Illini Football 2024

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#101      
Fighter of the Nightman
Chukwuwumba said:
I look at this differently, This is Dan Laning’s first head coach job. Not sure if he got a raise this past offseason, but will probably get one after this year and put him closer to CC. bB right in the middle of the 5.5-7.5 group
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Fair, my main point is it is annoying when rando fans on social media complain about a college spots program "overspending." The DIA is a privately funded entity, and Bielema/Underwood are being paid effectively by super rich donors that care about the Illini being as good at sports as other elite programs ... and we should ALL celebrate (at least to some extent) that we have those kinds of funds, not complain as if it's coming out of our pockets (directly)!
 
#102      
Battle89
aaeismacgychel said:
For a working comparison this would be like you taking over a company that was just found guilty of multiple environmental, safety, and ethics violations, lost all of their best employees, and saw their stock prices tank by 90% as the company is lambasted and drug through the mud by the national media and late night talk shows for months.

Now while you never actually got the company back to profitable and in fact the company was still hemorrhaging money under your leadership, you came on and cleaned up the violations, got the company back in line with government regulations, hired in a few 'high potential' employees, and even bolstered the stock price, keeping the company from completely going bankrupt prior to getting fired. Yes, the person who replaced you made the company profitable again and the future looks very promising under their guidance, but at the same time, yeah, you were a financial failure, but I bet there's a number of people who will look at you in a fonder manner than you think you deserve.
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you misspelled 'related'
 
#103      
Battle89
Illini2010-11 said:
If Josh goes out an hired another MAC coach, do we really believe all the funds were going to still magically appear? None of this happens in a vacuum. The Lovie hire was a true spark to the program (and showed to the donors and public/media that the program was serious about trying to win). Do you not remember the extended excitement that lasted months going into the 2016 season (all after a long period of scrutiny left by the prior administration both in public and media)? Sure it fizzled in the end, but you are naive if you believe that Josh would have been able to still pull in all the resources he did if he hired a Beckman 2.0. Was Lovie a bad coach for the program in terms of win/loss, yes. Did he provide needed stability to allow Josh to build out facilities and a positive culture, also yes. Could Josh have made a better initial hire, sure, but we are being naive to think that there was a large demand for the product known as Illinois football in 2016 from a coaching perspective.
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If anything, the Lovie hire validated Josh's abilities to the larger college football community, which helped pave the way for Bret and others.

I have never liked Lovie, but I understand why he was hired, and must affirm that he was the best we could get at the time. NOBODY wanted to come here and several pre-emptively declined the job.
 
#104      
the juiceman cometh
Battle89 said:
If anything, the Lovie hire validated Josh's abilities to the larger college football community, which helped pave the way for Bret and others.

I have never liked Lovie, but I understand why he was hired, and must affirm that he was the best we could get at the time. NOBODY wanted to come here and several pre-emptively declined the job.
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I understand this is fully Monday-morning quarterbacking and like I said previously, I liked the Lovie hire at the time. But do we really think the football program would have been in a worse spot if we let Cubit coach one more season, and got an early jump on the next coaching hire cycle?

Heck Bielema wouldn't been available to hire in 2017. Maybe he still goes to work in the NFL even if we try and hire him at that point, but who knows...maybe we hold off on hiring for another season and we end up with Bielema from 2017 onwards?
 
#105      
Battle89
the juiceman cometh said:
I understand this is fully Monday-morning quarterbacking and like I said previously, I liked the Lovie hire at the time. But do we really think the football program would have been in a worse spot if we let Cubit coach one more season, and got an early jump on the next coaching hire cycle?

Heck Bielema wouldn't been available to hire in 2017. Maybe he still goes to work in the NFL even if we try and hire him at that point, but who knows...maybe we hold off on hiring for another season and we end up with Bielema from 2017 onwards?
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Re: Monday morning, I can only speak for myself, but almost all I said today I also said when he was hired.

Obviously I did not know about the future nepotism, etc. But I was a lifetime hater of his style and still even I was like "wow, Josh got Lovie?".

