Illini Football 2026

#176      
mhuml32
Juju said:
The fact that NORTHWESTERN has a higher budget than we do speaks volumes...
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We should have a heavy helping of scrutiny on the dollar estimates for the private schools compared to the others.
 
#178      
RabidDawgClassic
BZuppke said:
Crucial mistake. Remember Mackovic was AD as well, so we had no leadership in making that hire.
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I’ve often pinpointed the moment Mackovic was named AD/Coach as the moment Illinois football spiraled into oblivion. Not only did we have no AD to make the coaching hire, we had an interim chancellor (Morton Wier) doing it. Without much thought, he promoted Tepper to head coach then later named Ron Gunther the AD. We can debate whether Gunther would’ve made the right hire, but I doubt he would’ve just promoted Tepper. At the time, Illinois had a respectable football program and could’ve made a strong hire.
 
#179      
aaeismacgychel
Second place is 1st loser said:
Tackling is a perishable skill? In football? It's a required skill that's taught in middle school or earlier.

All of these guys know how to tackle opponents with similar size, speed and athleticism. When the opponents measurables are better than their own....that's where the problem lies. The RB for Duke was the best athlete on the field and we couldn't tackle him.
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Not to nitpick, because yes, these players have spent a long time learning tackling techniques, but even for NFL teams there has been a decent correlation between having a contact light mini camp and early season tackling and defensive execution issues

I think there is something to be said that if you’re not tackling in practice you are basically training yourself to back off from the contact instead of finishing through it. As well if you have developed a bad habit tackling you aren’t being actively coached to correct that prior to game action. So I do think this plays a role in lack of execution during tackling (though I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks).

Also, yes, size and athleticism certainly play a role in tackling ability, but it’s not like our LB group is tiny. It’s not like we have a group of 140lb high schoolers who have never seen a weight room out there trying to tackle college players. While true, UAB and Duke both featured strong physical backs, I think our issues were more technique related than size related
 
#180      
Illiniaaron
lstewart53x3 said:
The important thing for donors to realize: right now is the cheapest it’ll ever be.

Had we spent $30 million this year, we’re in the playoff. A few years from, $30 million likely won’t even crack the top 25.
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It's not sustainable. Only a few top programs can do this. What exactly is the point of college football if it's just another pro league? I get that on Sundays. Also, get off my lawn!
 
#181      
Curbelo Fanboy
RabidDawgClassic said:
I’ve often pinpointed the moment Mackovic was named AD/Coach as the moment Illinois football spiraled into oblivion. Not only did we have no AD to make the coaching hire, we had an interim chancellor (Morton Wier) doing it. Without much thought, he promoted Tepper to head coach then later named Ron Gunther the AD. We can debate whether Gunther would’ve made the right hire, but I doubt he would’ve just promoted Tepper. At the time, Illinois had a respectable football program and could’ve made a strong hire.
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Absolutely. I don't remember the landscape at the time to know who the candidate pool "could have been" but Illini football in 1990, 1991 was a legitimate operation. We consistently went toe to toe with Ohio State (beating them 4 in a row in that time frame) & Michigan. We typically lost to Michigan but gave them many tough games. A legit program that in 1990 were the only team to beat eventual champ Colorado (apologies to Mizzou & 5th down). We were the ABC prime 2:30 game usually at least a few times per year. A player on the national stage.

Given that we clearly had a product that could have been sold to attract a MAC head coach or someone from a similar type of league. Or perhaps even an overachiever at a major conference school that festered at the lower rungs of their league. At the time (pre Penn State coming into the BIG) Illinois was arguably a top 4 program in the league (Mich, OSU, Iowa, Illinois). This is also pre the rise of Wiscy & Northwestern in the mid 90's & beyond.

