Hiring Tyler is just lazy. You can keep him around without hiring him. He keeps getting experience in that role too.
To me it's kind of an indication that it's just less people Brad has to argue/fight/discuss options with. IE: the aforementioned stubbornness.
Tyler brings very little to a position like this in the way of recruiting ties, and coaching experience...which is what you need to be paying for these days.
All that said, every indication is that Tyler is great to have around the program and the players all like/respect him. How much of that is due to his father is up for debate I guess.
I'm not ready for another soap opera season. I'm guessing JDubs & The Boosters aren't either.
It is so interesting that two people can look at the same set of facts and reach such different conclusions. Everything you say is valid and you may be absolutely right although "just lazy" seems a bit harsh. I would also add that if I were Brad and Tyler was my son I would not have hired him but instead would have quietly helped him get started at the bottom rung on the staff of another University and work his way up without being in my shadow. Hell, Brad started at the lowest JC coaching level and is now making a top ten salary in college hoops coaching so he knows the importance and satisfaction of working his way up and not having things given to you.
However, if Brad feels that Tyler is qualified, then hiring him is not lazy. It just opens both of them up to the nepotism criticism and unfortunately opens Tyler up to some questionable character shots on this Board today. We are better than that. Since he has been an ILLINI, he has gotten 3 degrees, represented the program well and by all accounts worked hard as both a student athlete and on the coaching staff. If there was a hint that he was a problem in the locker room or a mole for his Dad as a player and on the coaching staff, then I assume we would have heard it from one of our knowledgeable insiders. We have not. Hard to tell from today's board what qualifications he lacks for the low level job that he was actually hired for on this staff.
Instead, the unfair criticism seems to come down to his lack of recruiting experience and/or that he was not a star basketball player in college or the NBA. Not very many great coaches ever were great players and few if any of them started at the level of coaching that Tyler has started at. They did not need to or want to pay dues at that low level.
Like you, I am not ready for another soap opera season, which is why I think this promotion (it is not a hire) may very well be a good thing for the stability of the program. Brad trusts his son and Tyler does not strike me as a "yes man". If anything, it may be that Tyler is actually in the best position to question Brad's stubbornness when others can't because it is better received for Brad to hear it from his son. All I know is that Brad made the hire and until we see it play out all we can do is wish Tyler well in his new position and trust that Brad identified that Tyler had the right qualifications for his specific job duties and role with the overall coaching staff. If that wasn't why he promoted Tyler, then shame on Brad.
Count me in the apparent minority of ILLINI Loyalty members who believe that last season's team chemistry issues taught Brad some very valuable lessons between putting individually talented players on the floor and putting a team together that will grow, improve and in the end put the Tournament disappointments behind us. I look at this group of experienced players and see the potential for better team chemistry and play (especially on defense) than at any time since Brad arrived. Time to find out how good a coach Brad really is because based on his track record I am still not sure that we know.