Big-name hire to paint a sheen of respect on a moribund program, yes. Hope that his name and contacts would generate better recruiting, yes. Anticipating running a 20-year-old defense that a good HS coach could carve up in modern day, yes. Lovie with a smug sideline expression that all this was beneath him, and Illinois was lucky to have him at all for $5M a year, yes.
 
#107      
steelmen72
Lovie Smith served his purpose. A former NFl/DC coach and first African-American coach in football at Illinois. Bret Bielema resume speaks for itself. Bielema is the best coach since John Mackovic and he was a good hire. Whitman had no business hiring Fahey but he had history with her. He has to make a good choice in women's soccer. Rayfield should have been gone 5 years ago. Tamas was a good hire but he reminds me of Don Hardin because of his inability to recruit at the level Kevin Hambly did for the volleyball team.
 
#108      
Illini2010-11
the juiceman cometh said:
I understand this is fully Monday-morning quarterbacking and like I said previously, I liked the Lovie hire at the time. But do we really think the football program would have been in a worse spot if we let Cubit coach one more season, and got an early jump on the next coaching hire cycle?

Heck Bielema wouldn't been available to hire in 2017. Maybe he still goes to work in the NFL even if we try and hire him at that point, but who knows...maybe we hold off on hiring for another season and we end up with Bielema from 2017 onwards?
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Short answer - Yes

Long answer - Yes for the following reasons:

1) You simply do not "let Cubit" coach one more season to jump start next coaching search. He was under the worst possible contract. A voice of support would have meant working an extension to the traditional 4-year contract. There was also no way of having a show-me type of year. If Cubit somehow got to 6 wins (very unlikely given the roster composition) with no extension worked up, then recruitment would have bottomed out. Is Josh really going to fire someone who just brought a team to a bowl game? There would be pressures to extend Cubit who just lost a near entire year of recruiting (as nearly all recruits would perceive Cubit as lame duck). This would be the disaster scenario for Josh to navigate. I think an extension would have been a near mandate if Josh would have wanted to keep Cubit as coach in 2016. What fan or booster would be happy for that situation? Not me.

2) Ignoring everything mentioned above, Whitman would be forced to at end of 2016 season, either extend Cubit or fire and move on. Would the Illini be in a desirable position to entice a good coach? Probably not (the negative media related to Beckman would still hound the program throughout the 2016 season). Not sure there would be a line of good coaches wanting to take on the Illinois project. We would be in the scenario of trying to pull a Lovie type coaching surprise, albeit one further lost year down the road.

3) The immediate influx of resources, positive press, and excitement of the fan base that came in as a result of the Lovie hire would not be there. Do we get Grange Grove or the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Performance Center completed if we waited? Illinois was in the dumps as a program, and little money was going to come in without a shock to the system.

So yes, count me as an individual that thinks we would be in a worse spot had Whitman not made the splash March 2016 hire of Lovie Smith.
 
#109      
the juiceman cometh
Illini2010-11 said:
Short answer - Yes

Long answer - Yes for the following reasons:

1) You simply do not "let Cubit" coach one more season to jump start next coaching search. He was under the worst possible contract. A voice of support would have meant working an extension to the traditional 4-year contract. There was also no way of having a show-me type of year. If Cubit somehow got to 6 wins (very unlikely given the roster composition) with no extension worked up, then recruitment would have bottomed out. Is Josh really going to fire someone who just brought a team to a bowl game? There would be pressures to extend Cubit who just lost a near entire year of recruiting (as nearly all recruits would perceive Cubit as lame duck). This would be the disaster scenario for Josh to navigate. I think an extension would have been a near mandate if Josh would have wanted to keep Cubit as coach in 2016. What fan or booster would be happy for that situation? Not me.

2) Ignoring everything mentioned above, Whitman would be forced to at end of 2016 season, either extend Cubit or fire and move on. Would the Illini be in a desirable position to entice a good coach, probably not (the negative media related to Beckman would still hound the program throughout the 2016 season). Not sure there would be a line of good coaches wanting to take on the Illinois project. We would be in the scenario of trying to pull a Lovie type coaching surprise, albeit one further lost year down the road.

