Illinois - "Leave us be"


Reading that seems like Minnesota has had it substantially better, on average, than Illinois over the last X years?
 

Reading that seems like Minnesota has had it substantially better, on average, than Illinois over the last X years?

No doubt about it.

At an unrelated event I ran into some folks who were Illinois fans, live near by, and go to every Illinois football game. I honestly didn't know what to say... I just sort of wanted to give them a hug but I wasn't sure if they'd be ok with that so I just sort of stood there and felt bad for them.
 




they at least made a Rose Bowl this century. Wish we could say the same.
 

Reading that seems like Minnesota has had it substantially better, on average, than Illinois over the last X years?

It's been a rough decade for the Illini, but they have been to 2 BCS Bowls (Sugar & Rose) this Century. They have also been to Pasadena 3 times since the Gophers.
 


Yeah ... time goes by fast.

The early 2000’s are already 15-20 years ago. :(
 



I have a bit of a personal soft spot for Illinois. My grandfather was from Chicago and went to Illinois, so I grew up watching Illini & Bears football. Their peaks are higher than the Gophers (Rose Bowl) but their troughs are low and sustained. At least the Gophers seem to bounce back up to mediocrity fairly quickly after hitting rock bottom. I met some Illinois fans tailgating once, really cool guys. They actually envy our sustained mediocrity, despite the Rose Bowl outlier.
 

I got a big kick out of it and felt his pain all at the same time. Well written piece.

"I'm dead inside" would be funny to see on BTN Tailgate.
 

I get where the writer is coming from.

Well written piece.
 




I've thought it odd that Illinois' success in the early 2000s with both a BG10 championship (Turner) and then Rose Bowl appearance (Zook) never translated into elevating that program. Weak institutional support there? I suppose anything relying on State of Illinois funds might be at risk?
 

I've thought it odd that Illinois' success in the early 2000s with both a BG10 championship (Turner) and then Rose Bowl appearance (Zook) never translated into elevating that program. Weak institutional support there? I suppose anything relying on State of Illinois funds might be at risk?

That’s where you might ask yourself “what we’re those guys doing to land those type of players to make those kinds of runs, that wasn’t sustainable”. What can I say, I’m a pessimist when it comes to “under the table” stuff and major college sports recruiting.
 

Great read and thank you for posting Slab. Makes me wish for more parity in college football. I'm a fan of the underdog in sports, and I don't know how you could even the playing field in college football a little more, but it sure would be nice if each fan base could taste success more often.
 

Great read and thank you for posting Slab. Makes me wish for more parity in college football. I'm a fan of the underdog in sports, and I don't know how you could even the playing field in college football a little more, but it sure would be nice if each fan base could taste success more often.

It is a very interesting idea and mental exercise: how much parity is the perfect amount, and what kind of parity.

Absolutely parity would mean every team would finish around 0.500 every year. I don’t think that would be good for short or long term interest in the sport.

Rather I think most people think of parity as simply switching up which team gets to be dominate, year to year.

But it does make me wonder: if Ohio St, Alabama, etc. weren’t so consistently dominant, would overall interest in the sport be smaller or larger?


If the national championship game is suddenly Illinois vs NC State, instead of Ohio St vs Alabama, do more or less people tune in? I think it would be less ...
 

Great read and thank you for posting Slab. Makes me wish for more parity in college football. I'm a fan of the underdog in sports, and I don't know how you could even the playing field in college football a little more, but it sure would be nice if each fan base could taste success more often.

Compared to the 70’s and 80’s, I would say there is a lot more parity. Prior to the limits on scholarships it was hopeless. Then suddenly, teams like Wisconsin, Northwestern won titles which a short period of time prior seemed impossible. I remember in 95 being at the state fair listening in shock when Northwestern beat Notre Dame.
 

The Illini are in a really, really tough spot with football. They have very little buzz in Chicago, and despite being 2.5 hours from one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the Midwest, they're way down the list of places the local kids choose to attend. They have Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and others cherry picking the best recruits. Hell, even PJ has started to develop a Chicagoland pipeline. It's going to take a very special hire (like Fleck was with us) to differentiate U of I enough to get them back to relevance again. I just don't know who that is, or who would want the job.
 

The Lovie hire made no sense, although no one stares at the jumbo Tron with confused look better than him
 

they at least made a Rose Bowl this century. Wish we could say the same.

1984 and 2008 they were in Rose. And 2002 in Sugar.
Watched all B1G teams with exception of Rutgers, Gophers, and Indiana in Rose, Orange, Sugar, or Cotton in my lifetime. Many on this Board probably have seen all with exception of Rutgers.
 

The Lovie hire made no sense, although no one stares at the jumbo Tron with confused look better than him

For a school struggling I thought it was a worthwhile roll of the dice. It just didn't pay off.

It's not like the best candidates were lining up.
 

The Illini are in a really, really tough spot with football. They have very little buzz in Chicago, and despite being 2.5 hours from one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the Midwest, they're way down the list of places the local kids choose to attend. They have Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and others cherry picking the best recruits. Hell, even PJ has started to develop a Chicagoland pipeline. It's going to take a very special hire (like Fleck was with us) to differentiate U of I enough to get them back to relevance again. I just don't know who that is, or who would want the job.

So true they are surrounded by the Power 5 schools you mentioned as well as Northern Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, and Louisville. I have been there a few times to see the Gophers and you are in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden there is stadium pretty much surrounded by corn fields.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Reading that seems like Minnesota has had it substantially better, on average, than Illinois over the last X years?

