Illini Women's Basketball Allegations

#226      

Charleston

C
Charleston
Botb9 said:
Damn, the Whites even made the thinly-veiled accusation that much of this came from Grant because she was recruited over, not because any truth lay behind it.

I'd say this was a strange situation, but that might be an understatement.
Click to expand...

The letter doesn't seem helpful at all. While it may be admirable for the Whites to stick up for the coach who recruited their daughter, some of the language used seemed designed to poke a finger in the eye of the players on the "other side". Calling the transfers "quitters" was unnecessarily pejorative in my mind (it is quite possible they were run off by the coaching staff). Similarly, talk of being recruited over makes Ms. White (or at least her parents) sound a little cocky and not particularly team-oriented (even if technically true).

There has been speculation about chemistry issues with the men's team last year. They had to be models of cohesion compared to what a mess this women's team was. It's a wonder they won as many games as they did.
 
#227      

IlliniBone54

I
IlliniBone54
I must say that it is pretty reassuring, at least from a human side of things, to see people defending Bollant against those who are saying he should be outright fired when nothing has been proven up to this point and to wait for the investigations. Not to often these days you see people recognize the whole innocent until proven guilty thing as Hoppy mentioned.

I didn't even find that Jacqui should have been the first option heading forward anyways. I saw a lot of games this year and I really can't remember too many before Chatrice became the first option that she seemed all that dominant. You really hope something like this wouldn't be motivated by frustration with that, but I guess time will tell. I'd be curious as to what DePaul would think if it turned out allegations were false and Jacqui's, as well as her family, took part due to her role on the team diminishing. Can't imagine they'd feel too comfortable having that in the locker room.
 
#228      

Illini by Proxy

I
Guest
Illini by Proxy
I usually avoid posting on forums but I just cant help myself...
Having some skin in the game I don't expect many people to take much stock in what I say. This thing is way more complicated than people are being led to believe by what is being published. It doesn't take much to see that something isn't right with these stories. They are depending on the general public not believing that you can't get so many people to tell the same lie. DennyCrane is dead on. I suspect he/she is an insider because have the same information.
Also people want to believe there must be something to the allegations because coach D resigned. Unfortunately, with the investigation they look into the emails and texts. I have seen these and they paint a completely different story than what Grosecki stated in his letter. They were "brothers" and apparently very close. Grosecki had him over often for dinner and even went on a trip to Florida together. Grosecki was texting him things like "You are the only person in the entire program who really tries to make a difference to help these kids" and "You are the glue that holds this team together" and he bragged about talking to Mike Thomas about the last statement. Things like this and other things that would have come out in the first investigation likely led to his resignation rather than the allegations.
 
#229      

IlliniBone54

I
IlliniBone54
Illini by Proxy said:
I usually avoid posting on forums but I just cant help myself...
Having some skin in the game I don't expect many people to take much stock in what I say. This thing is way more complicated than people are being led to believe by what is being published. It doesn't take much to see that something isn't right with these stories. They are depending on the general public not believing that you can't get so many people to tell the same lie. DennyCrane is dead on. I suspect he/she is an insider because have the same information.
Also people want to believe there must be something to the allegations because coach D resigned. Unfortunately, with the investigation they look into the emails and texts. I have seen these and they paint a completely different story than what Grosecki stated in his letter. They were "brothers" and apparently very close. Grosecki had him over often for dinner and even went on a trip to Florida together. Grosecki was texting him things like "You are the only person in the entire program who really tries to make a difference to help these kids" and "You are the glue that holds this team together" and he bragged about talking to Mike Thomas about the last statement. Things like this and other things that would have come out in the first investigation likely led to his resignation rather than the allegations.
Click to expand...

I fully believe that when suing for 10 million dollars you could easily get people to all tell the same lie. Since you seem to know something more in the matter I'd curious to hear was there any rumblings about this kind of stuff in the program before the Cvijanovic accusations came out? I still find it interesting that, at least from what I know, nothing popped up until he went on his twitter rant. Not that I'm saying its impossible they weren't going to come out with it before, but it does make it seem more likely at least to the public when someone in another program was reporting issues.
 
#230      

Illini by Proxy

I
Guest
Illini by Proxy
I honestly believe that the football issue plus the racial tensions surrounding black citizens being the victims of violence by authority figures being in the headlines nearly daily gave them the perfect opportunity to ride the outrage. They are sophisticated enough to understand the great political pressure the U would be under to fire everyone and try to stay out the headlines. That would have been the politically expedient thing to do in this situation. Still is. But there is enough evidence to directly disprove multiple claims they are making. I am not sure they realized that due to all the NCAA restrictions every program is under, there are records...
 
