I really wanted Groce to be successful, he seemed like such a good guy. Heard personal stories to back this up. Seems like he's doing pretty well at Akron, which is probably about the level he should coach. Great guy, good coach, just not P5 good. Hope he continues to have success.
College Hoops Coaching Carousel
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And, true to form, he finished 3rd in the MAC this year.
the national
- the Front Range
the national
- the Front Range
I do not agree with this. Are you talking about football or something?
This certainly is not a defense of RG and I don’t know the advancement policies at Illinois now and certainly not back then. While it seems odd that the athletic department wasn’t reaching out to you given your “relationship” with it, fundraising at universities — especially large ones — is highly orchestrated. Certainly at the lower levels it is less so, but still occurs. You never mention whether you donated to the overall school or your major’s school. If you did, that might have led to a “hands off” for the athletic department.
Illinois also very likely has plenty of research on the typical giving entry points — not just overall but at various stages of a potential donors life. Possibly the research shows that for X number of years after graduation an alum is much more likely to give to overall school or major’s school than sports and that during those early years alums are likely to consider going to a game or two as their annual financial support for athletics. Given that and not wanting to completely inundate alum with donation requests (at least more than they do), maybe at the time more general appeals are more successful in general.
Again, a lot goes into fundraising at large schools. Depending on the structure of the advancement department, the AD likely has very little input on fundraising and who is solicited at the lower levels. So I can understand that it seems strange to you that athletics wouldn’t be reaching out to you from the get go, and maybe they missed the boat on you. But I highly doubt RG or even the athletics department was truly to blame. Plenty of other things to blame on them though.
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Problem with being the good guy all the time is that 95% of them … Don’t win … At least at the HM level …
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And this is where some of the anti-BU stuff where it delves into comparisons to Groce just baffles me.
Mid-major basketball is different in many ways and just because you can succeed at a mid major doesn't tell you everything, all true as a caveat.
But I've watched 100, 150+ games of both guys at this point, and game in game out watching it has been so, so clear that Groce went 34-30 in the MAC whereas Underwood went 53-1 in the Southland.
sacraig
- The desert
This stat still baffles me. Like, how is that even possible? It's like my rec baseball team between 3rd and 5th grade.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
#humblebrag
sacraig
- The desert
well you're not required to agree with me, you are entitled to your own opinion. At this time next year we'll see who's right.
I tried to keep all posts respectful, especially in the back-and-forth with Skyy's Not Falling and his unbridled optimism (till his crash at the end). But I'm right there with you, felt the loss of hope (much) earlier than others. It was just the same issues, game after game, even when we won.
In fairness, the Southland isn't exactly a mid-major conference. Central Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State, etc are more like NAIA programs.
I've probably seen the same # of games. Groce was not a P5 caliber coach (at the time anyway). BU is better, but a large part of that is because he was able to land Ayo and Kofi whereas Groce didn't land Cliff Alexander or Demetrius Jackson or Jawun Evans. If Groce had known how to play the AAU recruiting game a little better he may still be here.
Well, was banned for a few weeks from posting due to my outburst after the Penn State loss...that's on me.
This board has been completely bonkers. That's all I gotta say.
This board has been completely bonkers. That's all I gotta say.
Blame Mike Thomas all you want, but there were bigger problems than even just him. Very little money vested into Illini athletics, admin couldn't give a crap, lack of state funding. There was just no way Illinois was getting a good Coach then and that's why we settled for very low candidates in both football and basketball.
They just won a Division 1 FCS Football National Championship recently...
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I mean, our athletic department (rather famously at this point) relies on exactly $0 from the state. I'm not saying the state's FUBAR financial situation doesn't adversely affect our athletic department, but the reason it seems like we have so much more money now is that Whitman is better at tapping into the IMMENSE pool of resources that is the University of Illinois donor base. We have almost $4 billion in endowment, and our athletic department's "financial resources" should rank in the same tier compared to other athletic programs as our endowment does compared to other universities. Whitman has helped push us a lot closer to that.
yeah you can mostly blame Guenther for poor fundraising, although Thomas didn't help either. In both cases, the complete lack of support from their bosses didn't help either.
Next year for basketball, Texas and Oklahoma are still in the Big 12. Move to SEC is not until July 2024.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
I knew he had given up on this year's team when my seven-year-old didn't cry after the Purdue game, Penn State pt. III, or the Arky loss like he did during multiple prior losses.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Whitman blew this narrative to smithereens in his first 72 hours on the job and I will never not be thankful for it. It was never true.
I wish posts that were deleted and that led to a ban would be released after a certain amount of time. Just for entertainment purposes.
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I basically said no one on the team cares, the offense stinks, I won’t watch the Arkansas game & well lose by 15 in the first round… and…. well… I watched the game.I wish posts that were deleted and that led to a ban would be released after a certain amount of time. Just for entertainment purposes.
billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
I wish posts that were deleted and that led to a ban would be released after a certain amount of time. Just for entertainment purposes.
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