Illini Football 2024

#201      

Fuze

F
Fuze
#208      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
This board needs to chill. So much negativity and overreaction to everything. I don’t know why some of you come here - all hope is gone, we’ll never win etc.

Blue bloods tend to stay there but for most other teams, the right coach and AD make them competitive. I’m confident that ours will get it done and it been a long time since I believed this. As I’ve said before - who in the Big would you trade them for?
 
#210      

Indy Illini Fan

Indy Illini Fan
Indy Illini Fan
therealmiket86 said:
Football is a lot harder for nil because the roster is so much bigger. A lot more guys to keep happy and the money gets spread thin. I doubt it’s true but the rumor from Miami is that we offered Lightfoot 1 million to play here. I don’t believe that at all
Click to expand...

We did not offer Lightfoot 1 million ...

Miami is an absolute joke of a program and Cristobal is a bozo ... Promising kids a ton of NIL and so far ... Not delivering when it comes to Lightfoot ...

Wallet is feeling a little lighter than they were told it would be ... Per a source close to the family ...
 
#211      

Madco Illini

M
Madco Illini
BZuppke said:
This board needs to chill. So much negativity and overreaction to everything. I don’t know why some of you come here - all hope is gone, we’ll never win etc.

Blue bloods tend to stay there but for most other teams, the right coach and AD make them competitive. I’m confident that ours will get it done and it been a long time since I believed this. As I’ve said before - who in the Big would you trade them for?
Click to expand...
Why are you this confident? Did you blackout for all last years games?
 
#215      

BZuppke

BZuppke
Plainfield
BZuppke
Madco Illini said:
Why are you this confident? Did you blackout for all last years games?
Click to expand...
Because I’ve closely watched our program and college football since the 1980s. What Illinois always lacked and desperately needed was an experienced power 5 coach who knows what he’s doing (and more importantly an AD who is at the top of his game). I’ll state unequivocally that Bielema is the only one to fit the bill since Mike White. Josh is our best AD since Stoner (I’d say better than Stoner). Our modern history is what it is - mostly due to poor to horrible leadership (AD and HC). There’s nothing in the Central Illinois water nor does our recent history prevent us from being competitive at the Iowa/Wisconsin level. Our leadership needs more than four years to get us there.

As to last years’ games, we struggled to play as a team early on but for the second half of the season we consistently out did all the naysayers here by playing every game down to the wire. One play against Wisconsin, NW or Iowa would have garnered us a bowl game and the tune of the reactionaries here would be much different.

We’ll see who’s right on this one in time. I’m confident Josh and Bret will get the job done.
 
#217      

GatorMcKlusky

G
GatorMcKlusky
BZuppke said:
Because I’ve closely watched our program and college football since the 1980s. What Illinois always lacked and desperately needed was an experienced power 5 coach who knows what he’s doing (and more importantly an AD who is at the top of his game). I’ll state unequivocally that Bielema is the only one to fit the bill since Mike White. Josh is our best AD since Stoner (I’d say better than Stoner). Our modern history is what it is - mostly due to poor to horrible leadership (AD and HC). There’s nothing in the Central Illinois water nor does our recent history prevent us from being competitive at the Iowa/Wisconsin level. Our leadership needs more than four years to get us there.

As to last years’ games, we struggled to play as a team early on but for the second half of the season we consistently out did all the naysayers here by playing every game down to the wire. One play against Wisconsin, NW or Iowa would have garnered us a bowl game and the tune of the reactionaries here would be much different.

We’ll see who’s right on this one in time. I’m confident Josh and Bret will get the job done.
Click to expand...
We would have been better off with the iPad full of Loyalty members (altho it hadn't been invented at the time, so maybe a chalkboard) than Guenther and Thomas. That position has been our glaring weakness since Mackovic was promoted to AD.
 
#219      

bluemountain

B
bluemountain
BZuppke said:
Because I’ve closely watched our program and college football since the 1980s. What Illinois always lacked and desperately needed was an experienced power 5 coach who knows what he’s doing (and more importantly an AD who is at the top of his game). I’ll state unequivocally that Bielema is the only one to fit the bill since Mike White. Josh is our best AD since Stoner (I’d say better than Stoner). Our modern history is what it is - mostly due to poor to horrible leadership (AD and HC). There’s nothing in the Central Illinois water nor does our recent history prevent us from being competitive at the Iowa/Wisconsin level. Our leadership needs more than four years to get us there.

As to last years’ games, we struggled to play as a team early on but for the second half of the season we consistently out did all the naysayers here by playing every game down to the wire. One play against Wisconsin, NW or Iowa would have garnered us a bowl game and the tune of the reactionaries here would be much different.

We’ll see who’s right on this one in time. I’m confident Josh and Bret will get the job done.
Click to expand...
Completely agree. I've been a fan since the early 70's so I've seen a lot of good and bad football. I've also seen a lot of really bad programs become good programs due to finally getting good leadership - Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas State, TCU, Cincinnati, Louisville among others. It may not happen for us because there is always an element of luck involved, but Whitman and Bielema give us a good opportunity to succeed
 
#220      

turnaround3

turnaround3
1st & Daniel
turnaround3
Indy Illini Fan said:
Miami is an absolute joke of a program and Cristobal is a bozo ... Promising kids a ton of NIL and so far ... Not delivering when it comes to Lightfoot ...

