Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

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#479      
BZuppke
HensonHall71 said:
Mackovic was building something pretty sustainable before he left - we finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 5th in the big ten before he left. Plus he had the number pick in the NFL draft in George. would have been a different history of illinois football if he stayed IMO
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Completely disagree. He won with White’s talent and left as the cupboard was gettin bare.
 
#480      
BZuppke
I ran into the Tribune reporter Teddy Greenstein in Chicago during our Lovie era when NW was winning (he’s an NW grad). He was telling me that Illinois would never win and I told him what I always believed: With the right leadership you can win anywhere including at Illinois. He laughed at me. Who’s laughing now?
 
#481      
BobfromPalatine
BZuppke said:
I ran into the Tribune reporter Teddy Greenstein in Chicago during our Lovie era when NW was winning (he’s an NW grad). He was telling me that Illinois would never win and I told him what I always believed: With the right leadership you can win anywhere including at Illinois. He laughed at me. Who’s laughing now?
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Teddy was/is a moron and was not objective when covering Illinois sports. I believed he abused his platform against us….

It’s the main reason I don’t like NU sports as much as I should, even though I have a masters degree from there.

Many journalists ( if you can call them that) at the Chicago Tribune were also from NU and were similar to Teddy in their approach to us, but he was the worst of the bunch!
 
#482      
SescIllini
altgeld88 said:
I've maintained that here before, too, and was gently reminded that Mack did so with White's recruits. And it's undisputable that he lucked into getting George, who transferred from Purdue to Illinois (and Mike White), and sat out in '87, solely because Purdue hired option-offense-oriented Fred Akers from Texas, replacing Leon Burtnett, who had resigned after the '86 season and favored a pro-style offense.

Accordingly, I've moderated my esteem of what Mackovic achieved here, though I certainly enjoyed his teams. '88-'90 were great fun, '91 not as much. I still recall watching Monday Night Football in 1990 and seeing a promo for an Illinois game the following Saturday. We were ranked ~ #5. Memorable.
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My take on Makovic, he was a solid coach produced technically good teams. George came to Illinois I believe for several reasons. Illinois produced 3 NFL QBs in the 80's. We also has Coach Landry. an elite QB coach who pro style and experience. We were also close to his hometown.

Malkovich brought in some players. Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, several other NFL level talent.
 
#485      
OrangeBlue98
BZuppke said:
I ran into the Tribune reporter Teddy Greenstein in Chicago during our Lovie era when NW was winning (he’s an NW grad). He was telling me that Illinois would never win and I told him what I always believed: With the right leadership you can win anywhere including at Illinois. He laughed at me. Who’s laughing now?
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Teddy took enough time getting off his knees to kiss Fitzgerald's backside to be out in public? That in itself would be quite a news story.
 
#486      
Rooftop
Mr. Tibbs said:
agree

it’s never been done really since the early 1960’s, but the potential is there for us to attract 500,000 new “fans” from metro Chicago if we were to ever start winning 8-9-10 games every year .

it can be done . it’s not impossible .
it’s just not likely given the makeup of the conference now , and the possibility of 2 more strong teams getting added in the next 4-6 years.
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I like this discussion, which is---how does Illini football get a greater proportion of Chicagoland.

I think the largest element of the answer can be found right in our conference.

Even with the Pistons, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, a Notre Dame faction, a Sparty faction and an Ohio St remnant, Michigan gets a significant proportion of Detroitland via consistent, long-term Big Ten Championship/Rose Bowl/National Championship level winning.

The plan is easy.
But, achieving the plan is extremely difficult. It does take what Tibbs is saying. High level, 8-9-10 or even more type level winning.
 
#487      
pvaughn8
OrangeBlue98 said:
Teddy took enough time getting off his knees to kiss Fitzgerald's backside to be out in public? That in itself would be quite a news story.
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GIF by XXL Carwash

He was in it for the free car washes
 
#490      
altgeld88
SescIllini said:
My take on Makovic, he was a solid coach produced technically good teams. George came to Illinois I believe for several reasons. Illinois produced 3 NFL QBs in the 80's. We also has Coach Landry. an elite QB coach who pro style and experience. We were also close to his hometown.

Malkovich brought in some players. Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, several other NFL level talent.
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If Leon Burtnett stays at Purdue in '87-'88, or if he resigns when he did in '86 and they hire a similar pass-oriented, pro-syle offense HC and not a wishbone option one from the SWC, we never get Jeff George, and our '88-'89 seasons aren't nearly as strong. For sure, JG chose Illinois upon Akers' hiring because of MW's record developing pro QBs, and also because it was close to his childhood home in Indiana.

