Lots of dads are actively involved in their kids' recruitment -- for better or worse.
Read the back and forth on his tweet. He asked somebody to explain why his kid should go to Illinois, and when somebody responded by praising what a great guy Lovie is, what a good mentor he'll be, he'll get a great education, the alum network is fantastic, etc., Washington's response was "that has nothing to do with football, which is why Illinois isn't being considered".
The guy has a point. If a kid has offers from the likes of Ohio State, it's really hard to sell a program like Illinois. These kids and their families usually care about football first and foremost. When we resort to how good our school is academically, we're already playing catch-up.