MustangWally
- Mayfield
My worst memory from that debacle was Cal Tech hijacking the scoreboard at the end of the game. Well, that and my girlfriend having her purse stolen during the Rose Parade.
Pregame: Illinois at Wisconsin, Saturday, October 1st, 11:00am CT, BTN
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When do you think Illinois went from a football school to a basketball school?
We have a lot of football history. Great players and national championships
Stevegarbs
- Mokena, IL
I was also in attendance as a student at this game and it was definitely the "wow, we are for real" moment.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
If you had to point to a specific moment, the 1997-98 school year seems like an obvious one.
The winless football season in which all of the chickens of Guentherism came home to roost exposing how far we'd fallen behind modern college football immediately followed up by a Big Ten championship basketball season under a new coach pushing us forward beyond the Henson era. And of course also signing a recruiting class of Frank Williams, Robert Archibald, Damir Krupalija and Lucas Johnson.
That was the moment where it was unmistakably shown that basketball's success in the 80's had durable legs whereas football's didn't. The gap of which program is more worth your time to care about has occasionally narrowed but never come close to closing.
(Ubben was also built that year, seems relevant to note)
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Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I graduated in '88 and think that it transitioned in my 4 years of attendance.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
That's an interesting observation.
I feel like another way of saying that is "1983 was just a one-time phenomenon and Illinois was always a basketball school".
I'd say earlier. 70s.
It's already out.
Sweet. Thanks
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I was going to say ... I am not old enough to actually remember these years (so I'd absolutely defer to someone who lived them!), but it had to have been earlier than that. While we have a great football history, by 1970 our basketball history was just as good if you weight more recent results as more important - as the casual fan does. We had 3 Final Fours within the last couple of decades, and we were decent in the 1960s. Both sports pretty much sucked in the '70s, but it seems that by the mid- to late 1980s, our football program was a competitive-if-inconsistent program while our basketball program was humming along as a Big Ten and arguably national power. A good chunk of our football history is from the 1920s, and I would imagine that by the '80s, many people thought of Illinois football similarly to how we might view Michigan State now rather than a clear "football school," but I don't know for sure!
By the time we literally hired Lon Kruger away from a Power Five program in Florida ... there should have been no more doubt. The complete flop of our football program after the 2001 Sugar Bowl cemented this perception as an eternal truth for at least a generation, unfortunately.
However, we can take a massive step toward changing that perception this weekend!!ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Yeah I guess I'm using "basketball school" to mean "school that's good at basketball that doesn't really care about football". It's something that you can't chart purely in wins and losses.
Tennessee has been better at basketball than football for like 25 years now, but they could never be a basketball school.
We're not so far away from being the reverse. The basketball team is really in people's blood now, and the football team really isn't. I continue to think folks around here overrate how much a couple of 8-4's will change that even though I personally would be enormously happy. #oneofthe17
Tennessee has been better at basketball than football for like 25 years now, but they could never be a basketball school.
We're not so far away from being the reverse. The basketball team is really in people's blood now, and the football team really isn't. I continue to think folks around here overrate how much a couple of 8-4's will change that even though I personally would be enormously happy. #oneofthe17
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Illinois became a basketball school in 1966/67 after the "slush fund". Pete Elliott had rebuilt the football program and bb was doing well prior to the slush fund. Basketball recovered fairly quickly under Harve Schmitt, however football has never recovered. I was at UIUC from 65-68 and saw it.
23-17 good guys.
Illini out play Wisky enough that score shouldn’t be that close, but a TO or really bad punt gives Badgers a short field for one of their TDs.
Illini out play Wisky enough that score shouldn’t be that close, but a TO or really bad punt gives Badgers a short field for one of their TDs.
Guenther was the worst thing to happen to Illinois sports, with the exception of the slush fund debacle.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
He seems like the archetype of short sighted thinking in executive leadership dooming an organization. His moves could actually easily be defended/promoted by his biggest fans at the time, but it was clear we were also effectively giving up on the arms race - an unacceptable path for the flagship of a state our size, period.
I will also add that we avoid stupid penalties.
I think the book on mertz is that he’s all or nothing. The way their pass numbers look on that one chart posted a couple pages ago, he’s been a lot more nothing.
Don’t remember seeing this posted. Writer for USA Today/Yahoo Sports
Dan Wolken
Not enough attention has been paid to how mediocre Wisconsin is at the moment. We are used to the Badgers being a Top 25 mainstay, finishing the year ranked 13 times in a 15-season stretch under four different coaches. But there has been a noticeable dip in Wisconsin's level of play since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it looks like this season might be the first major fall-off. Wisconsin just can't score, and I think people are going to start to notice that after they lose at home to Illinois this weekend,. Don't be surprised if some hot seat talk starts to surround Paul Chryst soon.
Dan Wolken
Not enough attention has been paid to how mediocre Wisconsin is at the moment. We are used to the Badgers being a Top 25 mainstay, finishing the year ranked 13 times in a 15-season stretch under four different coaches. But there has been a noticeable dip in Wisconsin's level of play since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it looks like this season might be the first major fall-off. Wisconsin just can't score, and I think people are going to start to notice that after they lose at home to Illinois this weekend,. Don't be surprised if some hot seat talk starts to surround Paul Chryst soon.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
The Slush Fund scandal ('67) kneecapped both programs. Football only came back briefly in the early '80s under Mike White and then '88-91 under Mackovic. Basketball, however, maintained strong teams in the late 60s before declining in the early '70s. Lou brought it back fairly quickly and sustained the success.
Regarding football, IMO you can't minimize the negative knock-on effects of Neale Stoner being forced to resign as AD in mid-'88 after hiring Mackovic the preceding winter, Guenther assuming interim AD duties, and then Mackovic, a stellar coach who gave us three strong seasons from '88-'90, becoming the full-time AD.
This meant that when Mackovic left for Texas in Dec. '91, we lost both our coach and AD. Accordingly, we lacked a stable, strong AD to hire a new football coach, and made do with Guenther promoting Tepper. Then Guenther took the AD role by default. That began the long decline of what had been, briefly, a resuscitated football program.
My recollection of the history. Feel free to correct my possibly addled memory.
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That hurts big time.
Naw, Mike Thomas was. (Not a huge RG fan either)
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