Josh Whitman Named 14th Illinois Athletics Director

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#77      
89illinigrad
ButkusDaBear said:
I can't tell you how happy I am with this hire. George and Tiley would have been good gets but we now have our version of Jim Philips. Not only does Whitman have the qualities to be an effective AD but he could have interviewed for the Chancellor position and be given consideration. This is the turning point needed for Illinois athletics. :illinois:
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I truly hope so, but I don't want everyone to build up high expectations for the guy before he has even been announced. The worst thing we can do as fans is to build lofty expectations and then start asking for his head if he doesn't meet those expectations.
 
#78      
Second and Chalmers
89illinigrad said:
I truly hope so, but I don't want everyone to build up high expectations for the guy before he has even been announced. The worst thing we can do as fans is to build lofty expectations and then start asking for his head if he doesn't meet those expectations.
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Right, we know nothing about what the guy's plans are, or whether he'll be able to marshal the funds to make those plans a reality. I'm glad people seem positive about the hire, but lets not go overboard. It's a long, hard road ahead, even in the best case scenario.
 
#81      
InterimLoyalty
670thescore is claiming that Frazier said no to the job. Is this just spin on his part or is there any truth to this. Still prefer Whitman over him anyway.
 
#82      
coryfor3
InterimLoyalty said:
670thescore is claiming that Frazier said no to the job. Is this just spin on his part or is there any truth to this. Still prefer Whitman over him anyway.
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I suspect that is true. Word is that Frazier is in a good spot and in a position to very choosy about his openings. He doesn't have any particular connection to the state so there is really no reason he would say yes to the mess.
Might be waiting for Barry Alvarez to retire. Or waiting for an East Coast/NY area job.
 
#84      
Second and Chalmers
InterimLoyalty said:
670thescore is claiming that Frazier said no to the job. Is this just spin on his part or is there any truth to this. Still prefer Whitman over him anyway.
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He interviewed.

I'd rather have Whitman too. The harder you look at Frazier, the less you see IMO. Chun seemed to be the pick of the litter of non-Illini names brought up.
 
#85      
dgcrow
Second and Chalmers said:
Right, we know nothing about what the guy's plans are, or whether he'll be able to marshal the funds to make those plans a reality. I'm glad people seem positive about the hire, but lets not go overboard. It's a long, hard road ahead, even in the best case scenario.
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Just glad the search is finally over. Would have preferred Rick George, but am anxious to see what plans for the DIA Whitman develops.
 
#86      
BZuppke
Tribune said that too so maybe the Score is just repeating what the Trib article said. Who knows, but it would be in Frazier's interest to say he rejected us rather than we rejected him. I heard he put his hat in for the Minnesota gig now.
 
#87      
AutoPoster 3000
Just as a side issue, how worthless was Korn Ferry? I noticed a few sources buzzing online this morning about how awful they were, basically causing more problems than they solved. I have no way of knowing about that, but to the extent they were brought in to advise the administration and search committee about protocols and to serve as the conduit between the school and candidates, its hard not to conclude they massively dropped that ball. And that "AD Competencies"/flow chart thing they prepared that was released via FOIA request was the biggest joke of the whole process. Consulting firms are notorious for tossing up work product full of empty buzzwords and clichés when they have no insights or strategies to offer, hoping their clients won't be sophisticated enough to see through the ruse. That was one of the worst examples of that tactic I've ever seen. If I was Wilson and some smarty pants business school jerk dropped that garbage on my desk, I would be apoplectic. I guess $140,000 doesn't buy you access to their A team. We went with the Silver package; should have spent for the Platinum Plus.
 
#88      
Shane Walsh
AutoPoster 3000 said:
Just as a side issue, how worthless was Korn Ferry? I noticed a few sources buzzing online this morning about how awful they were, basically causing more problems than they solved. I have no way of knowing about that, but to the extent they were brought in to advise the administration and search committee about protocols and to serve as the conduit between the school and candidates, its hard not to conclude they massively dropped that ball....
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I don't think that there is any real way for us to know exactly what they did or did not do on the university's behalf. Who would have been in contact with George and Tiley "under the table" if not them?
 
#92      
Klondike
I saw a few different places that Korn Ferry was a massive hindrance and annoyance throughout the process, and the admin in hindsight wished they didn't hire them. Of course, one of those places was a tweet from JeffJ, so who knows.
 
#94      
Smacko
FYI most candidates who were linked with the job are going to claim they turned it down or pulled themselves from contention. That doesn't mean it is remotely true. It is a PR move and should be ignored.
 
#95      
bigruss22
And yet, the crazy rumors about contacting candidates via their current work emails and such stopped.

They were hired for a specific purpose, they may not have done everything right but I wouldn't call them worthless from my standpoint.

Did we overpay them? Yea I bet we did, but that's what happens when you have to rely on outside parties to clean up your mess.
 
#97      
Lake Camelot
Will there be a committee to set up the introductory press conference?

I'm not bitter though.:(


PS I am good with this hire. he would have been my third choice and if they would have hired him quickly I would have been happy then with the hire.
 
#98      
AutoPoster 3000
InterimLoyalty said:
670thescore is claiming that Frazier said no to the job. Is this just spin on his part or is there any truth to this. Still prefer Whitman over him anyway.
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Frazier has kind of an odd history recently. He was one of two finalists for the Rutgers job in 2013 (while still the Associate AD at Wisconsin) but had a strange interview during which he was grilled relentlessly on LGBT issues, which the university later apologized to him for. He was tagged as Syracuse's fan favorite home-run candidate last year but then denied having interest in that job. Sometime later, he ended up on a widely-reported list of four finalists for the Pitt job but then he claimed he wasn't interested in Pitt and didn't know how his name made it on to that list. Then he interviewed with us but just a few days after made an offhand remark during NIU's signing day presser that he wasn't interested in the Illinois job. Now he's being mentioned for the Minnesota job. Good luck with that, Gophers.

It's hard to read the meaning in all that but to me, he comes off as a careerist who's just plotting his next move on the way to bigger things. That kind of attitude isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for a head coach, but I want more commitment than that from an athletic director. So, in summary, I think we dodged a bullet with that one.
 
#99      
Second and Chalmers
AutoPoster 3000 said:
He was one of two finalists for the Rutgers job in 2013 (while still the Associate AD at Wisconsin) but had a strange interview during which he was grilled relentlessly on LGBT issues, which the university later apologized to him for.
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God bless you Rutgers. Nice to have some company in the dumpster fire contest.
 
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