2017 Coaching Carousel
- Status
Thanks. I knew there was one, but I couldn't find it. I think really only Indiana is a threat, but that feels like a Marshall gig. If he took that I would be totally ok with it
bredhartmann
- Centralia, IL
Wait but what if JFG wins out the season and all of the BTT and we win the national championship?? Lol that was 5 days ago
Michael Finke is the poster child for Fletcher's program. Go back and look at the way Finke moved last year and his leaping ability or lack there of. He now looks much more fluid, is able to better absorb contact, and has had the occasional putback dunk which he was incapable of doing last year. Morgan looks better as well if you compare his body, movements, and jumping since Fletch arrived. Tracy just being able to compete is a testament to Fletcher's program.
A trainer can't just build a Zach Lavine or Aaron Gordon by having them do various lifts and plyometric exercises; some of it is natural ability. Also, how a team plays can influence the perception of athleticism and if Groce is subbing guys out for random, unexplained reasons, then a player's conditioning isn't really being tested or improved upon.
Or fans of all the other Big Ten teams.
Fletch's program isn't working. The players who've had less time with him look better. Fletch sent the stream of brag photos on Twitter and now deserves any criticism or questioning he gets.
For all of you who want to fire Groce now, which assistant on the staff would you have man the helm? You all wanted the staff let go ages ago. So what good does firing Groce now do? We would regress if that is possible. It sure won't amp up the players. We won't lose any recruits because Josh would get on the phone with each one and talk them into staying with their commitment to Illinois. As for bringing in an unemployed HC, why do you think he's unemployed in the first place?
Who is less athletic than they were last year? I think CAHALL's example of Finke and Morgan are pretty spot on.
Head coaching experience at the Division 1 level. I am surprised that I even had to clarify that statement.
I think most folks knew what you meant. On another note, I'm going to try to catch Cal Bears vs Arizona tonight. Will like to see the style Cal plays. I'm guessing we will see man vs man and more athleticism on the court.
Simply not true. Every player on this team who has trained under Fletch became an objectively better athlete. We just don't have superior athletes to begin with.
I don't really know if Keatts is just the flavor of the month or the next big thing, but I am not quite getting your point here. If you're comparing SDSU to Elon, then even in a down year Cal is better than UNCW.
Last edited:
Deleted member 16068
D
Guest
Monty Williams, I can't wait for you to take over next year. 
Keats might very well be a great coach and possibly coach be successful at Illinois, I just wouldn't take that gamble if I was Whitman. If you want a coach that can walk into the CPL, Peoria, ESL area with respect and recognition you hire C Martin. If you want to fight city hall, than hire an outsider who will have to pay his dues and continue to lose recruits not only to blue bloods but to other BIG schools. The notion he can't coach is BS, he is more than a recruiter.
Monty Williams, I can't wait for you to take over next year.
If Monty is the pick, I'm thinking that Groce would be fired before the end of the regular season. The longer he hangs on the more I think they are focusing on somebody with a current coaching gig.
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
Don't you think it's just that firing a coach this close to the end, especially one that has at least been a good person if not a good coach, is not the best move?
I think Whitman would just rather it played out, there is no real chance of doing anything with the season at this point.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
I don't know the answer to this question, but what coaches out there are eyeing us? I'm not trying to nor do I believe that there won't be plenty of top quality guys interested in us, just wondering who's paying attention and thinking, that's a job I want to go for when it opens up. Would be intriguing to know who is thinking that and I bet there would be some surprises.
Whitman has too much class and is too smart to fire Grove now. Only an idiot would make that move.
There's no advantage to letting Groce go during the season. It would bring more negative attention to the program, cause further instability to the players and cause Whitman to have to do a song and dance for the media unnecessarily! Let this play out and let JW do his behind the scenes work without the added distractions of the media scrutinizing every move.
IlliniRunIn07
- Tampa, FL
OK, so how realistic is Monty Williams as a possibility? I've seen his name mentioned plenty of times in this thread, but I'm assuming it's all speculation with an incredibly low likelihood of happening. That's the name that has me most excited, but I'm not holding my breath.
Monty is currently in the Spurs FO, so certainly available in that he's not actively coaching. There's a connection to Colangelo through USA basketball, so that's why the link to us is being made, as there are rumors or assumptions made (can't speak as to which) that say Colangelo will be involved in getting a replacement. So in many ways, parallels are being drawn to how we wound up with Lovie. Pro coach, not currently coaching, direct tie to AD (Lovie - Ron Turner, Williams - Jerry Colangelo) and then the rest just comes down to if we can interest him.
One major difference between Lovie and Monty Williams is that Monty has no real ties to the state/region besides having gone to ND, so it's hard to say if he'll want to head this way as he never coached or played in the pros in the Midwest. But the similarities are there elsewise. How realistic it is is up for interpretation, but there is a foundation upon which you could convince yourself he'd be interested.
Be careful small sample size. Still leading the conference and will be a dangerous team if they make NCAA's. Still though they probably need to win their tourney now
kcib8130
- Parts Unknown
I've gone from forcing Groce to fire 2 assistants to thinking it might be a better idea to let him go now But if this doesn't happen I'm thinking our targeted coach is currently running a team and is not a front office (Monty Williams) or out of work coach (Joey Meyers, sorry couldn't resist).
Curious to what Deon said. But once again to galvanize the Illini nation this has to be a home run hire who likely has ties t o the state or Illinois.
I hereby declare that this will not happen, therefore it shall not be mentioned again in this thread.
John Groce will coach until the clock strikes zero on the last game of the 2016-2017 season.
Was GMU an at-large? I didn't realize that -- good catch! I remember that run because I grew up about 20 minutes from GMU, was pretty wild, but for some reason I assumed that they'd won the CAAT.
- Status