There’s connected and then there’s straight up accepting money from an undercover agent. You’re not wrong though, I’m trying to give Underwood some benefit of the doubt through all of these potential misses.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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This feels like approximately 1% of the times it’s been tried
Interesting post.
The Scott and Homer Drew situation could be what we see with Tyler. The other examples aren't similar.
what does it matter in 2023? Cheating has been rampant in college athletics for decades. Paying players is now legal, so if you were paying players in the past, well you got away with it.
I remember talking to a top 100 recruits dad from the same class as Shaun Livingston. I asked him, why didn't Livingston go to Illinois? His response quite simply was, "Once Self left the checks stopped coming in." He told me about all sorts of major coaches and what they paid. Said Mike Davis was known for the thousand dollar handshake. Funny I asked about Quin Snyder and he didn't know if Snyder was a cheater. We of course know he was.
Point is, I 100% fully believe Underwood has cheated. I also don't blame him. It's like trying to be a professional athlete and not taking steroids. If you don't play the game, you won't succeed. But again, it's all moot now, because paying the players is no longer cheating.
Right.
1.) Nepotism is nepotism.
2.) However, it’s very common. It’s more or less comparable to jaywalking. ADs could care less.
3.)Mostly No One cares unless you have the audacity to lose. No one is too critical until then. Funny how that works.
I’m guessing most of these boosters aren’t clutching their pearls about this, lest the be called out for clearing paths for their own children.
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I mean if you really have an opportunity to hire guys that are better options than Tyler and Zach and you don't do it, I just don't get it.
Indy: Your cheerios are on fire today. Three honest questions and a final question/comment?
When did Brad fire you as his agent?
When did Sean Miller hire you as his agent?
How many of the ILLINI NIL Boosters that you are referencing are extremely stubborn people and have family businesses that employ their children who just happen to be quite competent at what they do?
If you just had an extremely disappointing season where you felt that you strayed from your core beliefs and the things that made you successful in the past because you were trying to please others (i.e. Skyy Clark signing etc.) and were now feeling the type of job heat that is reflected on this board, wouldn't you also want to go back to doing things your own way and if it doesn't work, then you have no one to blame but yourself? That is exactly what Brad said in the hotel lobby in Des Moines after the Arkansas loss about what he was going to do this season . . .
Scott Drew is really the only somewhat similar comparison. Scott was a student manager at Butler before becoming his dad's assistant at Valpo for like a decade before taking over. Though Valpo and Illinois are entirely different situations.
Bryce Drew and Tony Bennett were legitimately great college players that both played in the NBA before beginning to coach.
Richard Pitino didn't start working for his dad at Louisville until he had 3-4 of coaching experience at smaller schools.
What role does Whitman play in these hires? Did he need to approve them? One would think that he would have had a similar perspective as to how are these rookies going to help us win recruits & games as opposed to a more seasoned or connected candidate.I wouldn’t say pissed in my cheerios … But the explanations lately regarding decisions … I’m not exactly thrilled with …
Continuing to promote his own kid doesn’t help his case with anyone … Especially the boosters …
It’s the constant stubbornness that infuriates people … Not necessarily just me either …
Like you miss on RayJ … Okay, fine … Stuff happened … Whatever … The refusal to go after ANYONE else when there are good options available is baffling …
Now when the opportunity comes to add 2 more assistants … He promotes his own kid and a guy whose biggest job before coming here was being the video coordinator for the Indiana Fever … And since he’s been here with his great “offensive scheme” … It’s been nothing butthat we’ve scrapped every year … Those are just the facts …
Meanwhile … Nate Oats hired Preston Murphy who’s an elite recruiter and has already landed a kid after being employed only 24 hours … Bryce Drew got the top recruiter at Wyoming to come to GCU for one of his spots … Hurley has Irvin and Irvin obviously got Ace to come there along with Shawn Phillips … Using those 2 new assistant spots to tap in to new connections is a major advantage that Brad refused to take advantage of …
Once again Brad being stubborn and promoting his own kid when he could’ve hired someone like an AAU program director like Ryan Owens like Shrews did and tapped into his connections recruiting wise … Penny tapped into Andy Bormans connections with the NY Rens …
I just don’t like some decisions that are being made the only answer I’m getting is how we didn’t need a PG anyways and that Tyler is better than anyone else we could’ve got … I don’t have anything against Tyler in the role he was in … But when I know for a fact some of the guys that would’ve been interested … That’s frustrating …
I would be surprised if more than 1% of serious college bball fans (moreso football) thought anyone was clean, (except maybe their own team's staff ). With all the scandals, how could you think otherwise?