#231      

Illini by Proxy

I
Guest
Illini by Proxy
I found a lot in the letters to be sketchy.
Gleason claims his daughter was forced to play in the Penn State game in January on an injured foot and inferred that it led to a break. A quick look at the stats on the Illini website tells you that she was credited with 1 minute playing time. In basketball, if you step on the court you are credited with a minute so I looked at the play-by-play record. It shows that she came in the game with 31.4 seconds left. So I look up the video (I have a file of this clip) and saw how Illinois was blowing PS out and the coaches let the bench players in at the end of the game. Gleason comes in on defense, PS scores, she brings the ball up the court, passes the ball, cuts to the corner and stand by the arc until the clock expires. I am not saying that she wasn't hurt or couldn't have aggravated an injury in that benign 31.4 seconds but I would think it unlikely. It didn't jive with a kid being "forced" to play. It is a stretch to believe that a coach is putting an injured player on the floor in garbage time unless you are already predisposed to think the worst about a coach. I have seen people comment about this assuming that she played a significant role on the team and the coaches were abusing her by putting her on the floor to win games. She played a total of 24 minutes last season! She was out injured. The truth is more likely that things didn't work they way her parents expected based on her high school success. It has to be the coaches fault.
 
#232      

IlliniBone54

I
IlliniBone54
Illini by Proxy said:
I honestly believe that the football issue plus the racial tensions surrounding black citizens being the victims of violence by authority figures being in the headlines nearly daily gave them the perfect opportunity to ride the outrage. They are sophisticated enough to understand the great political pressure the U would be under to fire everyone and try to stay out the headlines. That would have been the politically expedient thing to do in this situation. Still is. But there is enough evidence to directly disprove multiple claims they are making. I am not sure they realized that due to all the NCAA restrictions every program is under, there are records...
Click to expand...

The only coaches the lawsuit names is Divilbiss and Bollant, but as I've heard others point out it seems highly unlikely these events could have gone on without the other coaches on staff being unaware. Anything you've heard regarding this? It just seems like a major oversight on their part whether or not the allegations are correct. You can't hold Thomas accountable hoping that he knows when the other assistant coaches should probably be more aware than he is.
 
#233      

Illini by Proxy

I
Guest
Illini by Proxy
Some of what Gleason said was kinda insulting. He is trying to convince people that she was lumped in with the black players because her game was like a black player. So.... what's that supposed to mean?!? What defines a black player's style of play?? You make a behind the back pass and now you are black? I always amuses me when white people use the race card when it works to their benefit.
There also is an underlying tone in the allegations that because the majority of the starters are white that the black players were being treated unfairly because there could be NO way there are 4 white players (sometimes 3) better than the black players on the bench. Anyone who thinks a coach recruits players to not play them for anything other than their ability to help win games is delusional.
The rest of his claims are ridiculous stuff like coach changed her shot 3 times. First of all this is completely irrelevant to any abuse claims. You have a parent that knows more than the big 10 coach that sees her everyday and is trying to win games. Anyone involved in sports see this type of parent ALL the time.
 
#234      

Illini by Proxy

I
Guest
Illini by Proxy
IlliniBone54 said:
The only coaches the lawsuit names is Divilbiss and Bollant, but as I've heard others point out it seems highly unlikely these events could have gone on without the other coaches on staff being unaware. Anything you've heard regarding this? It just seems like a major oversight on their part whether or not the allegations are correct. You can't hold Thomas accountable hoping that he knows when the other assistant coaches should probably be more aware than he is.
Click to expand...

That point is another reason I couldn't buy the allegations. I find it extremely unlikely that 2 experienced and respected black female coaches would sit idly by while coaches are abusing young black women. As far as I understand, they assert that no abuse occurred. This appears to be very personal and directed at coaches D and Bollant. They went from directing almost all of the alleged abuse as coming from coach Bollant to more recently saying coach D was the culprit and Bollant let him.
I have seen coach D in practice. Coach D is a tough coach the pushes his players to be better. I actually love coach D's coaching style. I agree with what the Whites put in their letter that was released in today's paper.
 
#236      

frankfortillini

F
Frankfort, IL
frankfortillini
Too bad the Trib put it behind their ridiculous "digital plus" wall - nobody's going to read it. . . which is probably a good thing :)

And on a side note, someone tell the Trib they're not the WSJ, nobody is going to pay to read their site.
 
