The Illinois Coaching Search

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#802      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
haasi said:
Reason he left was situation crumbling at Big East/Marquette. Right? You're saying couldn't get better job because personality is difficult? Find hard to believe. If your results are good enough, that's hasn't stopped difficult abrasive guys before. Not saying I'd love an abrasive HC, but benefits can outweigh costs.
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He's not abrasive at all, everybody loves him. Life of the party.
 
#803      

zpfled

Z
Logan Square, Chicago
zpfled
Second and Chalmers said:
RSCI #61 and #87 in his first class.

RSCI #61 and #95 his second year.

RSCI #38 and #71 in the incoming 2017 class.

At freaking Virginia Tech. Who were flat on their back when he arrived, and he's taken those guys and won in the brutal ACC.

This from a guy who won the formerly even more brutal Big East. Twice. At Marquette. And as previously mentioned, he had a hand in developing legitimately like 8 NBA players there (a few of whom were Crean recruits, admittedly).

This is one of the best coaches out there.

But he's got a secure job making a ton of money, and you'd be lying to say he wasn't just a tad Bruce Pearl-y.
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Ok, well color me no longer underwhelmed:)

Bruce Pearl is the kind of guy you hate if he's on the other team, but you love if he's on yours. I wouldn't mind being more hated by the rest of the Big Ten!
 
#804      

Deleted member 29907

D
Guest
Deleted member 29907
RichardH said:
I don't think Illinois and Buzz will ever work. As Obelix stated, his move to VTech should raise a lot of eyebrows.
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I've not heard one complaint about him at Tech. He's turned that program pretty quickly and he's managing well with a rotation of 7 down the stretch after losing Clarke.
 
#805      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
Ah. Was wondering given a comment a couple pages back. Anyhoo, if there's concern about impropriety/failure to control program, that could be a problem. But otherwise sign me up.

Here's TCR's take on him about a month ago - http://www.thechampaignroom.com/201...llinois-basketball-rumors-john-groce-hot-seat.

Pluses: Great coach, great personality, able to turn around programs, was possibly interested last time around. Minuses: going to cost a boatload of $, and no real connection to Illinois or Big Ten.


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#806      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Second and Chalmers said:
I'm just sayin'.

Whitman is not a magician. If you can't see Archie and Marshall being Shaka and Stevens redux from a million miles away here, you're crazy.
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I thought I saw us hiring an average MAC coach for football from a million miles away, sometimes the "usual way of thinking" doesn't pan out, and I'm cautiously optimistic.

RE: Buzz and Marquette: My best friend from high school went to Marquette from Fall of 2010 to Spring of 2014 ... let's just say that he knew a girl VERY well who confirmed some horror stories about sexual assault being brushed under the rug, and I'm very inclined to believe him. It was not pretty.
 
#807      

FatGreg

F
FatGreg
haasi said:
Reason he left was situation crumbling at Big East/Marquette. Right? You're saying couldn't get better job because personality is difficult? Find hard to believe. If your results are good enough, that's hasn't stopped difficult abrasive guys before. Not saying I'd love an abrasive HC, but benefits can outweigh costs.
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Multiple sexual assault accusations against his players and ethical concerns about how it was handled by Buzz and the AD. Also, six players ticketed for underage drinking. Buzz himself seems like an okay guy, albeit a little Bruce Pearl-ish as someone else suggested. The perception that his programs develop a culture of permissiveness is what could make it a bad fit.

I'd still be all for it, btw. I'd prefer Archie Miller, but Buzz and Keatts would both have me super jazzed as well.
 
#808      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
FatGreg said:
Multiple sexual assault accusations against his players and ethical concerns about how it was handled by Buzz and the AD. Also, six players ticketed for underage drinking. Buzz himself seems like an okay guy, albeit a little Bruce Pearl-ish as someone else suggested. The perception that his programs develop a culture of permissiveness is what could make it a bad fit.
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Gotcha
 
#809      

ivwilsoniv

I
Aurora, IL
ivwilsoniv
haasi said:
Ah. Was wondering given a comment a couple pages back. Anyhoo, if there's concern about impropriety/failure to control program, that could be a problem. But otherwise sign me up.

Here's TCR's take on him about a month ago - http://www.thechampaignroom.com/201...llinois-basketball-rumors-john-groce-hot-seat.

Pluses: Great coach, great personality, able to turn around programs, was possibly interested last time around. Minuses: going to cost a boatload of $, and no real connection to Illinois or Big Ten.


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Am I the only one who would be *slightly* concerned about hiring Lex Luthor to run our basketball program? He, Whitman, and Lovie could definitely share hair-care secrets, though.

usa_today_9883582.0.jpg
 
#810      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
If we do get Buzz, would be interesting to see if he brings back short-lived Illini assistant and native Chicagoan Isaac Chew, who was great recruiter for him at marquette


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#811      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
Buzz would kill it here.

With respect to his recruiting, I'm pretty sure he beat us for a few recruits when he was at Marquette.

As others have mentioned, a big question is character and how he runs the program.

Would he leave VaTech? Who knows. Whitman would need to recruit him and I think he'd have a decent shot.
 
