Iceland12
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Some familiar points to Gopher fans.
"Legend Dick Butkus, the first member of the school’s athletics Hall of Fame, will be at Saturday’s game.
“We’ve got to get that pride back and let the recruits know you’re going to, quite frankly, a helluva school with a great history in athletics,” Butkus said. “OK, so we were down a little bit. But we can get it back up there if we all get at it. I think we’re going to see a big difference coming back here. It rightly should be. Look back in history. Some great people came here, starting with (George) Halas and Big Red (Grange). We’ve got to renew all that and get people back on the program.”
It is a different situation now than when Butkus joined the Illini in the early 1960s.
“You’ve got to have the facilities,” Butkus said. “We’ve got to be able to match the Oregons and the Ohio States and the Michigans. In a couple, three years, we’ll have that. We’ll be getting the players here.”
Butkus said he thinks Lovie Smith is the right guy for the job.
“I thought it was a good move,” Butkus said. “Let’s face the facts. A lot of these kids have dreams like I did when I came to school here, that I wanted to play pro football. The better way to do it is to play for a coach that’s been in the pro game.
“You’ve got two sides to it. You’ve got (Jim) Harbaugh, who acts like a kid with the kids. But then you also have Lovie, who is very quiet, but he’s just straight. He tells you like it is. If I was being recruited by them now, I really don’t think it would be that big of a decision.”
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...6-10-28/final-word-butkus-weighs-program.html
"Legend Dick Butkus, the first member of the school’s athletics Hall of Fame, will be at Saturday’s game.
“We’ve got to get that pride back and let the recruits know you’re going to, quite frankly, a helluva school with a great history in athletics,” Butkus said. “OK, so we were down a little bit. But we can get it back up there if we all get at it. I think we’re going to see a big difference coming back here. It rightly should be. Look back in history. Some great people came here, starting with (George) Halas and Big Red (Grange). We’ve got to renew all that and get people back on the program.”
It is a different situation now than when Butkus joined the Illini in the early 1960s.
“You’ve got to have the facilities,” Butkus said. “We’ve got to be able to match the Oregons and the Ohio States and the Michigans. In a couple, three years, we’ll have that. We’ll be getting the players here.”
Butkus said he thinks Lovie Smith is the right guy for the job.
“I thought it was a good move,” Butkus said. “Let’s face the facts. A lot of these kids have dreams like I did when I came to school here, that I wanted to play pro football. The better way to do it is to play for a coach that’s been in the pro game.
“You’ve got two sides to it. You’ve got (Jim) Harbaugh, who acts like a kid with the kids. But then you also have Lovie, who is very quiet, but he’s just straight. He tells you like it is. If I was being recruited by them now, I really don’t think it would be that big of a decision.”
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...6-10-28/final-word-butkus-weighs-program.html