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#101      
looking back, it really is a mystery how TB could have ascended up the coaching ladder like he did, and MT could not have figured it out during the vetting and interviewing process that he was not the guy for us nor any P5 program, especially at that time.

MT failed miserably in the most important hire he ever had to make, and in all three hires at that time.

From Wiki: Twice during his career Thomas has won the Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletics Director Award, once in 2005 while at Akron, and again in April 2008 while at Cincinnati. Of course , when we hire him , he craps the bed
Though I never met MT, I don't doubt anyone above who says he was a jerk. And he has to own the Beckman hire, and he was stingy - look at his last line below.

But no one wanted to come here, and that was publicly known. We were getting embarrassed in the media as candidate after candidate turned us down. So I don't 100% blame him in this case, though I sure wish his vetting would have found Campbell instead (as I recall one poster here saying at the time!).

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#102      
I live in Toledo and in a meeting with our business attorney, he asked me what I thought about Beckman. It was right after the infamous "chew incident" and so I told him what a horrible mistake the Illini had made & that he was clearly in way over his head. My attorney informed me that he was best friends with him and negotiated his contract. Awkward.
I went to an out-of-town conference and took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle bus driver noticed my Illinois sweatshirt and asked my opinion of Tim Beckman. This was a short while after he had been dismissed. I said that I thought Beckman was a hack and a fraud and that I stood up a cheered in joy the day he was fired. The shuttle bus driver then told me that he was Tim Beckman. Yikes! That was an uncomfortable ride.
 
#103      

MustangWally

Mayfield
I went to an out-of-town conference and took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle bus driver noticed my Illinois sweatshirt and asked my opinion of Tim Beckman. This was a short while after he had been dismissed. I said that I thought Beckman was a hack and a fraud and that I stood up a cheered in joy the day he was fired. The shuttle bus driver then told me that he was Tim Beckman. Yikes! That was an uncomfortable ride.
I Dont Believe You Will Ferrell GIF
 
#104      

Mr. Tibbs

southeast DuPage
yea, why would a guy getting paid a couple million or more a year to not coach , get a job driving a shuttle bus ?
 
#105      

sacraig

The desert
I went to an out-of-town conference and took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle bus driver noticed my Illinois sweatshirt and asked my opinion of Tim Beckman. This was a short while after he had been dismissed. I said that I thought Beckman was a hack and a fraud and that I stood up a cheered in joy the day he was fired. The shuttle bus driver then told me that he was Tim Beckman. Yikes! That was an uncomfortable ride.
jxupG0O.jpeg
 
#106      

AyoDos11

Southern Illinois
I went to an out-of-town conference and took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle bus driver noticed my Illinois sweatshirt and asked my opinion of Tim Beckman. This was a short while after he had been dismissed. I said that I thought Beckman was a hack and a fraud and that I stood up a cheered in joy the day he was fired. The shuttle bus driver then told me that he was Tim Beckman. Yikes! That was an uncomfortable ride.
Oh, so that was you who I had to kick off the bus that one time!
 
#107      
I went to an out-of-town conference and took a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport. The shuttle bus driver noticed my Illinois sweatshirt and asked my opinion of Tim Beckman. This was a short while after he had been dismissed. I said that I thought Beckman was a hack and a fraud and that I stood up a cheered in joy the day he was fired. The shuttle bus driver then told me that he was Tim Beckman. Yikes! That was an uncomfortable ride.
Oh man…you are hysterical! Good one.
 
#113      
For those whose sole yardstick of success is a Sweet Sixteen, this is a great hire. Until, of course, it isn't.

I actually looked up guys that got promoted to P5 jobs based off of tournament success but abandoned the post. I'm not looking it up again, so I'll just have to summarize. Over the last 10ish years coaches that have moved up because of March have failed far more than succeeded. If you go back beyond that there were more guys that succeeded.

Difference is all those guys built their teams. Terry inherited a team built and trained by, what I think is a top 5 coach in the game. That team was also extremely talented having multiples guys that were on All Conference teams before they transferred. They were also very experienced having at least 4 5th year Srs who led the team. Then you add in that this was a crazy season and an even crazier tournament and Texas is asking for trouble.