#812      

Obelix

Obelix
Obelix
ivwilsoniv said:
Am I the only one who would be *slightly* concerned about hiring Lex Luthor to run our basketball program?
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I think there are more concerns about hiring Curly Howard than Lex Luthor.
 
#813      

haasi

haasi
New York
haasi
^ this is a very good call


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#815      

TownieMatt

T
CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
Not a Buzz fan at all. I'm proud of the high character people leading our athletic programs at the moment. Illinois basketball is good enough to be successful without hiring a slimy coach.
 
#816      

Deleted member 4723

D
Guest
Deleted member 4723
My choices in order of preference:

1. Scott Drew
2. Archie Miller
3. Gregg Marshall
4. Kevin Keatts


And I'd be OK switching 3 & 4.


:chief::):chief:
 
#817      

IlliniMed

I
Lillington, N.C.
IlliniMed
EJ33 said:
Buzz would kill it here.

With respect to his recruiting, I'm pretty sure he beat us for a few recruits when he was at Marquette.

As others have mentioned, a big question is character and how he runs the program.

Would he leave VaTech? Who knows. Whitman would need to recruit him and I think he'd have a decent shot.
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Successful? Take him.
 
#818      

EJ33

E
San Francisco
EJ33
TownieMatt said:
Not a Buzz fan at all. I'm proud of the high character people leading our athletic programs at the moment. Illinois basketball is good enough to be successful without hiring a slimy coach.
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Was Groce slimy because several of his players got in trouble?

I've heard this about Buzz too, but there don't seem to be a lot of specifics. (Maybe I missed it in this thread).
 
#819      

UofIChE06

U
Pittsburgh
UofIChE06
MGR95 said:
Both Martin and Krystowiak's teams were better last year than they were this year, in terms of record.

2011–12 Utah 6–25 3–15 11th
2012–13 Utah 15–18 5–13 10th
2013–14 Utah 21–12 9–9 T–8th NIT First Round
2014–15 Utah 26–9 13–5 T–2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2015–16 Utah 27–9 13–5 2nd NCAA Second Round
2016–17 Utah 20-11 11-7 NIT

2014–15 California 18–15 7–11 T–8th
2015–16 California 23–11 12–6 T–3rd NCAA First Round
2016–17 California 21–12 10–8 5th NIT

Then here's Kevin Keatts

2014–15 UNC Wilmington 18–14 12–6 T–1st CIT First Round
2015–16 UNC Wilmington 25–8 14–4 T–1st NCAA First Round
2016–17 UNC Wilmington 29–5 15–3 1st NCAA

To me, all 3 of these guys are fallback options, and I know that a down year in the middle of a nice few years isn't the biggest concern but I would prefer hiring the guy whose team is currently on the rise if we have to settle on one of these "unproven" guys.
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A lot easier to do in the CAA than the Pac12. Not saying you are wrong but Krystowiak and Martin are coaching on a much bigger stage. No one knows Keatts can coach on that stage yet (we all will sooner than later) while the questions on Martin are how good of a coach is he after what has been showed over the last 6+ years.
 
#820      

ivwilsoniv

I
Aurora, IL
ivwilsoniv
Illini Fan in Louisville said:
My choices in order of preference:

1. Scott Drew
2. Archie Miller
3. Gregg Marshall
4. Kevin Keatts


And I'd be OK switching 3 & 4.


:chief::):chief:
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This is about where I'm at with the top 2 and bottom 2 being interchangeable. Bryce Drew would be on there as 5. Not sure where I'd slot Buzz after hearing about the sexual assault cover-up rumors...
 
#821      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
TownieMatt said:
Not a Buzz fan at all. I'm proud of the high character people leading our athletic programs at the moment. Illinois basketball is good enough to be successful without hiring a slimy coach.
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I think it's more like, there are standards of conduct for Illinois athletes in 2017 and beyond that are perhaps very different than the standards at Marquette in 2010. Is Buzz willing to exist within those parameters?

Because I don't think he's a cheater, he's not like Pearl in that way. He just let his kids run wild. Drinking tickets is one thing, but sexual assault stuff is not going to just get yada-yada'ed away, not in our 2017 consciousness and not at a public school.

Zook probably would have gotten in more trouble for some of what his guys were up to if it happened today too.
 
#823      

Serious Late

Serious Late
Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
Serious Late
I had Buzz in the "no chance we can get him, so not gonna waste time talking him" category. If he truly is considering the move, I would take him over Archie Miller and my man Krystkowiak.

We are consistently relevant with Buzz as head coach. Would be a major coup.
 
#825      

TownieMatt

T
CU Expat
Chicago
TownieMatt
EJ33 said:
Was Groce slimy because several of his players got in trouble?

I've heard this about Buzz too, but there don't seem to be a lot of specifics. (Maybe I missed it in this thread).
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It's not about individual mistakes from 18-22 year olds. It's about the culture of the program. By all accounts Groce ran a tight ship and was a stand up leader of young men. Buzz does not have that reputation. As others have mentioned, he hasn't gotten in any serious trouble for it, but that reputation is there for a reason. I'll pass.
 
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