This is an absolutely critical time for Illini football.
Not just Illini football, but Illini basketball and Illini sports in general.
The top priority is making the correct Athletic Director hire. Yes, finding the right man to be Illini football coach is important, and don’t be too shocked if we’re talking about a basketball coaching search in the not too distant future, but the A.D. decision supersedes both.
If the University gets it right with these next couple of hires, then UI athletics could, in a few years, get right back to where it was a decade ago. Illini football played in the 2007 Rose Bowl, basketball in the 2005 National Title game.
Get this decision wrong, and University of Illinois athletics becomes DePaul; completely invisible both locally and nationally.
(related: the case for and against retaining Cubit)
DePaul was once a sort of “America’s Team” for college basketball, having all their games nationally televised in the 1980s, a time when very few programs were even on local television. The Blue Demons were once a NCAA Tournament fixture, selling out a 18,500 seat arena for every home game.
Today, they’re a program that draws about 2-3,000 per game. DPU receives little to no media coverage no matter what they do: break ground on a new downtown arena, fire their coach, mysteriously kick the second leading scorer in program history out of school without giving a reason.
DePaul’s base is so disengaged that the media is completely justified in ignoring them. Apathy is bad, but invisibility is much worse.
Illini football and Illini basketball are both as irrelevant as they’ve been since the 1970s. Hence, the UI base is the most disengaged and apathetic that it’s ever been in this generation.
The decision to hire Tim Beckman as Head Coach in 2012 is easily the most disastrous single event in the past 50 years of Illini football.
The decision to hire Mike Thomas is in the same ballpark, just sub the phrase Illini football with University of Illinois athletics.
Thomas’ decision to hire John Groce was a big swing and miss too.
Illini hoops entered the season having missed back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1991-92, and the only reason they missed out beck then was because the program was on probation. Groce has begun this season 1-3, the first time that’s happened since 1965. He already has losses to North Florida and Chattanooga on his 2015-16 resume and we haven’t even reached December yet.
Thomas was a total catastrophe regarding coaching hires, and the red flags were there from the beginning. However, like the famous, oft-quoted saying about that Chinese symbol crisis equals opportunity.
ESPN Analyst Kirk Herbstreit sat down with us at The Drake Hotel this past Tuesday afternoon. The ESPN Analyst was in town to reveal the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings.
Herbstreit spoke of where Illinois has been, and what it once was:
“When I grew up in the ’80s, and when I played in the ’90s, Illinois was legit. Mike White had ’em rolling, When we were in school Illinois was a good program, and they’ve kind of fallen off in recent years.”
He also spoke of where Illini football currently is.
“Go get somebody who’s going to create some positive energy, it’s been flat.”
“It’s been dead for a long time, I’ve really been disappointed in Illinois. They’re a non-factor right now, they need to figure things out and become relevant again.”
Herbstreit also spoke of where Illini football could go, if they make the right hire.
“Illinois needs to get back to owning Chicago, getting into the Midwest, getting into Ohio. If you can get a guy who can do that, I feel like Illinois is a sleeping giant, personally. “
In order to get there, Illinois first needs a competent, engaged A.D. It must be someone with ties to the school. That is non-negotiable at this point. All reports indicate that Illinois is indeed prioritizing candidates with Illini ties currently.
Thomas was the master when it came to fund-raising and getting facility upgrades. You’ll see that magic in the new Assembly Hall/State Farm Center renovations next month. He also upgraded Cincinnati from a football mid-major at best to a program that’s a legitimate candidate to someday soon potentially join the Big 12.
If you’re a donor or a booster, then Mike Thomas has fantastic social skills. He’s “the art of the deal,” when it comes to the business side of college athletics. Look at what he accomplished with State Farm with Nike.
However, if you’re a top tier head coaching candidate, then unfortunately, Thomas’ social skills are extremely lacking.
It’s a very poorly kept secret that Thomas’ personality turned off many of Illinois’ initial targets for the football and basketball head coaching positions. That’s how UI ended up with Beckman and Groce, two guys who out-kicked their coverage in these gigs.
Thomas was great with dollars and cents, but very much lacking in coaching search common sense. The Chicago Tribune‘s Teddy Greenstein wrote an excellent column about who Thomas is, and what his strengths and weaknesses were at Illinois. It’s an insightful piece, especially so for a Northwestern beat guy who doesn’t cover Illinois regularly.
Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has emerged as viable candidate for the A.D. position, along with Illini Golf Coach Mike Small, but perhaps the best answer is found in Mark Tupper’s op-ed for the Decatur Herald-Review.
Tupper’s column, in which he openly stumps for Larry Lubin, Lou Henson’s very first recruit and an extremely successful business man, is the best work out there regarding the A.D. search. Greenstein’s piece is probably the second best.
Other than that, I haven’t seen anything else worth reading on the topic.
Which completely reinforces what Herbstreit was saying about current Illini football irrelevance.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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