Wallet is feeling a little lighter than they were told it would be ... Per a source close to the family ...
Click to expand...
Have to push back on this a bit as Miami football is the one entity in the country I do have some pretty direct ties to.

Miami's bag's very large. Ruiz was never the player many (not saying anyone here, just a lot of folks in general in the college football sphere) thought him to be, that's not where the money comes from now nor really ever came from. Dude's regarded as a clown within program circles. To some degree that's neither here nor there in relation to this specific point but usually Ruiz is the first thing people bring up with Miami's coffers and the narrative is just...wrong.

Anyway - the money's there. I'm not disputing what you're saying regarding Lightfoot, I'm confident your sources are good and his family probably does feel some kind of way. Unfortunately in this landscape lots of families feel lots of ways. But there's a reason the highest level talent has been coming for 2 years now and not turning around and bouncing en masse. They're being given what they were promised by and large. You can't make 100% of people or 100% of people's families happy 100% of the time.

That said, I do have to disagree with your assessment on Cristobal just outright. In-game gaffes not withstanding, guy's doing an incredible job and has been everything those in and around the program have hoped for to this point. He's got to win the games now, the time has come - but the folks with the money on South Beach are extremely pleased with the talent they've seen pour in the last 2 years from both HS and portal. Noise from other circles is just that - and historically when the outside noise gets loudest it's meant good things for the program (....admittedly with the exception of 2011).
 
#222      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
BZuppke said:
Because I’ve closely watched our program and college football since the 1980s. What Illinois always lacked and desperately needed was an experienced power 5 coach who knows what he’s doing (and more importantly an AD who is at the top of his game). I’ll state unequivocally that Bielema is the only one to fit the bill since Mike White. Josh is our best AD since Stoner (I’d say better than Stoner). Our modern history is what it is - mostly due to poor to horrible leadership (AD and HC). There’s nothing in the Central Illinois water nor does our recent history prevent us from being competitive at the Iowa/Wisconsin level. Our leadership needs more than four years to get us there.

As to last years’ games, we struggled to play as a team early on but for the second half of the season we consistently out did all the naysayers here by playing every game down to the wire. One play against Wisconsin, NW or Iowa would have garnered us a bowl game and the tune of the reactionaries here would be much different.

We’ll see who’s right on this one in time. I’m confident Josh and Bret will get the job done.
Click to expand...
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#224      

illiniwil

I
illiniwil
turnaround3 said:
Have to push back on this a bit as Miami football is the one entity in the country I do have some pretty direct ties to.

Miami's bag's very large. Ruiz was never the player many (not saying anyone here, just a lot of folks in general in the college football sphere) thought him to be, that's not where the money comes from now nor really ever came from. Dude's regarded as a clown within program circles. To some degree that's neither here nor there in relation to this specific point but usually Ruiz is the first thing people bring up with Miami's coffers and the narrative is just...wrong.

Anyway - the money's there. I'm not disputing what you're saying regarding Lightfoot, I'm confident your sources are good and his family probably does feel some kind of way. Unfortunately in this landscape lots of families feel lots of ways. But there's a reason the highest level talent has been coming for 2 years now and not turning around and bouncing en masse. They're being given what they were promised by and large. You can't make 100% of people or 100% of people's families happy 100% of the time.

That said, I do have to disagree with your assessment on Cristobal just outright. In-game gaffes not withstanding, guy's doing an incredible job and has been everything those in and around the program have hoped for to this point. He's got to win the games now, the time has come - but the folks with the money on South Beach are extremely pleased with the talent they've seen pour in the last 2 years from both HS and portal. Noise from other circles is just that - and historically when the outside noise gets loudest it's meant good things for the program (....admittedly with the exception of 2011).
Click to expand...
your team is lead by its coach. there is the problem at Miami, no matter how big the purse strings are.
 
#225      

Madco Illini

M
Madco Illini
BZuppke said:
Because I’ve closely watched our program and college football since the 1980s. What Illinois always lacked and desperately needed was an experienced power 5 coach who knows what he’s doing (and more importantly an AD who is at the top of his game). I’ll state unequivocally that Bielema is the only one to fit the bill since Mike White. Josh is our best AD since Stoner (I’d say better than Stoner). Our modern history is what it is - mostly due to poor to horrible leadership (AD and HC). There’s nothing in the Central Illinois water nor does our recent history prevent us from being competitive at the Iowa/Wisconsin level. Our leadership needs more than four years to get us there.

As to last years’ games, we struggled to play as a team early on but for the second half of the season we consistently out did all the naysayers here by playing every game down to the wire. One play against Wisconsin, NW or Iowa would have garnered us a bowl game and the tune of the reactionaries here would be much different.

We’ll see who’s right on this one in time. I’m confident Josh and Bret will get the job done.
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree with much here, but it’s all based on feelings. It’s a results based industry and 4 or 5 wins simply isn’t going to cut it. We need to go bowling the next 2 years. Bielema “didn’t come here to go 5-7”.