So, in regards to Illinois 'becoming a basketball school' vs. 'remaining a football school', are there any external factors that played into this as opposed to just "this coach sucked" or "the AD tanked the program", etc? I mean, did we not capitalize on television trends when they began? Did we miss the mark with certain marketing opportunities? Things like that. We were obviously a premier program in the 1910's and 1920's, but then it just seems that as technology and other things improved, Illinois football didn't keep up (i.e. televised football beginning in the 30's and being decentralized in 1984). Maybe I'm trying to find causation due to correlation even though there is no cause to be found in these regards.
It is interesting that the first nationally televised coast-to-coast bowl game was the 1952 Rose Bowl game, and Illinois destroyed Stanford. But again... nothing seems to have really come from that. 39-55-5 over the next 11 years with a 7-1-1 season being our best season in that mix but with seven seasons where we failed to win 5 games. I don't know. It's just weird that a program that had all things firing correctly in the 1910's and 1920's just fell off the map in afterwards with just a few memorable seasons here or there.
To add to this, it's just depressing when I'm watching a hype video before games, and 90% of the video is in black and white and involved either Red Grange or Dick Butkus.
It is interesting that the first nationally televised coast-to-coast bowl game was the 1952 Rose Bowl game, and Illinois destroyed Stanford. But again... nothing seems to have really come from that. 39-55-5 over the next 11 years with a 7-1-1 season being our best season in that mix but with seven seasons where we failed to win 5 games. I don't know. It's just weird that a program that had all things firing correctly in the 1910's and 1920's just fell off the map in afterwards with just a few memorable seasons here or there.
To add to this, it's just depressing when I'm watching a hype video before games, and 90% of the video is in black and white and involved either Red Grange or Dick Butkus.