First off I'm an ISU fan. I feel bad for both THT and the staff. I like Underwood.
It's easy to say that the staff failed to find out how big of a problem the rift was between Ayo and THT. I'm sure they tried. For all we know Irvin said it was no big deal then dropped the ultimatum on the staff the day of in an effort to embarrass the kid. Clearly this is an adult man who has no problem carrying a grudge against a teenager. We don't have enough information to make that call.
He was screwed either way. They either give in and burn bridges with MIF, or they burn bridges with Simeon. Probably doesn't help the CPL at large. I mean what do you do in that time with such short notice? Who knows. All I know is Underwood's job just got infinitely harder because he missed on not only a good player but ultimately pissed off some people.
As for the story, I think a national guy would be dying to write this, but I hope they don't, because it might embarrass Horton-Tucker. It's over and done now. The relevant parties know what happened. Just move on.
For the record we had a lot of Illinois fans show up on CycloneFanatic this week to talk about this recruitment, and even when it looked like he was going to Illinois everybody was absolutely awesome. Sports message boards can be just a trash heap but I really respect the good number of fans that showed up. Definitely rooting for Illinois and I wish you guys nothing but the best.
For the fans that are upset - don't let this taint your love of the team. The staff, and particularly the players on this team as it stands are the only ones that will be hurt by you tuning out.
I agree with the poster above, Ia. State is my favorite Big 12 program. I hope you guys keep it rollin.