Minnesota has been far better than Illinois starting with the Mason era. Minnesota is 14-6 against Illinois in the last 20 games.

While Illinois went to the Rose Bowl under Zook, it was kind of a flukey one. They were only a 9-win team and third-place in the Big Ten. They had no business playing USC in that Rose Bowl. The result was a black-eye for the conference. A highly-visible New Years day drubbing that really began most of the National “big ten is over-rated” narrative.

Firing Zook was a mistake. Why hire a guy who fired for being mediocre at Florida if you were not going to be okay with an occasional .500 record?

I think Illinois will end-up getting a great coach. They pay Lovie very well. A lot of proven rebuilders will be interested in that job when it comes open.
 

Here's the pain the Gophers have inflicted on their fan base. I'm not sure our story since 1991 isn't worse?

Conference Record

1991 1 - 7
1992 2 - 6
1993 3 - 5
1994 1 - 7
1995 1 - 7
1996 1 - 7
1997 1 - 7
1998 2 - 6
1999 5 - 3
2000 4 - 4
2001 2 - 6
2002 3 - 5
2003 5 - 3
2004 3 - 5
2005 4 - 4
2006 3 - 5
2007 0 - 8
2008 3 - 5
2009 3 - 5
2010 2 - 6
2011 2 - 6
2012 2 - 6
2013 4 - 4
2014 5 - 3
2015 2 - 6
2016 5 - 4
2017 2 - 7
2018 3 - 6
2009 TBD

That time period includes only one New Year's Day bowl game. Looking back, Mason was pretty good. Looking ahead, this season is special. Let's just enjoy the journey.

Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the poster. No children or animals were hurt in preparation of this post.
 

The Illini are in a really, really tough spot with football. They have very little buzz in Chicago, and despite being 2.5 hours from one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the Midwest, they're way down the list of places the local kids choose to attend. They have Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and others cherry picking the best recruits. Hell, even PJ has started to develop a Chicagoland pipeline. It's going to take a very special hire (like Fleck was with us) to differentiate U of I enough to get them back to relevance again. I just don't know who that is, or who would want the job.

I can tell you who would want it: a MAC coach. And in fact, I think E Michigan or Buffalo head coach’s would be excellent hires.

We’ll see if Illinois has the brains and balls to pull that trigger.
 

I can tell you who would want it: a MAC coach. And in fact, I think E Michigan or Buffalo head coach’s would be excellent hires.

We’ll see if Illinois has the brains and balls to pull that trigger.

They went the MAC route with Tim Beckman from Toledo and he was a colossal failure. Then they tried for the big splash with Lovie and his NFL pedigree and that’s been an even bigger failure than Beckman. I don’t think just hiring a good football coach from the MAC who doesn’t have something unique about his style (like PJ) is ever going to make Illinois anything better than a mid-tier team in the West. That program is begging to find a meaningful point of differentiation they can leverage, and they need the coach to provide it.
 

They went the MAC route with Tim Beckman from Toledo and he was a colossal failure. Then they tried for the big splash with Lovie and his NFL pedigree and that’s been an even bigger failure than Beckman. I don’t think just hiring a good football coach from the MAC who doesn’t have something unique about his style (like PJ) is ever going to make Illinois anything better than a mid-tier team in the West. That program is begging to find a meaningful point of differentiation they can leverage, and they need the coach to provide it.

Beckman went 2-10, 4-8, and then 6-7 with a bowl game in his three seasons. He wasn't fired for football, he was fired because he was abusive towards players.

His assistant at Toledo, Matt Campbell, took over when Beckman left for Illinois and then was later hired at Iowa St. He has them trending upward.

Illinois lost to E Michigan this season, and Buffalo won 10 games last season under Leipold. Also think Sean Lewis at Kent St could be an up-and-comer, played at Wisconsin, and was OC under Dino Babers at Syracuse.


Not to mention Jerry Kill and PJ Fleck, for us.


I'm a firm believe that MAC head coaches are solid bets for lower Big Ten programs. They can of course look at coordinators at current Big Ten teams. Joe Rudolph from Wisconsin would probably be a great hire.
 
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Beckman went 2-10, 4-8, and then 6-7 with a bowl game in his three seasons. He wasn't fired for football, he was fired because he was abusive towards players.

His assistant at Toledo, Matt Campbell, took over when Beckman left for Illinois and then was later hired at Iowa St. He has them trending upward.

Illinois lost to E Michigan this season, and Buffalo won 10 games last season under Leipold. Also think Sean Lewis at Kent St could be an up-and-comer, played at Wisconsin, and was OC under Dino Babers at Syracuse.


Not to mention Jerry Kill and PJ Fleck, for us.


I'm a firm believe that MAC head coaches are solid bets for lower Big Ten programs. They can of course look at coordinators at current Big Ten teams. Joe Rudolph from Wisconsin would probably be a great hire.

Beckman was 4-20 in conference and 12-25 overall. To say that he wasn't fired for football reasons isn't accurate. The player abuse was a big reason for his dismissal, but his record on the field earned him no benefit of the doubt to overcome it.

If I'm AD Josh Whitman I go after Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard and let him build the program. He's going to be a terrific head coach somewhere.
 

I have a soft spot for Illinois. My dad went there as a double major in mathematics and computer science for engineering. It afforded him 40 years of employment with Lockheed Martin. His roommate Dennis Hall was a physics major and went on to become the head of all research at Vanderbilt. After MN teams Illinois was and to a degree still is a team I root for. I enjoyed watching the old basketball teams with players like Kendall Gill and Kenny battle.
 




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