Answering the question “Should Bill Cubit return as Illinois Fighting Illini Football Coach in 2016?” is complicated. Most fans are against it. His record on the field does not warrant it, although he has opportunities directly in front of him to change that.
From both a business and logistical perspective, it makes a ton of sense. The players themselves wholeheartedly support it. Given the current chaos at the University, as well as the ultra-competitive marketplace for coaches this season, you can do worse.
Actually, you just did much much worse.
Giving Bill Cubit a second interim season isn’t all that bad of an idea. You have an Interim Athletic Director and an Interim Chancellor. (Yes, we’ve all seen the memes with the Block I logo representing Interim)
It’s just accepted that “interim” means one year and one year only. Right, just like Phil Collins once wrote a song about seeing a guy drown some other guy and then later Phil saw the murderer at a concert and pointed him out.
Sometimes “facts” and “truths” lie. Maybe Cubit needs a second “interim” season, and then let’s say he wins 7 games, do you remove the “interim” tag and extend his contract?
Cubit used his post game press conference after losing 28-3 to #1 Ohio State this past Saturday as a political stump to campaign for his job.
“Do I think I’m the guy?” he asked.
“No doubt.”
“There is no doubt in my mind.”
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/669717886492110848
“Passion is not the problem (with his mediocre 5-5 Illini team), playing hard is not the problem, if that was the problem then you have a real problem, then you have no shot.”
“If you don’t see the passion in these kids, then somebody’s blind. These kids are playing their butts off. The way they are battling against all odds out there. Give me these kids any day of the week.”
Below is my segment from 1620 the Zone talking Bill Cubit, Illini football and Northwestern football. Have a listen:
Cubit claims his era has been progressive too.
“The one thing that’s changed here, this year, is the increase in attendance; every week. (Bill Cubit then raised his hand and pointed) that’s telling me something, it’s telling me someone out there believes in us as much we do.”
So Cubit’s media skills are in a different stratosphere than Beckman’s. Imagine Beckman, the college football version of Elder Cunningham from “The Book of Mormon,” trying to stump for his gig.
There’s nothing wrong at all with Cubit’s using a presser to aggressively sell himself. Everyone uses whatever platform they have to disseminate their agenda. From some dude with 80 Twitter followers/egg avatar to Rupert Murdoch, everyone does it.
As Teddy Roosevelt famously said, “do what you can with what you have and where you are. ” (that epigram is perfectly apt when evaluating Cubit’s body of work too)
“Those kids will have my back,” Cubit said Saturday.
“I think we’re a breath of fresh air…I challenge you to find someone who cares about the Illini as much as I do.”
With ESPN’s current favorite team (or at least their favorite coach), #1 undefeated defending national champion Ohio State in town, this was the time for Bill Cubit to state his case.
He’s good at being a man of the people, given the times this season he went out to The Quad and sold Illini football tickets to the public.
Watch this video below (at the 11:00 mark) from Monday’s presser in which he discusses it:
Unfortunately, Cubit’s actual ground game lags behind his political ground game. The rushing attack’s exciting explosion at Purdue was an aberrant anomaly. Illinois came into that game dead last in the Big Ten is rushing, and they averaged just 0.8 yards per carry versus Ohio State, “accumulating” just 20 yards. That’s not acceptable for a candidate campaigning on a platform of offense.
Cubit’s 2014 offensive output was worse than 2013, his first season leading the Illini offense. With just two games left in 2015, this year’s offense is decisively worse than last year’s. Quarterback Wes Lunt has not progressed.
Still, Illini team captain Teddy Karras believes the school’s interim athletic director Paul Kowalczyk should remove Cubit’s interim tag. He believes that should be the first order of business. Karras’ opinion carries a ton of weight with the team, as he’s in a leadership position.
However, he was also the most vocal player in calling out Simon Cvijanovic, who was later validated. Cvijanovic was the initial whistle-blower that prompted an investigation that inevitably forced UI to eventually “puke out” Tim Beckman and later Mike Thomas. Both were individuals that the University needed to “puke out” in order to feel better too.
It goes without saying, but of course the players are going to publicly support Cubit. What else can they do?
Many of them publicly supported Beckman too, a coach so poor that he makes Vinny Del Negro look like Sir Alex Ferguson.
Anybody is an upgrade from Beckman.
Thomas’ decision to hire him is to Illini football what the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq was to American foreign policy. Now we’re stuck in a quagmire with many unknown knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns in the UI Athletic Department.
Rumsfeldian analysis aside, Bill Cubit inherited a total fiasco, and he’s played the whole season sans the team’s best player in Mikey Dudek. Injuries and Beckman’s recruiting failures combined to leave him severely depleted at the offensive skill positions.
Illinois has also lost to some very good teams too. Their five defeats are to opponents with a combined 44-6 record.
Priority number one is finding the right Athletic Director. Then you can move on to finding the right football coach. Karras might be right though about keeping Cubit around. He’s a much more attractive candidate than this credentials indicate to 1.) organizational chaos above his paygrade and 2.) a very high seller’s market for coaches.
On the flip side, Cubit hasn’t impressed enough to have earned the right to stay. Perhaps it’s perfectly coincidental that Illinois travels to Minnesota this week. The Gophers just removed the interim tag from their now Head Coach Tracy Claeys last week and gave him a three year extension.
The Illini travel to the Twin Cities on Saturday for a de facto Quick Lane Bowl play-in game. Let’s see how much these players love their interim coach. Is it enough to pull off the 4 1/2 point upset?
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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