Both are good reads... I also remember an Op-Ed piece in the WSJ that opined that Illinois should leave the B1G...This article provides some history on Guenther's history with the Illinois DIA. Interesting that he was ousted from his fundraising post over improper use of funds. We might have had a dramatically different football history had Bob Todd been selected rather than Guenther.
GUENTHER NEW ILLINOIS AD
Ron Guenther, denied in his bid to run the athletic department 1/2 years ago, has been selected as the new athletic director at the University of Illinois. In a close decision over interim athletic director Bob Todd, Guenther, a 1967…www.chicagotribune.com
While Mackovik was a perfectly serviceable HC/AD hybrid, I think Stoner before him did a remarkable job coming out of the doldrums of the 70s, giving the middle finger to the Big Ten over Dave Wilson's eligibility, and turning the Illini into a solid program under White and Mac. Apologies for the salty language in the SI article.
THE BIG TEN'S BIG MESS
The Big Ten forgot to rape us after they finished pillaging us," an enraged University of Illinois alumnus wrote the other day to the school's athleticvault.si.com
Virginia 42, Illinois 14 Postgame
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skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
As mentioned a few posts back....even after a really bad loss like this....I wanted to watch BB talk about Illinois football. I wanted to watch his postgame comments.
Before this...I couldn't GAS less what Lovie (Beckman, Cubit, Turner) had to say. Zook was at least entertaining.
This is the first real football coach we've had since JMack and Mike White.
The surprise has to be our lack of composure and the way our lines are being physically dominated. I still don't think we are as bad as we played Sat.
Friday response will be interesting.
Before this...I couldn't GAS less what Lovie (Beckman, Cubit, Turner) had to say. Zook was at least entertaining.
This is the first real football coach we've had since JMack and Mike White.
The surprise has to be our lack of composure and the way our lines are being physically dominated. I still don't think we are as bad as we played Sat.
Friday response will be interesting.
I keep in touch with colleagues in Little Rock who follow Arkansas football closely. Overall they have a good impression of BB. The said he started off strong but lost some quality assistants later in his tenure and couldn’t backfill or compensate well enough which did him in.
illini80
- Forgottonia
This is what I’ve heard also. I’m guessing he’s learned that lesson based on the guys he’s brought in.
If not, I'm sure BU can help him what that lesson.
Go Nats 88 Illini
Fairfax, VA
I'm with you there buddy!
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Thanks for both of those reads. I was in high school in Ohio when the Wilson incident occurred. Growing up around OSU, what I recall of it in the media is that it seemed that Schembechler and Michigan's AD in particular led the charge against Illinois. (OSU had been somewhat distracted in '79 and '80 by the firing of Woody Hayes and a new regime under Earle Bruce. And Schembechler ran up the score deliberately in that infamous 70-21 beating they gave us in Ann Arbor in '81.)
I appreciated that SI article. That's interesting context. I always assumed that the "hidden agenda" that the UI faculty rep alludes to was other conference members blocking a school from attempting very quickly to rebuild its football program via transfers, which is exactly what White did. I do recall that the media and other programs were shocked at White's tactics. I don't believe anyone (EDIT: in the BT) had tried to do what he did before. It's not only the transfers he brought from California (where he had great success at Cal), it was their talent. The fact that we had a winning season in '81 and then got where we did in '82 and '83 showed that those other schools had reason to be worried. It's interesting that Hayden Fry arrived at Iowa only one year before White joined us, and yet Fry (coming from a Texas background) got his team to the Rose Bowl after three seasons from a similar starting point (2-9 the season before he got there) without seeming to have to resort to White's measures.
And, yes, Stoner dug his own grave. He did great things for the programs but also seemed responsible for an institutional environment that invited investigation and sanctions. The relative detachment of the DIA from the university (which is my perception; I may be wrong) compared with other athletic departments in the BT didn't help us either in terms of financial controls.
(BTW, I loved looking through that 1981 SI issue. There's a great article in there on the father of "Moneyball", Bill James, long before Billy Beane discovered his methods.)
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