Recent content by Dkayak

Or did the market for his talent take yet another big jump, continuing a relentless trend? Maybe our staff was wise not to overspend for a freshman. Letting him go also sends a powerful message to Boyd, maybe strengthening the relationship. Commitment cuts both ways and helped us to retain...

Just the fact that we have so many top r candidate games says a lot about Bret’s work so far.

I’ll acknowledge his recruiting successes, but overall he seemed to me to lack a sense of urgency/purpose/vision and seemed generally disengaged with almost a “What, me worry?” attitude. It felt like he was selling his name when what we needed was someone who knew how to build a college program...

https://fightingillini.com/sports/football/schedule/2026

OK, that’s been very apparent, even to us fans. Do you think the pros couldn’t see it too?

My frustration is tied only to the lack of salary caps. I understand the current legal obstacles but hope it happens someday. Then each school would recruit and compete with similar resources. Recruiting battles between schools would become much more interesting and strategic, entertaining in...

But if you do homegrown them, you still have to overpay to retain them (Luke being a rare exception). The market cost is the same for a starter as long as they’re willing to jump for more money.

Money talks

Seems likely they’re smart enough to look at the totality of data available on his likely NFL performance, including what he accomplished in Champaign. Why would one consider only the combine?

Perspective matters. The ship was going down when he took the helm. Sure, he’s made a few mistakes along the way to our very best back-to-back seasons ever. The playoffs or a conference title, starting from the hole we were in, was somewhere between extremely unrealistic and impossible. I’m...

I’m pretty sure you cannot redirect any program money to NIL. Those are separate piles of money from entirely different sources.

Is he older or whiter than Cignetti?

Here’s the gist of the first article. “The instability within college athletics — little to no enforcement of an industry professionalizing before our eyes — is at the heart of indecision and dysfunction within the playoff room. All of this is tethered together. These are competitive...

And the staff knows far more about their capability than just the stats we see.

Thank-you. Makes sense. The NFL is meticulous about maintaining a level playing field in everything they do. They protect their business by ensuring all teams have similar opportunities. The NCAA business model is broken by comparison.