Because the coaching staff has proven incapable of coaching up the guys to play as well as they can. Time for Lovie and most of the rest to go.
2019-20 Coaching Discussion/Carousel
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Talk to me in two weeks.
Prior to season, I wasn’t one of those who felt Lovie had to get team to bowl game or it was adios. And I felt team still had chance to salvage season after game 3. But now I think it is time. A “commitment to stability and professionalism” could just as easily (and maybe more likely) mean losing the team, hurting recruiting and another lost season. I think Lovie has done some good things and roster has more talent than it did before he arrived. But record-wise, we’re in the midst of Beckman 2.0. Time to close the book on Beckman and later versions and get started on an era of winning football.
Fair responses. I agree the lack of progress is a disappointment, but lets not rush from bad to bad/worse. Let’s see how things shake out. This is a great University but the football program has been mostly a disaster the last 20+ (or 50+) years. Let’s do our homework.
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If Lovie is retained he will be a dead man walking next season. Recruits will know that. The ticket sales will plummet even more and we will be worse off than we were before. One more season is NOT the answer.
It would be better to spend big $ and go get a real coaching staff that could lead next years team to 6 or 7 wins and competitive football.
The team has been garbage for a while. Whitman will have had plenty of time to have done his homework by season's end. I don't think anyone can say we didn't give our coach a fair shot
I don’t think this will happen but, I suppose it is possible that JW can’t get a commitment for a candidate he finds attractive enough and sticks with Lovie one more year? Would that be better than Beckman 2.0? I really would hope it wouldn’t come to either of those choices.
That's a dark thought. You keep it up and I'm going to block you
Won’t happen.
That’s actually a really good question. Sometimes being patient and waiting for the right coach could be better in the long run, but also keeping a coach who is basically a “deadman walking” makes for a miserable year.
Picking another coach out of desperation, or because all your primary options turn you down will make another 3-5 years of building a team to nowhere.
We don’t have the best of luck getting the guy we want for football. Beckman wasn’t option A, B, or C.
If he gets fired during the season, it's not gonna be because they lose to Michigan and Wisconsin. The Purdue game in 3 weeks is the one to watch out for, but they might actually win that one.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It doesn't matter whether he gets fired during the season or not, what I mean is that our remarkably weak schedule has given some of our fans the opportunity to go around imagining this situation is more viable that it is.
Our next two opponents are going to disabuse that notion with extreme prejudice.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Don’t really know what Michigan will do, but Wisc will likely play the bench once they get a 28 pt lead in the first half.
I’m just sooo ready for this to be over.
Deleted member 654622
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I do, beat the ish out of us so they can feel better about the beginning of their season while gaining confident going into the ND game
The Rutgers coach got fired after losing 52-0 to Mich. Maybe they'll knock out Lovie too.
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Orange Soda, I don't think there is a coaching staff in the country that could get these players to 6 or 7 wins next season. The talent level just isn't there.
Is it the players, or is it the coaching staff that’s supposed to be making these players better? I know which one I’m picking right now.
Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
One could have said the same about Purdue when Brohm took over from Hazell. Then he proceeded to post two 6-6 seasons with players mostly recruited by Hazell, I believe (don't know how many transfers he brought in, plus Rondale Moore helps too).
I will always defend showing a commitment to stability. It's why I believe every coach should be given 3 years (or recruiting cycles in Lovie's case) to be given a chance to show progress and to show potential replacements they'll be given a reasonable chance to build the team their way. However, if your main reason for keeping a coach (who has clearly shown things aren't going to get any better) is because of the off-chance that Whitman (who didn't hire Beckman and would never hire a coach like him) will get a replacement similar to a failed predecessor, things aren't going to get any better any time soon.
The problem is that there isn't a commitment to stability and professionalism on the defensive coaching staff.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It cannot both be that we need to maintain the recruiting inroads made by Lovie, and also that an old and experienced handpicked roster lacks the talent to win six games against a total joke of a schedule. Can't have it both ways.
The correct one of the two options is that we have way, way more than enough talent to win 6-7 games against this schedule on this team. And enough to make a respectable game of it against our next two opponents.
Right, and one would have been wrong there too. It's very very rare for a P5 team to be in a roster situation where 6 wins is unrealistic with good coaching. Kansas has spent a lot of time there recently because of how badly their scholarship situation got screwed up under Charlie Weis. We were probably there in 2017 because of our (intentional!) demolition of the roster in favor of youth. Sometimes teams will end up in a schedule situation that's just insurmountable (as long as the Big Ten West exists that will never be us).
A thousand times this. It's hard to square with the feelings of March 2016, I feel that cognitive dissonance too, believe me, but we just do not have coaching at anything resembling the major college level right now. We are massively, obviously deficient in that area, and we're going to make changes to fix it.
Besides Brohm taking Hazell's players and going to two bowl games, Fleck reloaded at Minnesota with freshmen the way Lovie did at Illinois, except FLeck took the team to bowl... (Oh, and his team is undefeated so far this year.) Winning at Illinois can happen. They used to say Stanford could never recruit players - and they've had success for years. (Even with their level record this year the team is still in the hunt for the Pac 12 North.) Slim Whitman's experiment is a HUGE DISASTER that has set the program back further. Lovie can't coach a team. He can't coach a defense. He can't hire coaches who can. He can't recruit. He can't manage a game clock. And for a while now he avoids shaving so he doesn't have to look at himself in the mirror with disappointment for cashing his multi-million dollar paychecks.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
What? Are we just so scarred from bad coaching we don’t realize how extremely possible it is to reach 6 wins literally every single year?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Three recent examples of a new coach bounce at a downtrodden program for us to look to:
In 2011 James Franklin took over a Vandy team that had been 2-10 in each of the previous two years, and went 6-7 in Year 1.
In 2013 Steve Addazio took over Boston College that were 2-10 and 4-8 in the previous two years and went 7-6 in Year 1.
In 2017 Jeff Brohm took over Purdue that were 3-9 and 2-10 in the previous two years and went 7-6 in Year 1.
We're next.
In 2011 James Franklin took over a Vandy team that had been 2-10 in each of the previous two years, and went 6-7 in Year 1.
In 2013 Steve Addazio took over Boston College that were 2-10 and 4-8 in the previous two years and went 7-6 in Year 1.
In 2017 Jeff Brohm took over Purdue that were 3-9 and 2-10 in the previous two years and went 7-6 in Year 1.
We're next.
While we're at it, UAB didn't even have a football team for 2015 and 2016, and since re-assembling the program for the 2017 season, they've won a conference title and gone to two bowls. Oh, and they're 4-1 this year.
Yes, well aware the academic requirements at UAB aren't the same as U of I, but good coaching and a commitment to the program can garner good results quickly.
Yes, well aware the academic requirements at UAB aren't the same as U of I, but good coaching and a commitment to the program can garner good results quickly.
As an interim HC on a team fresh off a scandal and a great HC leaving. Now, I'm not saying that team couldn't had done better, but it's not like he was set up for success. I view that season as a wash in terms of Fickell's overall value as a HC.
I trust Whitman in both his ability to sell the program and analyze how talented a HC is. Lovie Smith is at least an average NFL HC (which honestly is not an easy mark to get to). That being said, Whitman gambled and lost that that would translate well to the college level. I think Whitman plays it a lot safer and goes after someone well connected in the college levels. I don't think we get into a Beckman situation based off of Whitman's talent to sell.
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