The Illini football fanbase is pretty much split evenly when it comes to what they’d rather have: a coaching change, or a bowl berth. You already know where I stand. I’ll let you make up your mind, by voting in the poll here. I’ve watched the poll results since Saturday, and they swing 45-55% both ways. Meaning Illini football fans are limbo right now. A win on Saturday will please as many as it will disappoint.
Beyond a bowl berth and a possible regime change in the making, the real story surrounding Illini football is actually apathy. The current lack of interest in the program, something I’ve been spotlighting since August, is now the lead story in the “A block” of Illini football coverage. (If they’re even in the “A block” anymore, more on this here)
You see the picture above that I took of the student section at the start of the Texas State game. Now look at the student section at kickoff versus Penn State, and the subsequent picture, of the general grandstand:
Seriously Univ. of Illinois students? You gotta do better. This is the crowd at kickoff. #illini #B1G pic.twitter.com/8GHQuGaQ6e
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 22, 2014
Kickoff crowd #PSU vs #Illini “people vote with their feet” pic.twitter.com/b8FA0xiiAI
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 22, 2014
Those pictures really say it all, don’t they? Everyone tried to blame this on Thanksgiving break, but how come the student section was the basketball game held 16 hours prior to the football game was filled; and rocking. How come the basketball arena was about 65-75% full while the football stadium was 75-85% empty? Football benefitted from a clear, 53 degree day while fans had to brave sub-freezing temperatures to reach the basketball arena. The football team played the biggest brand name on their home schedule, Penn State; the third or fourth biggest traditional power in the conference. The basketball team’s opponent was low-major Austin Peay. But don’t take my word for it, look at the graphic from the Champaign News-Gazette which discusses the bowl game versus coaching search dichotomy:
Neat little Tim Beckman #Illini graphic in the Champaign @news_gazette pic.twitter.com/pg9QZaubOy
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 22, 2014
The blurb ends with “but will anyone care?”
That’s the real question. Because they certainly don’t at this current time.
If you clicked on this, and made it all the way down to the end of this page, then you obviously you do care a lot so here are five leading Illini football head coaching candidates.
Not satisfied? Here are five sleeper Illini football head coaching candidates.
Preview and prediction of Saturday’s game here.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2