OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
McDermott is 59.
Coaching Carousel (Basketball)
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mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Other candidate is..... UCLA to 1975 and UNC since?
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Couldn't agree more - losing Whitman would be soooooo painful. So many of the timelines of getting things back on track go back to his hiring. He's had some hiring whiffs (everyone does) but he's avoided the fatal back-to-back misses of his predecessors and regional B1G rivals.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Your entire premise is "let me describe our successful coaches and lets omit a decade of bad basketball."
Why not just give BU & Whitman the credit?
God knows BU still needs to get this team to the promised land (s16) or else he might have to join your list, loyalty members with pitchforks helping him along the way...
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Yeah my bad. Got caught between typing 59 and pushing 60.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I clearly stated that I was showing the coaches who left Illinois for another job. I was very transparent with what I was saying, so there was no confusion.
Again, the last three coaches WHO HAVE LEFT ILLINOIS FOR ANOTHER JOB either left for the NBA or a blueblood. I understand there were two coaches who were fired.
One thing I don't do is hide my intent or my main idea. If you are trying to imply any other meaning to my post or working on a different narrative, it's certainly not because I'm sending mixed signals in my posts.
It’s 2024 my friend. Like it or not the college sports world is rapidly evolving. What you’ve done recently is all that matters right now.
Looks like there could be quite a bit of movement after this season. Based on discussion here and elsewhere:
P12
OSU and ASU seem likely. UDub and Stanford possible. If Altman truly has had enough Oregon as well.
B12
WVU almost certain. Okie St a maybe as well. Okie if Moser wants out really bad, has a sizeable buyout.
SEC
Arky likely as Muss wants out. Vandy likely as well.
ACC
Lville almost certain. Hamilton and Larranaga are both 70+ so one or both could hang it up. NC St?
Big East
DePaul as always.
B1G
OSU open now. Mich seems almost certain. Indiana a maybe but not likely this year.
P12
OSU and ASU seem likely. UDub and Stanford possible. If Altman truly has had enough Oregon as well.
B12
WVU almost certain. Okie St a maybe as well. Okie if Moser wants out really bad, has a sizeable buyout.
SEC
Arky likely as Muss wants out. Vandy likely as well.
ACC
Lville almost certain. Hamilton and Larranaga are both 70+ so one or both could hang it up. NC St?
Big East
DePaul as always.
B1G
OSU open now. Mich seems almost certain. Indiana a maybe but not likely this year.
Thomas, watching those hires on the outside, seemed to go into those hires with the mindset of, “We’re Illinois. We can’t get a big name coach. We have to hire a mid-major.”
Whitman blew that mindset out of the water - especially with his football hires. Yes, Lovie didn’t work out, but he definitely moved the needle.
I didn’t know about Brad Underwood when he was hired, but, I think it’s turned out well!
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Not really true given the reported megabucks offers to Kevin Sumlin and Shaka Smart, who were the hottest coaches on those respective markets and took less money to not coach Illinois.
Thomas just had a really bad sense of value. This was most hard to understand in football where he was unwilling to consider anyone without head coaching experience (turning down Pat Narduzzi to hire Tim Beckman is wild, wild stuff).
But John Groce had a superficially awesome resume, so long as you stay laser-focused on all the wrong things and ignore the real markers of fit for a job like Illinois.
It speaks to what Thomas is, he's a suit, he's not an athlete or coach, he didn't have and wasn't interested in any advisory support from people who knew what they were talking about, and that era was the prime of search firms being more trouble than they were worth. Of course he missed, he wasn't even aiming in the right direction.
Whitman isn't perfect, the plan he and Lovie hatched in their secret meetings in Tampa was fatally flawed for instance, but both in terms of the coaching search processes he has run and the candidates he has chosen he understands that credibility is the most valuable currency.
What's why I said, "watching those hires from the outside."
I would like to see Illinois win the directors cup - all sports. Of course putting equal weight to water polo and football does skew the results. go Josh.
nacda.com
Stanford Captures LEARFIELD Directors' Cup - National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
Stanford finished 2022-23 with 1412.00 total points after the College World Series.
nacda.com
I still don't really understand the Groce hire tbh. He had a few decent years at Ohio and then one tourney run on the back of DJ Cooper being awesome.
On the other hand, Brad was absolutely dominant at SFU(89-14), and had a good year at OSU. Those are the program type builder guys you want to target from a mid major. Not guys coming off one good tourney run.
Shaka was a good target but did U of I even make runs at guys like Scott Drew or Brad Stevens? If you wanted to go the smaller school route then during that time Chris Mack was at Xavier, Greg Marshal at Wichita st(in hindsight good move not getting him), Pastner looked like he was going to be a star at Memphis(what happened to him), or Randy Bennett and that's just off the top of my head.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Well, it was two NCAA tournament successes, they'd scored an upset as a 14 seed two years earlier as well. But even that last Sweet 16 was just okay, 3rd in the MAC. Funny how dominant narratives around here ("Groce just needs to find his DJ Cooper") continue to carry along in the breeze.
The other big thing was Groce's nominal place as the "lead recruiter" on the Oden-Conley-Daequan Cook earthquake at tOSU.