They're losing their top 3 scorers who accounted for 50.6% of the teams points. They've got 2 5 star guys coming in, 1 has affirmed he's still coming haven't seen anything from the other. 5 star Dillon Mitchell averaged a little over 20 mpg and 8 ppg under Beard. Under Terry he averaged 16 mpg and 3 ppg. Over his last 10 games it was 11.6 mpg and 1.8 ppg. Haven't heard of him transferring, but if he didn't like his minutes and production dropping when Terry took over, it seems possible. So basically a ton of talent is leaving for sure, more could also leave. The job next year won't be as easy as it was this year.
 
#123      
Illinois is not a small private school in a small corner of a small state; it needs to be BIG TIME, and to Thomas' credit, he at least moved us closer to that type of marketing strategy and basic perspective than RG seemed to have.

This is not a defense of Thomas. However, I graduated in 92. I was a 4 year season ticket holder in BB and FB. Moved to Chicago suburbs for work. I made annual return visits for at least 1 FB game with my close knit college friends in 93-94-95-96 until I moved from the midwest. Went to multiple BB games when I'd come back to midwest for Xmas after moving. Went to see Illinois in the city I live or close to it. Bought tickets through the alumni association, etc. Bought lots of merch through the Illini store.

As any college grad, I received multiple, repeated, and constant requests for donating to UIUC as a whole and a lot from my major's school.

I didn't receive one request from anyone in the athletic department during Guenther's tenure. I was a season ticket holder for all 4 years in both major revenue sports. I came back post grad multiple years in a row. Bought merch. All through means that anyone in the athletic department with any desire could have identified and targeted. Not once was I approached by Guenther's athletic department to support/donate/etc.

In 2012 less than a year after Thomas took over, I got a request from the athletic department for the first time. I was an EASY target to go after for anyone that had any semblance of competence at all.

No one has done more damage to this program than Ron Guenther.
 
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#124      
This is not a defense of Thomas. However, I graduated in 92. I was a 4 year season ticket holder in BB and FB. Moved to Chicago suburbs for work. I made annual return visits for at least 1 FB game with my close knit college friends in 93-94-95-96 until I moved from the midwest. Went to multiple BB games when I'd come back to midwest for Xmas after moving. Went to see Illinois in the city I live or close to it. Bought tickets through the alumni association, etc. Bought lots of merch through the Illini store.

As any college grad, I received multiple, repeated, and constant requests for donating to UIUC as a whole and a lot from my major's school.

I didn't receive one request from anyone in the athletic department during Guenther's tenure. I was a season ticket holder for all 4 years in both major revenue sports. I came back post grad multiple years in a row. Bought merch. All through means that anyone in the athletic department with any desire could have identified and targeted. Not once was I approached by Guenther's athletic department to support/donate/etc.

In 2012 less than a year after Thomas took over, I got a request from the athletic department for the first time. I was an EASY target to go after for anyone that had any semblance of competence at all.

No one has done more damage to this program than Ron Guenther.
Great anecdote, and thank you for sharing. It is often difficult to pin down just what was so bad about RG - after all, his hires were objectively better than his successor, so an RG loyalist has plenty of ammo to defend him - as the issues are more intangible and about his narrow perspective. I've mentioned here before that I am from Peoria (so was born a huge Illini fan) but grew up in Iowa City, often tailgating with my friends ... I will never forget the shock and disappointment I felt when I went to my first Illini football game and the coolest tailgating area right by the stadium (in what is now Grange Grove) had about the least atmosphere I have ever seen in my life at a college football game - spaced out lots, completely subdued people, literally security making sure a loose football didn't wind up in the wrong area!! RG's perspective was that this was A-okay, as those people were big donors and they were the ones who deserved those primo spots. Josh Whitman's perspective, infinitely more creative, was ... "How can I both improve the gameday experience/reputation of Memorial Stadium while rewarding our donors in a different spot?" Little things like Grange Grove would have never happened under RG, and it's already made an astounding difference in the Memorial Stadium tailgating scene.
 
#125      
Canned in 2 years
UT is a tough job. The thing is, there is nothing in Terry's background that says he is a bad coach. Fresno and UTEP are not exactly basketball hotbeds these days and both programs showed improvement after he took over. He certainly didn't do poorly as Texas' head coach. Granted, he was coaching players recruited by someone else, but was successful at rallying the troops, so to speak. He has 2 5* recruits lined up for next year already. So maybe he could surprise people and succeed.
 
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