mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
Yeah! In fact, let's just get Guenther back! He was a FOOTBALL guy that didn't talk all funny!
UNIVERSITY OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS 4EVER
The Illinois AD Search
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Yeah! In fact, let's just get Guenther back! He was a FOOTBALL guy that didn't talk all funny!
UNIVERSITY OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS 4EVER
I think Tiley is perfect for this job. CEO experience as well as the fact that he, as a head coach, took a dormant tennis program to the highest level shows he knows what it takes to build a program.
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
illinifaninwi
- DeForest, Wisconsin
Tiley, in my opinion, is by the far the best candidate. The way he built the Illini Tennis program was a thing of beauty. He recruited at an elite level nationally as well as internationally in addition to be being a tremendous talent developer and leader as well.
He has great connections, good personality, and the success away from Illinois that makes him a home run hire.
You have to spend money to win in college athletics. It's time to step up like the big boys.
Go Illini!
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
If the UI could hire Tiley, it would go a very long way to removing the absolute sting that I feel right now when considering Illinois athletics. Illlinois (for me) needs to make a statement. Needs to say "we want to be on the big stage, competing for the brass ring". This is in contrast to what I feel now, which is "since big universities compete in athletics, we will too". Hiring Tiley would help me to believe again. I'm getting close to giving up otherwise.
You can't just keep losing the hearts and minds and fans and alumni the way we have been. You have to make a breakthrough.
You can't just keep losing the hearts and minds and fans and alumni the way we have been. You have to make a breakthrough.
DrewD007
- Woodridge, IL
I believe there's a chance that one of the names mentioned so far could lead a resurgence and deliver that breakthrough. If it happens, we will have stumbled backwards into that success through dumb luck. If you review this ridiculous three-month long debacle of an AD search, it's obvious the administration is stabbing blindly. We don't need a visionary and savvy leader/adept communicator/forward thinking strategist who can work in a consensus-oriented manner to drive the athletic mission while utilizing multimedia platforms for innovative solutions to take Illinois success in the Big Ten and beyond for the growth, achievement and development of the 21st century student athlete or whatever it is they consider the "critical AD competencies." We need someone to convince the thick-skulled BOT holdouts to eliminate our pointlessly elevated academic standards so we can recruit on an even footing with our competition. We need someone that can twist the arms of the donor-base and fund the capital improvements we need to evolve at the same pace as everyone else. And somehow we have to stop settling for our third or fourth choice when we hire our revenue sport coaches. These are not high-minded concepts. It's the nuts and bolts of a winning athletic program and everyone knows this. Whether Frazier or Whitman or Tiley is the guy to deliver on these "competencies" is anyone's guess but seeing as how it's a dart throw at this point anyway, how about we dispatch with the KF4D assessment modules get on with it already.
DaChief4ever
- Urbana
Seriously, do you want an Australian Tennis coach to name a U of I football coach?
ILL in IA
- Iowa City
Do you want a football guy picking a basketball coach?
Do you want a former U of I coach who intimately understands the university and the collegiate process along with international executive experience hiring the next football (and basketball?) coach?
Yes, if it's Tiley. Yes, a thousand times, yes.
dgcrow
- Kelso, WA
BOT was scheduled to meet tomorrow (Thursday), but I have no idea if it will be ready to make any kind of announcement.
I have heard it is not on the agenda.
icengineer
- Southern Illinois
Someone posted a quote on here recently saying that the AD situation is not on the agenda for that meeting.
Now why that would be the case is beyond me. It should be a topic of every BOT meeting until someone is hired. :noidea:
The parents of the kids he coached at IL begged the USTA to retain him in some capacity. He has many great qualities. Cannot say if he would make a good AD, but certainly he will move in the right direction and perhaps over some time become worthy of this position. That is the big picture - one can argue much from there on.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
I don't feel that the bolded is as important as people make it out to be. There are a lot of very successful DIAs out there who weren't previously related to their current school.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
It's not important at all. Why people feel we need someone steeped in the Illinois football tradition who "gets" going under .500 three out of four years is beyond me.
For one thing, it's just a lot easier. The list of "Illini" guys is a fraction the size of the list of candidates that could theoretically be considered and it's much less a challenge to find someone who "knows the landscape" than it is to find someone who is "good." I mean, I doubt the administration views it that way, but it's a bit of a cop out. You could also argue that "Illini Guy" is basically a code word for "guy who knows how disfunctional we are and won't hold us publicly accountable for all our dysfunction and conflicted interests."
Craig Tiley has been a successful program builder as a coach and as an executive. He would be a solid hire for the AD position.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I agree that a "U of I" guy/gal is not a requirement. The only benefit that I see, is that they have a place in their heart for U of I and may come, in spite of the complete mess that the University is currently in.
Looks like the new AD will have some work to do. Not surprising that football and men's basketball lead, but boy is women's basketball costing us.
http://www.dailyillini.com/article/...tics-manages-to-stay-afloat-while-others-sink
http://www.dailyillini.com/article/...tics-manages-to-stay-afloat-while-others-sink
Ridpath's line of thinking is exactly what is wrong with our school's athletic department. "Needless" spending on the revenue generating sports is actually the thing that will make you good at those sports, which in turn will make your athletic department more money. If you want to cut costs then you need to look at cutting sports that lose you money.
Let's look at this as a business. A profitable business will always continue to support its profit centers and will cut the things that aren't profitable. Its common sense. Its like saying we can't spend the money that it takes to bring in good employees that will make us profitable because we'd rather spend money on people that cost us money.
I sure hope our next AD understands the concept. If you look at the most profitable schools they are the ones with the most success in Football and Mens basketball. Link below shows that to be the case in most if not all cases. Rant over.
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
After looking at it more closely you could even make the case that it is football that is most important to profit.
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