Whitman looks better than Thomas and Guenther? Not a real high bar you're setting there. You really need to go back to Doug Mills to find a good one at Illinois. For all I know Whitman may prove to be the cat's meow. At this point, he seems to have hired a couple strong coaches. The rest, not so much. Do you disagree with my assessment of Smith, Fahey and Turk? Tim Freaking Beckman had a better record than Lovie Smith. Tell me which of these coaches hired by Whitman are better than average - Smith, Fahey, Walsh, Tamas. There is also Bielema but it is a little early to evaluate him. He has promoted three other coaches - Turk, Poeta and Clark. Poeta is only a few days into his job, so not fair to evaluate. Turk's team just finished 9th of 12 on the men's side and 11th of 13 on the women's side (track and field). Clark's team is currently 8 and 8 (women's tennis). Tamas took the volleyball team to the final four in his first year (2018), went 16-14 the next year, followed by a cancelled covid year and 7-11 this year. Walsh's teams have finished 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd out of ten conference women's gymnastic teams. Fahey has won 6 B10 games in four years finishing 14th, 14th, 13th, and 13th. Had her contract extended through '24-25.
Fundraising has been strong under Whitman:https://fightingillini.com/news/202...rgest-fundraising-year-in-school-history.aspx He has certainly worked to improve facilities which is a big plus. Some might cringe at the debt buildup in the athletic department (second highest in the country): https://illinois.rivals.com/news/budget-50
The latest Learfield IMG College Director's Cup ranking I can find shows Illinois at 9th in the conference: https://nacda.com/sports/2018/7/17/directorscup-nacda-directorscup-previous-scoring-html.aspx
