My opinion on Chester has gone up a lot hearing how many other coaches and players speak so highly of him.
I wasn't disappointed with the hire by any means, but my opinion of it has definitely been going up over time as well.
As absurd as it sounds (and perhaps it's not surprising, given the neuroticism of the Illini fanbase), I almost think that in some ways, the fact that Chester is an alumni may be working against him, as though he's just some nepotism-ish hire to satisfy the demands of the "hire an Illinois guy" crowd. Or that by hiring an "Illinois guy" we're somehow forced to admit/believe that the job is only appealing to candidates with a pre-existing relationship with the program.
At the same time, our collective perception of him is still based more on his playing career (which we are all very familiar with) than his coaching career (which we are presumably much less familiar with). I suspect that anyone who still isn't over the moon about his hiring probably wanted some shiny recruiting wizard poached from the type of program that we aspire to be, but those fans are almost certainly bound to be disappointed by
any hire, given that the hierarchy of college basketball is pretty much a one-way street, and we're in a somewhat peculiar place as a program right now.
It's unfortunate that this pair of "familiarity breeds contempt/grass is always greener" cognitive biases may be working against him, not just because it's misguided, but also because in some ways, it's impossible to really evaluate the hire at this point, but that hasn't stopped anyone. And of course, the most unfortunate aspect is that he's someone who already and obviously bleeds orange and blue, and is objectively a very well-respected and well-liked coach.
But at the risk of stating the obvious, we're not a very objective group.
I'm stoked to have Chester on board, and I expect that anyone who isn't yet excited will probably change their tune sooner rather than later.