3) The immediate influx of resources, positive press, and excitement of the fan base that came in as a result of the Lovie hire would not be there. Do we get Grange Grove or the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Performance Center completed if we waited? Illinois was in the dumps as a program, and little money was going to come in without a shock to the system.

So yes, count me as an individual that thinks we would be in a worse spot had Whitman not made the splash March 2016 hire of Lovie Smith.
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Counterpoint: 1 bad recruiting cycle under Cubit would have been better than 5 years of no traction under Lovie, assuming we made a good hire in 2017. We entered the 2016 hiring cycle late, which is why we had to go left field with Lovie. In retrospect, sacrificing 1 season and 1 recruiting cycle would have been better than sacrificing 5.

And yes, Whitman could have found someone. In 2021 a Kansas team that had averaged 1.5 wins a season over the prior 6 years was able to convince Leipold to take that job. That job was absolutely a worse job than the Illinois job in 2016/2017.

Lovie was a bad hire, not a necessary evil.
 
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#110      
Bert2022
Apologies if it's already been stated, but as I was researching whether it was possible or what would need to happen for a 3-loss Illini team to make the playoffs, I noticed that South Carolina is the only other 3-loss team currently in the AP Top 25. Yes, I know I am putting the cart before the horse....it's fun and I can still do it for now. Also, love the fact that we are ranked higher than a 3-loss Missouri team :). Go ILLINI! Beat Rutgers!!
 
#111      
BZuppke
Not sure where to put this but this is just wrong.
 

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#116      
Illiniguy74
My two cents. When you have to practically beg a person with a big ego to take a job, you get what we got. A distant, semi involved, kiss the ring guy. He may have stopped the bleeding but did little else from a pure coaching or leadership perspective.
 
#118      
Mr. Tibbs
Ander1345 said:
Nope. Texas Bowl vs RG3's Baylor Bears. We played at Wrigley 2 weeks earlier, then a loss to Fresno State.
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thank you ron guenther for scheduling Fresno St at home in early Dec .
edit : the 2009 game was the home game

yea , we lost to those guys two years in a row in early December . ugh

what was the actual attendance at that game in Champaign ?
 
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#119      
Ander1345
Mr. Tibbs said:
thank you ron guenther for scheduling Fresno St at home in early Dec .
edit : the 2009 game was the home game

yea , we lost to those guys two years in a row in early December . ugh

what was the actual attendance at that game in Champaign ?
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We lost the game vs them at home in 2009 in like the absolute most heart breaking fashion, deflected 2pt conversion to OL who fell into the end zone.

We've really had to endure some absolutely deflating moments as fans haven't we...
 
#121      
illinoistradition
Mr. Tibbs said:
thank you ron guenther for scheduling Fresno St at home in early Dec .
edit : the 2009 game was the home game

yea , we lost to those guys two years in a row in early December . ugh

what was the actual attendance at that game in Champaign ?
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I would say 20k max. We were 3-8, it was brutally cold, and playing a non-power conference team.
 
#125      
Illini2010-11
Mr. Tibbs said:
I recall hearing the end of the game on the radio

what was the reason for the game being played in early Dec ?
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I was a student at the time, and I remember it being a super cold day; however, I was excited to get to attend another home game that was not during a break. The game was fun until the fluke 2-point conversion for Fresno in OT (it was my first OT game in person for college football). The paid attendance showed as close to 50,000, but it was hardly half full in the stands at best.

It was some strange scheduling, as I recall. The week before, Illinois played at Cincinnati on Black Friday. Very odd to have two non-conference games to close out season.

As for timing, I think it was agreed upon between the two schools, as the year after the game was the same weekend in Fresno (the week after demolishing NW at Wrigley).

Those were two very demoralizing losses to Fresno in 2009 and 2010 -- the 2-point conversion loss followed by Illinois "missing" a field goal over the upright (stupid high school size uprights).
 
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