Jason Verduzco did an excellent job under center in '90 and '91 for us. I left the U.S. in pre-internet late-'91 so have no idea what he or the team did in '92 under Tepper, when I believe he was still our QB.

Don't mistake me: I loved the Mackovic years, and found him to be an excellent coach, but it also appears (via those here who know more than I do about the program at that time) that by '91 he had alienated a lot of players. He was an old-school autocrat, and that was his ultimate undoing at Arizona. And I'll never forget his hubris in '90 that led to Iowa (via Nick Bell) curb-stomping us in Memorial Stadium in what was a huge upset.

IMO our best coaches of the past 50 years in descending order, considering the entirety of the program they built:

1. BB
2. White
3. Mackovic
4. Blackman

Zook and Turner don't make the cut, despite their successes. Also, much to our chagrin, we gave Gary Moeller training wheels that enabled him to be an excellent HC at Michigan before he snapped under the pressure.
 
#492      
illiniwil
walk a 17-18 year old kid across the UCLA campus, take him out to lunch, throw a big bag of money at him.
its hard to say no.
 
#493      
illiniwil
SescIllini said:
My take on Makovic, he was a solid coach produced technically good teams. George came to Illinois I believe for several reasons. Illinois produced 3 NFL QBs in the 80's. We also has Coach Landry. an elite QB coach who pro style and experience. We were also close to his hometown.

Malkovich brought in some players. Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, several other NFL level talent.
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john malkovich recruited for illinois ?
 
#494      
RabidDawgClassic
altgeld88 said:
If Leon Burtnett stays at Purdue in '87-'88, or if he resigns when he did in '86 and they hire a similar pass-oriented, pro-syle offense HC and not a wishbone option one from the SWC, we never get Jeff George, and our '88-'89 seasons aren't nearly as strong. For sure, JG chose Illinois upon Akers' hiring because of MW's record developing pro QBs, and also because it was close to his childhood home in Indiana.

Jason Verduzco did an excellent job under center in '90 and '91 for us. I left the U.S. in pre-internet late-'91 so have no idea what he or the team did in '92 under Tepper, when I believe he was still our QB.

Don't mistake me: I loved the Mackovic years, and found him to be an excellent coach, but it also appears (via those here who know more than I do about the program at that time) that by '91 he had alienated a lot of players. He was an old-school autocrat, and that was his ultimate undoing at Arizona. And I'll never forget his hubris in '90 that led to Iowa (via Nick Bell) curb-stomping us in Memorial Stadium in what was a huge upset.

IMO our best coaches of the past 50 years in descending order, considering the entirety of the program they built:

1. BB
2. White
3. Mackovic
4. Blackman

Zook and Turner don't make the cut, despite their successes. Also, much to our chagrin, we gave Gary Moeller training wheels that enabled him to be an excellent HC at Michigan before he snapped under the pressure.
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I don’t think Moeller was an excellent coach at Michigan. Far from it. He was serviceable at best, especially by Michigan standards.
 
#495      
MustangWally
SescIllini said:
My take on Makovic, he was a solid coach produced technically good teams. George came to Illinois I believe for several reasons. Illinois produced 3 NFL QBs in the 80's. We also has Coach Landry. an elite QB coach who pro style and experience. We were also close to his hometown.

Malkovich brought in some players. Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, several other NFL level talent.
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john malkovich snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
#498      
altgeld88
RabidDawgClassic said:
I don’t think Moeller was an excellent coach at Michigan. Far from it. He was serviceable at best, especially by Michigan standards.
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I've done a fair bit of MGOBLOG reading on the topic over the years. Started with your position. Migrated to a much more positive view of him based on the evidence presented there. TBF, I wasn't able to watch college football at all during his brief tenure.
 
#499      
MajorNathanMaxwellJanice
SescIllini said:
My take on Makovic, he was a solid coach produced technically good teams. George came to Illinois I believe for several reasons. Illinois produced 3 NFL QBs in the 80's. We also has Coach Landry. an elite QB coach who pro style and experience. We were also close to his hometown.

Malkovich brought in some players. Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, several other NFL level talent.
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Jeff George transferred to Illinois ahead of the 1987 season, Mike White’s final season, and had to sit out that year under the old transfer rules. (George had played as a true frosh for Purdue in 1986, leaving after the year when his HC resigned)

Mac inherited him and enjoyed having him for the 88 and 89 seasons.

Also, Greg Landry did not arrive on campus until 1992.

Further, pretty dubious to give credit to Mac for Simeon Rice, given that Mac abruptly bailed on the Illini eight weeks before Rice’s national letter of intent signing date, and CDP had been serving as HC for those eight weeks.
 
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