#238      

illinicb

I
Northbrook
illinicb
frankfortillini said:
Too bad the Trib put it behind their ridiculous "digital plus" wall - nobody's going to read it. . . which is probably a good thing :)

And on a side note, someone tell the Trib they're not the WSJ, nobody is going to pay to read their site.
Click to expand...

I do. I no longer get the print edition.

BTW, the article is in the print edition obviously.
 
#239      

Stevegarbs

Stevegarbs
Mokena, IL
Stevegarbs
frankfortillini said:
Too bad the Trib put it behind their ridiculous "digital plus" wall - nobody's going to read it. . . which is probably a good thing :)

And on a side note, someone tell the Trib they're not the WSJ, nobody is going to pay to read their site.
Click to expand...


Sorry I didn't realize it was behind the pay wall.
 
#240      

illinicb

I
Northbrook
illinicb
Stevegarbs said:
Perceptions of U. of I. athletic director depend on who's talking
http://trib.in/1M1JQj2

Discuss.
Click to expand...

Certainly two sides to ever story. I found the issue of Thomas not engaging lower level donors to be humerous. I know many low level donors that feel like they should have the AD's ear whether is was RG or MT. For someone that is describied as not wanting to be high profile, he certainly is now.
 
#241      

roz77

R
roz77
frankfortillini said:
Too bad the Trib put it behind their ridiculous "digital plus" wall - nobody's going to read it. . . which is probably a good thing :)

And on a side note, someone tell the Trib they're not the WSJ, nobody is going to pay to read their site.
Click to expand...

Go to Google's homepage and put the URL in the search box. The first result should be a non-paywalled version of the story.
 
#242      

Konnie

K
Western Suburbs
Konnie
illinicb said:
Certainly two sides to ever story. I found the issue of Thomas not engaging lower level donors to be humerous. I know many low level donors that feel like they should have the AD's ear whether is was RG or MT. For someone that is describied as not wanting to be high profile, he certainly is now.
Click to expand...


[FONT=&quot]I am a small donor to the IFUND and to the U of I’s engineering college which I graduated from. I do not expect nor want the AD or college dean to contact me. I contribute to the IFUND in hopes of getting good football and basketball seats and a parking pass. I contribute to the engineering college since it provided me the basis for a good job and life. I do not donate in order to talk to anyone at the University[/FONT]
 
#243      

KJKobs

K
Chicago, IL
KJKobs
Konnie said:
[FONT=&quot]I am a small donor to the IFUND and to the U of I’s engineering college which I graduated from. I do not expect nor want the AD or college dean to contact me. I contribute to the IFUND in hopes of getting good football and basketball seats and a parking pass. I contribute to the engineering college since it provided me the basis for a good job and life. I do not donate in order to talk to anyone at the University[/FONT]
Click to expand...

this. All day this
 
#244      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
illinicb said:
Certainly two sides to ever story. I found the issue of Thomas not engaging lower level donors to be humerous. I know many low level donors that feel like they should have the AD's ear whether is was RG or MT. For someone that is describied as not wanting to be high profile, he certainly is now.
Click to expand...

Was going to post similar thoughts. IMHO, AD's cannot cater to every donor. Unfortunately, there are some people out there who feel entitled for any amount they donate, no matter how small.

I expected the article to be a hatchet job, but felt it presented both sides fairly well. In fact, like cb, I found it funny reading the two alums/donors who were quoted. My initial thought was, of course you can always find someone to complain, and th Trib did. However, I then felt this view was downplayed with more respectable names quoted who do support Thomas, with evidence of the positives he has accomplished in his career.
 
#245      

illinicb

I
Northbrook
illinicb
Konnie said:
[FONT=&quot]I am a small donor to the IFUND and to the U of I’s engineering college which I graduated from. I do not expect nor want the AD or college dean to contact me. I contribute to the IFUND in hopes of getting good football and basketball seats and a parking pass. I contribute to the engineering college since it provided me the basis for a good job and life. I do not donate in order to talk to anyone at the University[/FONT]
Click to expand...
If Mike Thomas called me, I'd tell him I appreciate it, but he should spend his time on bigger fish. It is better for me as a fan to have Thomas working on the whales that can hopefully move facilities forward than calling on me. Any sales person will tell you, you appreciate your small clients, but you have to focus on the biggest ones. That's just reality.