Instead we did the most Illini football things of all Illini football things. Hired the old school D coordinator at a time when the game was starting to pass by his 3 yards and a cloud of dust mentality. And it took a solid program cruising the road of relevancy & within 5 years turned us into perhaps the worst power conference program in the country by 96, 97 time frame. Turner had a few moments in 99-01 but what he inherited starting in 97 was a bottom 5 D1 program. Just awful.
 
#182      
mhuml32
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Absolutely. I don't remember the landscape at the time to know who the candidate pool "could have been" but Illini football in 1990, 1991 was a legitimate operation. We consistently went toe to toe with Ohio State (beating them 4 in a row in that time frame) & Michigan. We typically lost to Michigan but gave them many tough games. A legit program that in 1990 were the only team to beat eventual champ Colorado (apologies to Mizzou & 5th down). We were the ABC prime 2:30 game usually at least a few times per year. A player on the national stage.

Given that we clearly had a product that could have been sold to attract a MAC head coach or someone from a similar type of league. Or perhaps even an overachiever at a major conference school that festered at the lower rungs of their league. At the time (pre Penn State coming into the BIG) Illinois was arguably a top 4 program in the league (Mich, OSU, Iowa, Illinois). This is also pre the rise of Wiscy & Northwestern in the mid 90's & beyond.

Instead we did the most Illini football things of all Illini football things. Hired the old school D coordinator at a time when the game was starting to pass by his 3 yards and a cloud of dust mentality. And it took a solid program cruising the road of relevancy & within 5 years turned us into perhaps the worst power conference program in the country by 96, 97 time frame. Turner had a few moments in 99-01 but what he inherited starting in 97 was a bottom 5 D1 program. Just awful.
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Playing the roulette game of coaching candidates in 1991 were Jim Colletto, Curley Hallman, Jackie Sherrill, Gerry DiNardo, Tom Rossley, and Jery Pettibone. Jackie Sherrill would have been preeeeetty interesting considering how his TAMU tenure ended but I cannot imagine Illinois would have hired him. The rest of that list is awful, might be the worst coaching hire year for major schools that I can remember.
 
#183      
Curbelo Fanboy
mhuml32 said:
Playing the roulette game of coaching candidates in 1991 were Jim Colletto, Curley Hallman, Jackie Sherrill, Gerry DiNardo, Tom Rossley, and Jery Pettibone. Jackie Sherrill would have been preeeeetty interesting considering how his TAMU tenure ended but I cannot imagine Illinois would have hired him. The rest of that list is awful, might be the worst coaching hire year for major schools that I can remember.
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Jackie would've had plenty of bulls to castrate with the south farms being so close to the stadium back then.
 
#185      
superfan
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Absolutely. I don't remember the landscape at the time to know who the candidate pool "could have been" but Illini football in 1990, 1991 was a legitimate operation.
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mhuml32 said:
Playing the roulette game of coaching candidates in 1991 were Jim Colletto, Curley Hallman, Jackie Sherrill, Gerry DiNardo, Tom Rossley, and Jery Pettibone. Jackie Sherrill would have been preeeeetty interesting considering how his TAMU tenure ended but I cannot imagine Illinois would have hired him. The rest of that list is awful, might be the worst coaching hire year for major schools that I can remember.
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Add Dennis Green to the list of what-ifs. He interviewed for the job in '88. In '91 he took the Vikings job, but still a hypothetical scenario.
 
#187      
bluemountain
mhuml32 said:
Playing the roulette game of coaching candidates in 1991 were Jim Colletto, Curley Hallman, Jackie Sherrill, Gerry DiNardo, Tom Rossley, and Jery Pettibone. Jackie Sherrill would have been preeeeetty interesting considering how his TAMU tenure ended but I cannot imagine Illinois would have hired him. The rest of that list is awful, might be the worst coaching hire year for major schools that I can remember.
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Ever hear of a guy named Bill Snyder? He was very interested in the job and would have taken it in a heartbeat. He was coming off a 7-4 season at K-State that was nothing short of miraculous at the time
 
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