Illinois Football Recruiting Thread

#101      
Battle89
genevaillini39w said:
Would If I could.

I don’t have as much money as the other money guy that lives in Geneva and is on track to give $100M to the university to name the stadium after his family.
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It's a simple formula, though JW / BU / BB have been doing their best to change it.

Piss off your major donors (back in my day it was Andreesen / Netscape, today it's Khan) plus years (hoops) or decades (football) of performance futility equals lower support. Sprinkle in a more (than other schools / conferences) international student group that may not care as deeply (or at all) about American sports and you start to see long-term erosion of the donor base, which takes significant time to rebuild.
 
#102      
Det_Illini_fan
Battle89 said:
It's a simple formula, though JW / BU / BB have been doing their best to change it.

Piss off your major donors (back in my day it was Andreesen / Netscape, today it's Khan) plus years (hoops) or decades (football) of performance futility equals lower support. Sprinkle in a more (than other schools / conferences) international student group that may not care as deeply (or at all) about American sports and you start to see long-term erosion of the donor base, which takes significant time to rebuild.
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Yeah I’ve felt the university put a VAST majority of its branding and effort into our International reputation, to the detriment of limiting our National and Local presence. We pissed off our best possible donors (a billionaire so interested in sports he bought a damn NFL franchise), didn’t invest heavily in athletics, and then decided students that are typically (I get the irony in that Khan is an outlier here disproving the point) only in the US for a short while and not typically interested in Sports was the best strategy. But it ultimately pushed away a local/US donor base away imo. I’ve said it before, when Larry Ellison donated money to Michigan’s NIL fund, that’s the slap in the face we just can’t entertain if we want to be in the big name discussions.

But I have total confidence in where we’re headed, truly.
 
#103      
AssemblyHallForever
OskieWowWow said:
Basketball is always going to be #1 here and until that changes with the big donors, we're not getting these 5 star kids
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Football is unique. It’s been proven that you can consistently win with 3 and 4 star players. It’s all about coaching and developing and Bret is very good at that. Keep winning and getting into high end bowl games and better ranked players will come.
 
#104      
RabidDawgClassic
Det_Illini_fan said:
Yeah I’ve felt the university put a VAST majority of its branding and effort into our International reputation, to the detriment of limiting our National and Local presence. We pissed off our best possible donors (a billionaire so interested in sports he bought a damn NFL franchise), didn’t invest heavily in athletics, and then decided students that are typically (I get the irony in that Khan is an outlier here disproving the point) only in the US for a short while and not typically interested in Sports was the best strategy. But it ultimately pushed away a local/US donor base away imo. I’ve said it before, when Larry Ellison donated money to Michigan’s NIL fund, that’s the slap in the face we just can’t entertain if we want to be in the big name discussions.

But I have total confidence in where we’re headed, truly.
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That donor who we pissed off let’s the coaches use his jet for recruiting purposes, so he can’t be THAT pissed off. 🤷‍♂️
 
#105      
phats22
RabidDawgClassic said:
That donor who we pissed off let’s the coaches use his jet for recruiting purposes, so he can’t be THAT pissed off. 🤷‍♂️
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kahn-star-trek.gif
 
#112      
Hereforit
Brody Knowles was the player of the game tonight in the Southlake Carroll vs Jenks game at the Cotton Bowl. Monster game. At least two TD’s, a straight posterizer over two dudes, a ridiculous one hand catch, and a long bomb TD. Dude is legit. Amazing comeback by SLC after being down 27! Here’s the YT link to the game.
 
#117      
TX Illiniwek
Hereforit said:
Brody Knowles was the player of the game tonight in the Southlake Carroll vs Jenks game at the Cotton Bowl. Monster game. At least two TD’s, a straight posterizer over two dudes, a ridiculous one hand catch, and a long bomb TD. Dude is legit. Amazing comeback by SLC after being down 27! Here’s the YT link to the game.
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Watched most of that game last night. Obviously a huge night for Brody. And, remember, Jenks is one of the best teams in Oklahoma and the country. His main highlight was the leaping touchdown catch, but one of his other catches was very significant. During one of their comeback touchdown drives where he just did a little crossing route over the middle on a 3rd down, I believe...he had to reach behind him and down to snag the catch....with a couple of defenders very close to him. Got Southlake the first down. Wasn't significant in the stat line but huge in the game. Needless to say, we will need to work to hold onto this guy. Schools like UT, TX Tech, many of the other SEC schools, have not offered yet. If he keeps putting up games like that against teams like that, they will.
 
#122      
Hereforit
TX Illiniwek said:
Watched most of that game last night. Obviously a huge night for Brody. And, remember, Jenks is one of the best teams in Oklahoma and the country. His main highlight was the leaping touchdown catch, but one of his other catches was very significant. During one of their comeback touchdown drives where he just did a little crossing route over the middle on a 3rd down, I believe...he had to reach behind him and down to snag the catch....with a couple of defenders very close to him. Got Southlake the first down. Wasn't significant in the stat line but huge in the game. Needless to say, we will need to work to hold onto this guy. Schools like UT, TX Tech, many of the other SEC schools, have not offered yet. If he keeps putting up games like that against teams like that, they will.
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Agreed in full!
 
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