Thought this was interesting...however a little misleading! Example Roy Williams did not win a National Championship until his 17th season as a coach, but it was his 2nd season at North Carolina. Maybe it is just my take on the wording used!
College Hoops Coaching Carousel
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BU been coaching here that long? Sheesh, I'm old. /s
I think there’s a good chance that Texas may lose to either Houston or Miami if they get past Xavier and that’s if they get past Xavier. They have a tough road left to the final 4.
Ever been to a bar where some wiseacre has loaded the jukebox up with quarters and played MMMbop by Hanson ten times in a row just to annoy people?
There were plenty here that thought he couldn’t scheme WITH Kofi. Remember that? “There’s no movement.” “Everybody just stands on the perimeter.” “We’re one dimensional.” Etc. And, at times it wasn’t too far from the truth. (But if you look at the win loss column in that run…we didn’t too awful bad with it…like you said)
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He just won 20 games without Kofi after losing a massive amount of production. It wasn’t a pretty year, but, what were people’s honest (not orange colored glasses optimistic) expectations for this past year. All this has also been accomplished despite what many thought was an apocalyptic assistant coaching line change.
Yes, the tournament matters, but you can’t have consistent success in the tournament if you don’t make it consistently. We are back to being in it perennially (did people just block out the previous decade?). Self took a bit to find tourney success in Kansas, too. Arrow still pointing up around here in the big scheme of things.
Yeah, it's wrong. Calipari became coach at UK in 2009 and won a natty in 2012. Wright took over at Villanova in 2001 and won a natty in 2016. Probably means total time coaching, but the tweet specifically says # of years at program before winning.
# of Sweet Sixteens:
Indiana: 22
Michigan State: 21
Michigan: 18
Ohio State: 15
Purdue: 14
Maryland: 14
Illinois: 11
Wisconsin: 10
Iowa: 8
Penn State: 4
Minnesota 4
Rutgers 2
Northwestern 0
Nebraska 0
Indiana: 22
Michigan State: 21
Michigan: 18
Ohio State: 15
Purdue: 14
Maryland: 14
Illinois: 11
Wisconsin: 10
Iowa: 8
Penn State: 4
Minnesota 4
Rutgers 2
Northwestern 0
Nebraska 0
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
No disagreement here. This team was a total mess and the fact that it was talented enough to stumble into the tourney doesn’t really mitigate it.
College basketball is very different now and everything is kind of a reshuffle from year to year no matter how good or bad you do.
So it’s a new day next year. Expectations are and should be high. Goodwill doesn’t last forever, but it should last a year.
We have to stop with banging this same old drum over and over again. I brought this stat up to multiple friend groups who root for other teams and it’s constantly picked apart and almost ridiculed. Frequent responses include- how many 2nd weekends, or how much success without Kofi? Listen, BU is exactly what illinois needed to bring us out of the deep dark abyss of Groce/Weber and I’ll always respect him for that. But with recent developments of infidelity on both sides, this relationship might have run its course.
I like to think of it this way-
Do you ever look back at a romantic relationship in your past and think about all the magical times you had with this significant other? After a few intoxicating moments you’re quickly pulled back to the realities of world. And you remember the exact reason why this past relationship came to a screeching halt. Reading all the tea leaves, this may be the exact crossroads we’re at with our program.
We have JW, the fanbase, the facilities, and $$$. Let’s shoot for the moon this off-season. Illini nation has been tortured long enough in March
Does JW ever reach out to players and families directly, or is that seen as bad form due to going around the coach?
Bigtex
- DFW
sounds similar as a younger Harry Caray with the Cardinals and owners daughter/Daughter in lawPretty sure it was with the daughter, not the wife.
Rumor, not necessarily fact.
Also rumor.
See post #806
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
I don’t know if anyone appreciates this enough, but after this absolute paradoxical season, this objectively positive post goes into Gritty’s HOF.
Perspective logic ftw
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
I’m still supportive of Underwood and really appreciate how he’s brought Illinois Basketball back. I’m hoping that if BU stays, he’ll be able to regroup and maintain his relationships with Whitman and his players so they can keep working together to win.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
My standards have always been the same in football and basketball. Beat our rivals and make them angry and you have my heart.
Yeah, I really thought last year BU should have won B10 Coach of the Year considering he had to replace his whole coaching staff and deal with multiple injuries/illnesses, and still was able to grab a championship.
