Bill Cubit gets 2-year deal as Illinois Head Football Coach

blmillini · Nov 30, 2015

ItCouldBeWorse said:
You are correct. The permission to speak gives the student athlete the right to explore transfer options. It does not mean that they are actually transferring.
Unfortunately one of them is a 4 star. We only have 3 of those.

Notable transfers in football seldom happen. Stop stirring the pot!

BZuppke · Nov 30, 2015

I agree most ADs do not come in and clean house just so they can hire their own guys. However, if Kowalczyk made a new hire, the new hire would have a 5 year contract and a new AD would be stuck with him for at least the first 3 years. If we're looking at really setting a new direction, you want to give a new AD as much freedom as possible and not saddle his first 3 years with a coach who may not be the right guy. Same goes for giving Cubit a 4 or 5 year deal. If he maintains a .500 record, the new AD would have to give him 3 years or so as well.

I for one do not believe that the Illinois Administration is just stupid and incompetent. Their own words back up Tupper's take on the situation. Tupper suggests that Wilson consulted with people like Alvarez and I'm sure they consulted with others as well. They have a plan. You can disagree with their plan, but to say they have no plan and are just bumbling idiots is simply not true. In fact if their plan results in a Rick George or other top AD hire, their plan will be successful and superior to any other plan suggested here.

My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

sigint · Nov 30, 2015

BZuppke said:
I agree most ADs do not come in and clean house just so they can hire their own guys. However, if Kowalczyk made a new hire, the new hire would have a 5 year contract and a new AD would be stuck with him for at least the first 3 years. If we're looking at really setting a new direction, you want to give a new AD as much freedom as possible and not saddle his first 3 years with a coach who may not be the right guy. Same goes for giving Cubit a 4 or 5 year deal. If he maintains a .500 record, the new AD would have to give him 3 years or so as well.

I for one do not believe that the Illinois Administration is just stupid and incompetent. Their own words back up Tupper's take on the situation. Tupper suggests that Wilson consulted with people like Alvarez and I'm sure they consulted with others as well. They have a plan. You can disagree with their plan, but to say they have no plan and are just bumbling idiots is simply not true. In fact if their plan results in a Rick George or other top AD hire, their plan will be successful and superior to any other plan suggested here.

My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

The bold section is all the proof you need for them not understanding how things work and not having a plan. They made their own bed, and unfortunately they chose sandpaper for sheets.

IlliniCaboose · Nov 30, 2015

Second and Chalmers said:
There are two people that should have the Illinois AD job right now. Rick George should have been the hire back in 2011, and failing that, Mike Hogan should have followed his search committee's recommendation and hired Mike Bobinski, then of Xavier, now of Georgia Tech.

Hiring him would have just been a reflex action.

Sorry, defense mechanism. I laugh too keep from weeping.

blmillini · Nov 30, 2015

BZuppke said:
I agree most ADs do not come in and clean house just so they can hire their own guys. However, if Kowalczyk made a new hire, the new hire would have a 5 year contract and a new AD would be stuck with him for at least the first 3 years. If we're looking at really setting a new direction, you want to give a new AD as much freedom as possible and not saddle his first 3 years with a coach who may not be the right guy. Same goes for giving Cubit a 4 or 5 year deal. If he maintains a .500 record, the new AD would have to give him 3 years or so as well.

I for one do not believe that the Illinois Administration is just stupid and incompetent. Their own words back up Tupper's take on the situation. Tupper suggests that Wilson consulted with people like Alvarez and I'm sure they consulted with others as well. They have a plan. You can disagree with their plan, but to say they have no plan and are just bumbling idiots is simply not true. In fact if their plan results in a Rick George or other top AD hire, their plan will be successful and superior to any other plan suggested here.

My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

This was a no win situation for the "Interims". Other than the poor communication, I think they probably handled this as well as could be expected, at least by rational thinking people.

sigint · Nov 30, 2015

blmillini said:
This was a no win situation for the "Interims". Other than the poor communication, I think they probably handled this as well as could be expected, at least by rational thinking people.

They handled it well by creating their own no win situation?

Oskee Mayer · Nov 30, 2015

IlliniCaboose said:
Hiring him would have just been a reflex action.

Sorry, defense mechanism. I laugh too keep from weeping.

Not bad.