Young energetic coach whose on-paper "guys he recruited" sheet shows some of the most spectacular talents in Big Ten history, who then made two buzzy mid-major tourney runs in four years as a head coach.
The problem is that there's basically nothing to take from the whole Oden scenario from an Illinois perspective, and NCAA success is basically totally meaningless in assessing a coaching resume.
Groce was 34-30 in the MAC and planned to center his Illinois program around epic multi-year teeny bopper romances of five-star recruits hoping that he could make Illinois seem cool to them. It was just a fatally hobbled concept with exactly the wrong idea about what was wrong with the program at the time.
Disgustingly enough, you know who I wanted that offseason, besides obviously Shaka? Chris Collins
(I've also heard stuff about Brad Stevens' interest in the job that I'm not 100% sure I believe)
Well, it was two NCAA tournament successes, they'd scored an upset as a 14 seed two years earlier as well. But even that last Sweet 16 was just okay, 3rd in the MAC. Funny how dominant narratives around here ("Groce just needs to find his DJ Cooper") continue to carry along in the breeze.
The other big thing was Groce's nominal place as the "lead recruiter" on the Oden-Conley-Daequan Cook earthquake at tOSU.
Young energetic coach whose on-paper "guys he recruited" sheet shows some of the most spectacular talents in Big Ten history, who then made two buzzy mid-major tourney runs in four years as a head coach.
The problem is that there's basically nothing to take from the whole Oden scenario from an Illinois perspective, and NCAA success is basically totally meaningless in assessing a coaching resume.
Groce was 34-30 in the MAC and planned to center his Illinois program around epic multi-year teeny bopper romances of five-star recruits hoping that he could make Illinois seem cool to them. It was just a fatally hobbled concept with exactly the wrong idea about what was wrong with the program at the time.
Disgustingly enough, you know who I wanted that offseason, besides obviously Shaka? Chris Collins
(I've also heard stuff about Brad Stevens' interest in the job that I'm not 100% sure I believe)
This article outlines Groce's place in the earthquake.
Basketball Recruiting - Ohio States Groce attracting talent to Columbus
To understand what makes Ohio State assistant coach John Groce Rivals.com's 2006 Recruiter of the Year you need only to listen to the story of how he
basketballrecruiting.rivals.com
Big Jack
- Decatur
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
What a great time capsule of the way we used to talk about these sorts of things. Building relationships with assistant coaches for high school underclassmen. Who's "real".This article outlines Groce's place in the earthquake.
Basketball Recruiting - Ohio States Groce attracting talent to Columbus
To understand what makes Ohio State assistant coach John Groce Rivals.com's 2006 Recruiter of the Year you need only to listen to the story of how he
Then Brad Underwood arrives and within a month he's hired Ayo Dosunmu's AAU coach and beaten Coach K and Izzo to Mark Smith.
sacraig
- The desert
Everyone knows that moms loved Groce. When Mike Thomas asked his mom what he should do, she suggested he hire Groce.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Incorrect.
Brad maintains a coaching staff that knows how to help him secure the players he needs to win.
This program fell down a decade-long hole not knowing the difference.
There have been recruiting misses under BU, no question, that's the nature of the sport. But the amount of time and energy spent on recruiting players who don't end up at Illinois has gone IMMESUREABLY down since Weber and especially Groce.
This is not a program that wastes its time anymore.
I believe we reached out to Stevens, who politely declined and pointed us in Groce's direction if I remember correctlyWell, it was two NCAA tournament successes, they'd scored an upset as a 14 seed two years earlier as well. But even that last Sweet 16 was just okay, 3rd in the MAC. Funny how dominant narratives around here ("Groce just needs to find his DJ Cooper") continue to carry along in the breeze.
The other big thing was Groce's nominal place as the "lead recruiter" on the Oden-Conley-Daequan Cook earthquake at tOSU.
Young energetic coach whose on-paper "guys he recruited" sheet shows some of the most spectacular talents in Big Ten history, who then made two buzzy mid-major tourney runs in four years as a head coach.
The problem is that there's basically nothing to take from the whole Oden scenario from an Illinois perspective, and NCAA success is basically totally meaningless in assessing a coaching resume.
Groce was 34-30 in the MAC and planned to center his Illinois program around epic multi-year teeny bopper romances of five-star recruits hoping that he could make Illinois seem cool to them. It was just a fatally hobbled concept with exactly the wrong idea about what was wrong with the program at the time.
Disgustingly enough, you know who I wanted that offseason, besides obviously Shaka? Chris Collins
(I've also heard stuff about Brad Stevens' interest in the job that I'm not 100% sure I believe)
Let's be real here - Brad knows how to play the game; hiring Antigua was the first indication of that. No chance Kofi comes here otherwise, and that's what really put us on the map. NIL has changed the game in that regard, in our favor as you have noted.
The point is that if you remove all of the bad things from a sequence of good and bad things, it will of course look good.
Its extremely similar to saying Miami's football coaches that havent been fired are great. Sure, you have through the 2000s w/ Erickson, Johnson, Davis, Schnellenberger, and then...a lot of irrelevance & bad.
I'm not making this personal, I'm just questioning your point.
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