Other than being solely responsible for the complete collapse of revenue sports at UofI, he was great!
The Illinois AD Search
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Other than being solely responsible for the complete collapse of revenue sports at UofI, he was great!
The problem is that it's not the best of both worlds; it's the worst of both worlds. Cubit's recruiting will be as bad next year as it is this year (roughly: 12th in the B1G with the lowest average player rating). This means there's a talent time bomb waiting to go off in ~2 years.
And, as everybody who follows the state of the roster knows, this is the deepest, most experienced team we've had in a very long time. It's also the most talented since the Zook years. It's not at all inconceivable that Cubit could back his way into 6 wins next year.
So what does this all mean? The new AD will come in and be forced to keep Cubit for the next year. No matter what happens, the team will nosedive in 2 years due to the poor recruiting going on as we speak. One of two things happens next season:
1) Cubit doesn't win enough games to go to a bowl. Our new AD now has to find "his guy" to come in and take over a program where the roster is going to be in worse position than it is today. And, whether or not he's able to get his top choice in spite of this, the new guy will struggle with the bottom tier recruits. Having a struggling hire obviously is not going to make him look good. Any additional struggles would find his seat warming awfully quickly.
2) Cubit wins enough games to go to a bowl. Now you're putting your new AD in a position to either extend or fire a guy who went to (potentially) back to back bowls. He may agree with the majority of fans that Cubit and his awful offenses are not the answer, but he may not see a choice but to extend such "success." On the other hand, should he fire Cubit, his coach will run into rough times with the talent drop off, and that means the story line becomes "I can't believe Illinois fired a coach with back to back bowls to hire another Beckman!!!!1!11"
Overall, I don't think it really helps or hurts the attractiveness of our program. I just think it sets everyone up for failure in the future instead of potentially failing right now.
+1. I completely agree with this but the AD hire is critical. I hope we get that right.
If we hire an AD that is incapable of seeing beyond simple wins and losses, we have bigger problems.
He'll see money flowing in and out too, which will be driven by wins and losses. Everything is ultimately tied to the record on the field. We're doing our best to make sure our next coach fails at that.
I'm just saying that the actions of the past month or so put him in a lose-lose position next year. I have no idea what his actual competency will be.
On a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of roster balance and depth to hand over to a new coach, right now is an 8.5 and next year after hanging this noose around Cubit's neck is going to be a -347,274,238.
It can, and will, change that fast. That is what our leadership was unwilling to see. This offseason was a golden opportunity to actually build a positive bridge to new leadership, something Illinois hasn't done since Mackovic replaced White, and the administration smashed it with a hammer, defecated on it and lit it on fire.
Curious, but all I heard for the Beckman era was he couldn't recruit. Now, we are deep, experienced, and talented? Nobody here knows what will happen with recruiting. We also had three players commit to us with no permanent head coach. I will take a wait and see approach and let the AD thing shake out before proclaiming the end.
As far as George goes, it wouldn't be the first time someone said "I love it where I am at and have no intentions of leaving" and then, left.
That wasn't all you heard, first of all. But what was a dramatic sea-change from his predecessor was Beckman's ability to recruit to need and to fit, and to retain full classes of players.
We're not super talented. Nowhere near where our 07-12 teams were in terms of elite level individual players. But, for this brief moment before the deluge, the pieces fit.
CTD
C
Guest
He was already asked. The process played out and George declined the opportunity. Throwing more money at him isn't going to change anything.
Depends on who you were listening to. I think Beckman was a much better recruiter than he was ever given credit for. But, you probably weren't listening to people like me (if for no other reason than I don't have many posts
). For example: we were 7th in the B1G and 3rd in the B1G West recruiting by 247 composite last year. This year with interim cubit we are: 12th in the B1G and 6th in the west. We also have 8 more committed recruits than Indiana and 10 more than Purdue, which means both of the programs below us could theoretically make up the ground. Rutgers has a better recruiting class than us.Plus cheap buyout if nessasary
dgcrow
- Kelso, WA
The leadership/administration doesn't care. Those individuals found the easy way out and they took it.
Illinifan533
- Normal, Illinois
I guess I'm the only one who doesn't see the likely prospect of a complete rebuild with the new coach as a turn-off. If I was a coach wanting to make my stamp on a big program, Illinois could be the place. I don't think a lot of Illini fans considered Illinois in need of a rebuild when Beckman came in (including myself, admittedly), and he also faced a lot of issues with Zook's players. I highly doubt that the players will be as resistant to the new coach, making the rebuild a wee bit easier.