Joel Goodson · Nov 30, 2015

BZuppke said:
I agree most ADs do not come in and clean house just so they can hire their own guys. However, if Kowalczyk made a new hire, the new hire would have a 5 year contract and a new AD would be stuck with him for at least the first 3 years. If we're looking at really setting a new direction, you want to give a new AD as much freedom as possible and not saddle his first 3 years with a coach who may not be the right guy. Same goes for giving Cubit a 4 or 5 year deal. If he maintains a .500 record, the new AD would have to give him 3 years or so as well.

I for one do not believe that the Illinois Administration is just stupid and incompetent. Their own words back up Tupper's take on the situation. Tupper suggests that Wilson consulted with people like Alvarez and I'm sure they consulted with others as well. They have a plan. You can disagree with their plan, but to say they have no plan and are just bumbling idiots is simply not true. In fact if their plan results in a Rick George or other top AD hire, their plan will be successful and superior to any other plan suggested here.

My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

That's pretty much the crux of the biscuit. +1 to the entire post.

miggytorres · Nov 30, 2015

Does anyone know if the big $$$ boosters have any input to this process?

bigruss22 · Nov 30, 2015

miggytorres said:
Does anyone know if the big $$$ boosters have any input to this process?

Clearly no as the last thing they wanted was Cubit back.

LurkLongandProsper · Nov 30, 2015

Sorry, but I refuse to accept that they handled this correctly. If you're going to fire your AD without cause, that means it'd been in the works a little while. If that's the case, how did Rutgers freaking get their candidate search right and we were too dumb to? That is the root of our problem, and that's why we view this administration as incompetent. If you're firing your AD without cause three weeks before the season is over and you have to make a coaching decision, you need to have your coach ready. And, FFS, how do you dismiss your AD because of 'distractions' but keep a staff who was the heart of those 'distractions'? We made our own bed, screwed our program for the future, and there's NO excuse. Stupid. Incompetent. Disgusting.

Illwinsagain · Nov 30, 2015

IlliniOllie said:
It won't put a dagger in the heart of the program. It'll just cut a bunch of tendons and stab a few organs, allowing it to agonizingly bleed to death while being picked at by wolves.

A dagger to the heart would at least be merciful.

I was thinking of crows pecking at us instead. Wolves sound more peaceful, I like dogs.

Deleted member 29907 · Nov 30, 2015

BZuppke said:
I agree most ADs do not come in and clean house just so they can hire their own guys. However, if Kowalczyk made a new hire, the new hire would have a 5 year contract and a new AD would be stuck with him for at least the first 3 years. If we're looking at really setting a new direction, you want to give a new AD as much freedom as possible and not saddle his first 3 years with a coach who may not be the right guy. Same goes for giving Cubit a 4 or 5 year deal. If he maintains a .500 record, the new AD would have to give him 3 years or so as well.

I for one do not believe that the Illinois Administration is just stupid and incompetent. Their own words back up Tupper's take on the situation. Tupper suggests that Wilson consulted with people like Alvarez and I'm sure they consulted with others as well. They have a plan. You can disagree with their plan, but to say they have no plan and are just bumbling idiots is simply not true. In fact if their plan results in a Rick George or other top AD hire, their plan will be successful and superior to any other plan suggested here.

My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

IF there is some secret agreement with Rick George, you could still hire a good coach now prior to that AD appointment in a year or two and not risk digging a larger hole to recover from. I'd like to think there is a genius master plan, but it takes alot of faith.

LurkLongandProsper · Nov 30, 2015

VAIllini35 said:
IF there is some secret agreement with Rick George, you could still hire a good coach now prior to that AD appointment in a year or two and not risk digging a larger hole to recover from. I'd like to think there is a genius master plan, but it takes alot of faith.

A major leap of faith, likely over a grand canyon-esque obstacle. We just better nail this AD search, but considering no real home run hires have emerged after Rick George said no, what reason(s) for confidence should we have?

KRSAS · Nov 30, 2015

Well even with all this negativity surrounding Illinois football, I will still support the team. I will still buy my season tickets in the horseshoe unless they raise the price to some ungodly amount. We still have some rich tradition when it comes to football, Red Grange, Dick Butkus, George Halas, Bob Zuppke and nobody can take that away. I want to see Illinois succeed like everyone else but I love football and I love the Illini. This is hand we have been dealt with, yeah it sucks but there are truly worse things in life than this. I have served in the military with deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan, I have had crappy leadership there but you still have a job to do. I just ask our athletes, not only in football but in all sports to give it their best effort and have some pride in the team name you wear.