I think the SEC saying is, if you're not cheatin, you ain't trying hard enough.
If the AD is making direct decisions on assistant coaches, that's usually a toxic situation that leads to a power struggle and one of them getting the boot. Usually, the AD sets the budget and then the head coach makes decisions within that budget. A head coach can of course lobby and say "we really oughta get this guy, he will come but only if we pay $[X], he will really help our program for these reasons..." and AD can decide if they will go over to bring him in.
Preston’s incident was a little different since he was accepting money for himself, although I’m sure it’s common. I don’t think it’s worth getting someone that could be a distraction (whether it’s warranted or not) and hurt the program in any sort of way for the lowest level coaching position on staff. I’m sure I’ll change my opinion once I see a larger sample size of what other similar programs are doing though.
1 percent? Go ahead and feel free to list the other 297 times it didn't work, I guess?
Lon Krueger hired his son as an assistant after only two years of experience and now he's the head coach at UNLV. I don't love it either but let's not act like this doesn't happen everywhere, every day in every profession.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Not sure those are best examples to use. Leron only played for Brad one season, and that was now over 6 years ago. DMFW, while I love the dude, how much coaching experience does he have? At least Tyler's been on staff a couple years and would know his dad's system better than literally anybody else besides Brad himself.
Apples to oranges, and it impacts my opinion on this.
Kruger was an excellent basketball player at ASU. He had a professional career of six years.
Kevin did 2 years at Northern Arizona as an assistant before Lon brought him on staff …
If Tyler went out and did 2 years as an recruiting assistant at another program and then Brad hired him back … I wouldn’t have as big of a problem with it … He’d have got experience outside of his fathers program … Made some different connections outside of the ones his Dad already has …
Yes also this … Kruger was a really good player … Tyler was a PWO …
A lot of guys could have helped. I am sure Tyler has some assets.
I know a D3 college coach who trained a BTPOY/AA, has had several guys in the BT from his training program and former AAU club, and even a few in NBA.
Diehard Illini fan and was all state BB player in Illinois/very good college player.
He would have been interested I am sure and is very qualified, huge work ethic, BB junkie, younger, players love him, and total gym rat.
Could have been a great skills guy.
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You mean like ______ & sons Plumbing & Heating? local, family owned businesses are still fairly common. I don't think that is a good comparison.
This is really NO change in position from before! ALL this change did was to let these already starting-level coaches work with players on the court (which they could before when the true assistants were out of town.) This added a little more interface with the players to their current jobs. They still can't recruit away from campus, and I'm sure there are other restrictions.
So if you guys want to beat up Underwood for this and suggest that he hire some wing-ding recruiter in his son's place, you aren't following what this change did for his position. Sure he could fire his son and hire some other JUNIOR coach who could possibly step in and do a better more knowledgeable job (highly unlikely!) But they would start with a huge learning curve disadvantage, and finding a quality guy for such a menial job is daunting. He's not hiring him as defensive coordinator at half a mil.
The nepotism concern is valid, IF we saw any signs of his underperformance. However, having a junior coach and former player who is close to the head coach is extremely valuable to the players, other assistants and to the head coach as a conduit of feelings and information. He could say and convey things that others can't.
I'm way more concerned with the senior assistant that he promoted from a pure staff position to run his offense. He appears useless and needs replacing...
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
What if they're AI-generated?Now if Tyler starts posting images of women in bikinis on his social media, we'll have a real problem.
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