and thats all Illinois fans should hope for. It's simply hard to win here.
Oh, I obviously do. As bad as those coaching era's were it wasn't as bad as the persistent humiliation we've been subjected to over the past decade.You obviously don't remember Jim Valek or Gary Moeller in football...
Lovie arguably inherited the worst situation any Illini coach has ever inherited.
I think with Kliff you should be 6-6 to 9-3 any given year and thats all Illinois fans should hope for. It's simply hard to win here.
My replacement guy is Seth Littrell, young (40 year old), comes from the Mike Leach tree and runs his air raid offense. At North Texas he took over a 1-11 team and has gone 5-8, 9-5 and 8-3. They beat Arkansas and Southern Miss this year and his offense is ranked 18th overall and 10th in passing. Their defense is ranked 38th.
I’d rather have his mentor, Larry Fedora- after he is dismissed.
We don't have the lowest ranked class if you go by 247 and we are that low because we only have 10 commits. Our per player ranking is about 7th.
The transfer issue is a big deal if they come from our 2 deep. If we start out again young next season then I cannot see the sense of continuing with Lovie.
On the other hand if we make a move and don't hire coaches whose systems fit with our personnel, we are starting from scratch again. You certainly don't want to handcuff your search by style of offense and defense they run, so that cannot be deciding factor. At that point you are looking at another 3 year build.
At this point I'd rather give Lovie the chance to hire a couple of strong assistants and see what happens in 2019.
When we hired Beckman, my choice was Mike Leach. In his first 3 seasons at Washington State he was 3-9, 6-7 and 3-9, so not much better than Beckman. Since then he has gone 9-4, 8-5, 9-4 and this season he is 10-1. They gave him four seasons to become a winner. I think we can give Lovie another season. I would rather have Lovie at the podium than Leach or Beckman in any case.
Granted, he did take UNC to an 11-win season, but he pulled off a Ron Turner-like turnaround in the other direction that squandered his gains with some epic losing.
Leach was a proven winner at Texas Tech winning 2/3rds of his games while head coach with a very high powered offense. So you knew the potential was there to turn Wazzu around. Lovie was an average NFL coach that was blessed with NFL HOFers and a tremendous supporting cast to run his defense. Other than that Lovie was a flash in the pan hire that has proven to be a mistake. We aren’t just losing, we are getting embarrassed and as of this past weekend the kids are checking out. One more year may put us three to four more years behind from where we are right now.