Hoppy2105 · Nov 30, 2015

It's not that retaining Cubit is the absolute worst thing. They want to give a new AD full hiring power for HIS guy...cool, gotcha, there is some credence to that line of thinking even if many don't think it is right.

BUT, the 2 year deal was just straight incompetent. You can structure a contract to have the same buyout whether it's 2 years or 4 years. Perception is reality and if people thought Cubit had a 4 year deal, it would at least look like we had some stability to bridge the gap until the AD came in and fired the guy.

Instead, we get the worst of both worlds, a blow to recruiting AND a a buyout when Cubit fails here. This screams lazy and incompetent. The administration needed to step up and act like well informed, educated, responsible adults and they failed Cubit, the players, and the fans.

UofI08 · Nov 30, 2015

I had a nice big rant going but it was becoming just that, a rant. So anyways. To me this screams, "we have no idea what we're doing so maybe we can delay doing anything important."

I don't see how anyone could want to donate to this dumpster fire.

UofI08 · Nov 30, 2015

Hoppy2105 said:
It's not that retaining Cubit is the absolute worst thing. They want to give a new AD full hiring power for HIS guy...cool, gotcha, there is some credence to that line of thinking even if many don't think it is right.

BUT, the 2 year deal was just straight incompetent. You can structure a contract to have the same buyout whether it's 2 years or 4 years. Perception is reality and if people thought Cubit had a 4 year deal, it would at least look like we had some stability to bridge the gap until the AD came in and fired the guy.

Instead, we get the worst of both worlds, a blow to recruiting AND a a buyout when Cubit fails here. This screams lazy and incompetent. The administration needed to step up and act like well informed, educated, responsible adults and they failed Cubit, the players, and the fans.

Amen. Literally the worst possible scenario

LurkLongandProsper · Nov 30, 2015

Hoppy2105 said:
It's not that retaining Cubit is the absolute worst thing. They want to give a new AD full hiring power for HIS guy...cool, gotcha, there is some credence to that line of thinking even if many don't think it is right.

BUT, the 2 year deal was just straight incompetent. You can structure a contract to have the same buyout whether it's 2 years or 4 years. Perception is reality and if people thought Cubit had a 4 year deal, it would at least look like we had some stability to bridge the gap until the AD came in and fired the guy.

Instead, we get the worst of both worlds, a blow to recruiting AND a a buyout when Cubit fails here. This screams lazy and incompetent. The administration needed to step up and act like well informed, educated, responsible adults and they failed Cubit, the players, and the fans.

It is the worst thing. He failed as a HC here, and at WMU. There's nothing on his resume that should have him sniffing at this job, just like I have no business applying to work at Google.

Simply put, we showed we had no chance in this carousel when we fired our AD with 3 weeks to go before needing to make a hire, and had no candidates ready/lined up. Everything after is a failure because we couldn't even do that part correctly. We were never going to get a Chancellor before an AD, so that's no excuse. The 2 years is just icing on the top

:hurl:

peace davids · Nov 30, 2015

BZuppke said:
My main question has been why did we wait so long to fire Thomas and why did we fire Thomas at all if he was not implicated. If we were going to fire Thomas, why didn't we do it in August so we'd have a new AD by now? I can only conclude that something new came up just prior to firing Thomas and that's why he was fired so late.

My non-expert take: Phyllis Wise was the cog that made all this "work". She was sticking by Thomas and was likely resisting pressure to fire him. Allow him to run the Athletic Department through the Beckman struggles and allow him more time to realize if his men's basketball program would be a success (Both State Farm Center and JFG).

When she resigned in August, the University's loyalty to Thomas was gone. Wilson took over and probably started hearing the same pressure to let Thomas go. Instead of a knee-jerk firing - she probably took some time to do some homework and make sure it was the right call to fire him. Once she was convinced, she made the announcement.