I think what Beckman did is get a lot of high Mac/low Big 10 players that will be seniors next year. He kept attrition low and now we have a relatively experienced and decent team.
But...it's not a team that is going to win 9 or 10 games. This is the Beckman plan and recruiting at its peak and we'll be a 5-7 win team next year (hopefully). That's a pretty low ceiling.
It's not hindsight. Most of us knew it was a ridiculous hire within 5 minutes of hearing him "speak". You can't listen to recommendations of others when that is right in front of you. How he went through an interview process and came out as the Illinois coach is astounding. All the other carp notwithstanding, that alone was grounds for dismissal.
Maybe what Beckman was doing was the way to go if you could keep getting back to back solid classes and show that you can win at Illinois. Getting guys that stuck around is what doomed Zook and Turner. They had a revolving door of players and had seasons with no depth in the upper classes. That is why they are gone. Beckman was building the program and getting fired for what used to be the norm is BS in my book.
The following was pulled from an ESPN article about UCF's new AD and HC (both hired in a two week span):
"In Frost and White, UCF rebooted its athletic program over a two-week span, turning the Knights into a younger, hipper version set on hyper drive. Frost, at 40, is four years older than his boss. But what the two bring is a vision to get the Knights’ football program to a sustained level of success that has yet to be achieved"
They were 0-12 and could do this. Where is our AD?? I also really appreciate the move towards an identity of being young and innovative. Good job by UCF.
"In Frost and White, UCF rebooted its athletic program over a two-week span, turning the Knights into a younger, hipper version set on hyper drive. Frost, at 40, is four years older than his boss. But what the two bring is a vision to get the Knights’ football program to a sustained level of success that has yet to be achieved"
They were 0-12 and could do this. Where is our AD?? I also really appreciate the move towards an identity of being young and innovative. Good job by UCF.
Agreed.
orangeswarm76
- hastings Nebraska
I have an idea everyone else holds protests and get results, why don't we ,our athletics as a whole are a complete mess starting at the top . We will just stop eating or something, that is the in thing right now.
I have an idea everyone else holds protests and get results, why don't we ,our athletics as a whole are a complete mess starting at the top . We will just stop eating or something, that is the in thing right now.
I dunno about a hunger strike, but it's gotta be going in a protest direction at some point, doesn't it?
If Illini Nation will accept this, Illini Nation will accept anything.
orangeswarm76
- hastings Nebraska
I myself am sick of settling and not having anything done I would rather them shut the athletics down . The embarrassment that we are showing everywhere (no offense to the kids playing) is a direct result of leadership letting these kids and fans down. The sick part is there is nothing ever done . I was always told there was one person in all businesses that can make the call. I am calling this person out to seek out the incompetence within the administration and start giving these kids that chose to go to this school stable and worthwhile experience. This is absolutely ridiculous take charge and do what is best for the school and the kids in it.
The News-Gazette slipped in a quick quote from Tiley about the AD search in one of their recaps of the game last night:
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...02/mbb-notebook-class-’16-guard-new-digs.html
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...02/mbb-notebook-class-’16-guard-new-digs.html
The assumption that seems to be strongly held by this current group of decision makers (Wilson, Killeen, BOT, et al.) is that quick, decisive hiring decision = high risk of bad hire.
Of course, there is an opposing school of thought that a snail-paced, overly-intellectualized, months-long process involving "lots of consultations" concerning a "a short list of people that will be phenomenal" among "a really dynamic pool of candidates interested in [the job]" that is drawn up by a search committee "representat[ing] all the important stakeholders," and possibly an outside search consultant, with the "pros and cons" of each candidate being "discussed ... extensively with knowledgeable people," might be more likely to produce a bad hire. One might call this the "too many cooks" theory.
I suppose there are examples where groupthink produces an optimal outcome but it seems to more often result in things like Jar-Jar Binks and the McDLT sandwich. Since it's obvious now that nobody in charge is going to just step up and start making tough decisions, I can only hope that when this ridiculously dragged-out process finally collapses under its own weight, we don't find ourselves with the Pontiac Aztek of athletic directors.
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