If Lovie fails next year and is fired, what makes you think this roster will stick around with the era of "Free Agency"/transfer portal we've entered into?? I could see many players seeing this as a "get out of jail free" card and bouncing.
To your previous post- Whitman not veto-ing the hire but having the concern to supposedly send multiple resources to Lovie about the backlash and why this may not be a good idea is a sign of JW's management abilities (or lack thereof). He's done well in other areas where an AD needs to do so, therefore I will not pull the "fire JW" card yet.
Also, to the point another poster made about leaving for "promotions" an ASSISTANT to the OL coach in the NFL is not really a promotion from a Power 5 OL coach in college. And with Butkus having left an ASST to the OL coach at the NFL level twice to come back to his alma mater makes me believe he wants this program to do well and he wants to be a part of that staff. But he sees the dumpster fire Lovie has started (and Beckman in Luke's first round as an Illini coach) and he leaves out of frustration from lack of direction.
The first point is a big if. If everyone leaves. I doubt many will leave.
The second point is a potential answer. It could be that Whitman doesn’t get it. But I’m going to give Whitman the benefit of the doubt. For the record, I’m giving Lovie the benefit of the doubt f the doubt. He wins next year, he stays. He loses next year, he leaves. Pretty simple.
Third point is aSo just an assumption. I’m not clear on why he is leaving. And I’m not going to make assumptions. Moving back to the nfl is a legitimate reason to leave. He also could have gone to another college with how well the line did this year and he chose not to do so. I won’t make assumptions on what happened.
If there is some lack of integrity on lovies part, the program will fail this year and that will be an indication that the coaches knew something we didn’t. If the program wins this year, it will be an indication that the coaches left for different reasons. Either way, Lovie is coaching this year and he has the talent to win. Not winning is an indication that he failed. Everything else that people are discussing is irrelevant. Obviously if there is some type of scandal, then maybe Lovie leaves early. I think we lose more firing Lovie now than we gain. And I think lovies past warrants a chance to show he can win with the team he built.