However, shouldn't Thomas already have been contacting and have a short list of football coaches to come to Illinois? If the split was amicable, as it seems to have been, shouldn't Kowalczyk have been aware of that information? It would be my take that Thomas was looking at Cubit all along. Knowing the difficulty of replacing Zook before settling on Beckman, Thomas knew the struggle of hiring at Illinois, especially under the current climate. Stabilize the program a little with Cubit, then move down the line.

I think the 2 year deal is the back breaker. Give him a 3-4 year deal with a small buyout and see what he can do.

LurkLongandProsper · Nov 30, 2015

peace davids said:
My non-expert take: Phyllis Wise was the cog that made all this "work". She was sticking by Thomas and was likely resisting pressure to fire him. Allow him to run the Athletic Department through the Beckman struggles and allow him more time to realize if his men's basketball program would be a success (Both State Farm Center and JFG).

When she resigned in August, the University's loyalty to Thomas was gone. Wilson took over and probably started hearing the same pressure to let Thomas go. Instead of a knee-jerk firing - she probably took some time to do some homework and make sure it was the right call to fire him. Once she was convinced, she made the announcement.

However, shouldn't Thomas already have been contacting and have a short list of football coaches to come to Illinois? If the split was amicable, as it seems to have been, shouldn't Kowalczyk have been aware of that information? It would be my take that Thomas was looking at Cubit all along. Knowing the difficulty of replacing Zook before settling on Beckman, Thomas knew the struggle of hiring at Illinois, especially under the current climate. Stabilize the program a little with Cubit, then move down the line.

I think the 2 year deal is the back breaker. Give him a 3-4 year deal with a small buyout and see what he can do.

I followed your thinking until this. I highly doubt MT would've kept Cubit, especially after all the crap he'd gotten about Beckman underachieving. Because unlike at Toledo, this wasn't a case where Campbell was the brains of the op.

Contrary to popular belief, MT was very good at hiring coaches, he just didn't have anything besides P5 job to sell when he made his first two hires. And with the state of the rosters and facilities they were both pretty bad P5 jobs at that point in time. He'd have had a much better time in this carousel, imo

UofI08 · Nov 30, 2015

The craziest thing about his hiring is that it literally appeases no faction of Illini nation.

Fan attendance will plummet even farther.
Donations with plummet.
Recruits will look for other options.
Coaches will look for other jobs.
Even the AD search. Maybe I'm not in-tune with AD searches but I can't believe that every AD dreams of coming into a scenario with such fan and donor apathy. And their first job is to fire the football coach.

cmore · Nov 30, 2015

UofI08 said:
The craziest thing about his hiring is that it literally appeases no faction of Illini nation.

Fan attendance will plummet even farther.
Donations with plummet.
Recruits will look for other options.
Coaches will look for other jobs.
Even the AD search. Maybe I'm not in-tune with AD searches but I can't believe that every AD dreams of coming into a scenario with such fan and donor apathy. And their first job is to fire the football coach.

I think this part is attractive to them. That means they can hire THEIR guy.

IlliniWood · Nov 30, 2015

The more and more I stew about this, the more it ticks me off. I know for a fact that Thomas knew of his firing before the bye weekend, but we waited three weeks to announce it. I don't know the reasoning for the delay, I'm sure it had something to do with details working out the buyout, but those three weeks could have helped in stabilizing the future. I've got zero positive feelings about the Illinois football team at this point, and am questioning whether or not my continued I-fund support is even worth it. It's not like my increased donation helped with basketball reseating anyway.

dgcrow · Nov 30, 2015

Hoppy2105 said:
It's not that retaining Cubit is the absolute worst thing. They want to give a new AD full hiring power for HIS guy...cool, gotcha, there is some credence to that line of thinking even if many don't think it is right.

BUT, the 2 year deal was just straight incompetent. You can structure a contract to have the same buyout whether it's 2 years or 4 years. Perception is reality and if people thought Cubit had a 4 year deal, it would at least look like we had some stability to bridge the gap until the AD came in and fired the guy.

Instead, we get the worst of both worlds, a blow to recruiting AND a a buyout when Cubit fails here. This screams lazy and incompetent. The administration needed to step up and act like well informed, educated, responsible adults and they failed Cubit, the players, and the fans.

Lazy and incompetent is right. They simply took the easy way out, as so many public officials are inclined to do.

Bill Cubit gets 2-year deal as Illinois Head Football Coach

Deleted member 29907

Guest