Personally I like Underwood. I think his offensive sets need work...but that's hard to have running smoothly when you had the roster overhaul we had in the last year. He attempted to fit a lot of new pieces together and it certainly didn't work all the time. But we still had a pretty good record even if we probably underachieved based on talent alone.
If that was it I would have no problem. Coaches don't always get things to work perfect and he has done a great job with the program overall. Based upon what is being said though, my issue is that Underwood does not appear to be bought in to the team and/or the school. If his agent is really out there sniffing around jobs again then that is a problem that isn't going away. He is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, the school seems to be fully supportive of the basketball program, and the NIL money is there. So what is he looking for? If he isn't bought in then how are the players supposed to be? So if he can't help himself from going looking for greener pastures then he needs to go now. And unfortunately at this point I have to think all of his interest is true....because why wouldn't he say otherwise? His status being up in the air hurts recruiting in the portal and puts all of our current players on hold. If you aren't wanting to leave you would say so in this situation. There is no benefit to him keeping quiet at this point. I don't see any more contract negotiating power with Illinois coming from this. He has used that up.
If that was it I would have no problem. Coaches don't always get things to work perfect and he has done a great job with the program overall. Based upon what is being said though, my issue is that Underwood does not appear to be bought in to the team and/or the school. If his agent is really out there sniffing around jobs again then that is a problem that isn't going away. He is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, the school seems to be fully supportive of the basketball program, and the NIL money is there. So what is he looking for? If he isn't bought in then how are the players supposed to be? So if he can't help himself from going looking for greener pastures then he needs to go now. And unfortunately at this point I have to think all of his interest is true....because why wouldn't he say otherwise? His status being up in the air hurts recruiting in the portal and puts all of our current players on hold. If you aren't wanting to leave you would say so in this situation. There is no benefit to him keeping quiet at this point. I don't see any more contract negotiating power with Illinois coming from this. He has used that up.
John Wooden 17 years, 1947 -1964. Includes 2 years at Indiana State.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Which rivals have we been beating? If you count Michigan and Wisconsin, yes. Iowa and Northwestern previously, but not so much this year. Not Indiana, not Purdue, not Mizzou.
Xavier is a basketball school and has been a good program overall for this entire century. Xavier, I would contend, is a better job right now than Oklahoma St. Your blinders are on. You seem to think that it is a good idea for our program to hire a coach who could bolt for another job at a more elite program. We want to find someone who won't do that but at the same time is an up and comer and a rising head coach. K. State found one but I guarantee you, Jerome Tang, will leave, just like Micah Shrewsberry left
Underwood represented exactly what this program needed: A rising head coach(even if he was an older rising head coach), who expressed a desire to build back our program to the same heights it was once at in the early 2000s and late 1980s. He has done everything to affirm what his intentions originally were. He did not see this as a stepping stone to a better school. I don't trust Sean Miller to stay at Illinois for 10-15 yrs. It would be great if that was to be the case but in reality, that would never happen
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Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Where in Illinois is SM's wife from? thought I saw that posted a few days ago.
217sports
- Springfield
Now do final 4s
sacraig
- The desert
I think Underwood has earned the privilege of us overlooking his first two seasons, which were part of a successful full rebuild of the program. So let's take the teams that are most frequently cited as our biggest rivals. Since the 2019-2020 season (the first post-rebuild season) we are:
1-3 against Mizzou
3-3 against Purdue
4-3 against Indiana
5-2 against Iowa
6-0 against Wisconsin
6-0 against Michigan
That's 25-11 against our "rivals." (I refuse to include Northwestern, though we are 7-1 against them in that time so it would only help my case.) So, in short, we have fared reasonably well against all of our rivals except Mizzou. Now, that's a pretty big one for me as a product of the Metro East, but overall you are letting the disappointment that was this season cloud your view.
Is Underwood the long-term solution that will get us to the promised land? Can he do it without Kofi and/or Ayo? Who knows? But he has certainly earned more than one disappointing season (that still ended in the NCAA Tournament) before the fanbase turns on him.
Will never understand this mentality. I absolutely want a coach that is winning and creating so much success that UK, KU, Duke, NC wants this person.
I want to prioritize winning vs finding a coach that will stay here for 10-15 years. Weber would have stayed here 30 years had we let him.
Win, have success, and if the coach gets poached by Duke or KU that means things have gone exceedingly well! If that's the case, then trust the AD that hired that great coach finds the next one.
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