Dog Days Of Summer

     Now that we are beyond the July 4th holiday, we have hit the midway point of the summer season, and while some of us are still focused on baseball, others have begun to explore other sports, namely football and basketball.  July also means there will be an Olympiad this year, and this week I had the distinct pleasure to talk with former University of Illinois track star and Jamaican Olympic superstar Andrew Riley (right).  Riley will compete in the 110 meter hurdles for his native country, something he says "is a very great honor".  Riley is very humble, and owes a lot of his success to his coaches, Mike Turk on the men's side, and former Olympian Tonja Buford-Bailey, the women's coach,  who has been helping him with the hurdles for the past couple of years.  It was actually Jim Angel who recruited Andrew to Illinois, after a previous athlete in Jamaica told him about Riley and introduced him to Angel, the stage was set for him to come to Champaign and compete in the Big Ten.  Jamaica is probably more known for their world-class sprinter Usain Bolt, but it will be Riley that will be competing in the hurdles for the small nation.  "To represent my country means a lot to me, and it is always an honor to compete for your home nation, your birthplace", Riley proudly admitted.  Riley has continued training at the University of Illinois track, and will continue to do so until he leaves for training camp in a week.  With the opening ceremonies about two weeks away in London, Riley feels he is ready, but still would like to get the most out of the next couple of weeks. 


     Riley is not the only one headed to London that has Illinois ties.  Former Illini basketball standout Deron Williams was named this past weekend to the USA basketball squad, while Robert Archibald, another former Illinois hoops star, will compete for Great Britian's basketball team.  The sense of pride of the Orange and Blue being represented across the pond cannot be measured, and if these athletes are fortunate enough to win some medals, that will make the achievement that much more gratifying.

     New Illinois basketball coach John Groce once again has a complete basketball staff, and judging from the reaction of the latest hire, it seems that it is a match made in heaven.  When Isaac Chew was hired two months ago to be the Chicago contact in recruiting, all signs pointed to Groce making a slam dunk hire.  However, Buzz Williams came in and made Chew an offer that he couldn't refuse, and all of a sudden, there was another opening.  Enter Paris Parham, who spent the last five years at Illinois State as a part of Tim Jankovic's staff in Normal.  But when Jankovic was offered a coach-in-waiting position on Larry Brown's staff at SMU, that left a lot of uncertainty with Parham.  I also had the opportunity to speak with Parham this past week, and it appeared that he wanted the job all along, even when Chew was hired.  Parham also has strong Chicago ties, having played in the Public League, so he is a natural fit for the Illini to get their foot back into the Chicago area.  "I would have crawled on my hands and knees backward to get to Champaign", Parham noted when talking about his feeling for the job when it was offered to him.  "Initially, I thought I would have been on the staff with Jamaal (Walker), and luckily someone moved out, and I moved in, and here I am", Parham added.  So, it sounds like ultimately the right guy ended up being hired, although it will be a few months until we can actually see it working.

     We are now just about one month from the start of Camp Rantoul and the beginning of the Tim Beckman era at Illinois.  Big Ten Football media days will take place at the end of the month in Chicago, and I am sure that most of the talk up at the Hyatt Regency at McCormick Place will center around the scandal involving Penn State.  New coach Bill O'Brien certainly has an unenviable situation on his hands in State College, and this story, although exposed, is far from over.  Stay tuned for complete coverage from media days, as well as  a complete wrap-up of the Illini athletes in the Summer Olympics in London.  As for now, enjoy the rest of the summer, because fall will be here before you know it!

Spring Sports Wrap

It's been quite a while since I have updated this blog, but it has been far from boring over the past couple of months.  The Illini baseball and softball teams both completed disappointing seasons, with the women finishing 27-26 overall and ending the conference season with a 10-14 record.  Needless to say, the Illini softball team didn't qualify for the NCAA Tournament, this year being one of those rare years where that was never really in question.  As for Dan Hartleb's baseball team, they made things far more interesting, defeating Minnesota 2 out of the final 3 games, but missing the Big Ten Tournament by virtue of a tie-breaker, in which they tied both Ohio State and Minnesota with identical 11-13 records.  The Buckeyes earned the #6 seed in the tourney, since they had a better common opponent record than the Illini and Gophers.  The Illini finished the season with a 28-25 record, but battled right to the end, almost pulling off the impossible.

The main news is coming from the men's basketball program, and the news just keeps getting more complex as each day passes.  First of all, earlier this week, rumors began to surface that new assistant coach Isaac Chew was leaving his job under John Groce and heading to Marquette to be reunited with Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams, whom he has had a working relationship before.  Chew, who was hired by Groce to be his top assistant in Champaign, left Missouri to take the Illini job.  Now, apparently he is on the move once again, this time heading up to Milwaukee.  Then, earlier in the day on Wednesday, it was revealed that Illini recruit Jalen James has decommitted from Groce, and will re-open his recruitment.  The move by James isn't surprising, given the fact that his game has been declining over the past few months.  However, the Chew news came as a surprise to many, but apparently he is more than doubling his salary by moving to Marquette, and this day and age, money talks.  I wish both of them well in their new endeavors.

Now that we are in full summer vacation mode, it is time to begin thinking about the fall and Illini football.  New coach Tim Beckman still has all of his staff intact, and is beginning to bring some recruits into the fold in Champaign,  Even though it seems like a long way off, September 1st will be here before you know it, and Memorial Stadium will be rocking when Western Michigan comes to open the season against the Illini.  I will try and update this blog monthly during the summer, and then get back to a more regular schedule once the Illini begin training camp.  Have a good summer, everyone!

Moving Forward

Been a while, I know, so I'll get right to it this week. By now, unless you've been living under a rock, you are aware of the numerous coaching changes to infiltrate the various Fighting Illini programs over the past few months. New athletic director Mike Thomas has been a busy man since he arrived in Champaign. putting his stamp on the program by bringing in new coaches for three of the main sports at the university.

Tim Beckman was hired in December to replace Ron Zook, who was fired one day after the Illini lost their final regular season game at Minnesota. More on Beckman will follow later in this blog.

Jolette Law was let go just one day after her Illini squad lost in the Big Ten Tournament, and in her place, Thomas seemed to hit a home run by hiring Matt Bollant, who was the coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay. All Bollant did was lead the Phoenix to an 85-5 Horizon League Conference mark in the last five years. Sure, this is the Big Ten and not the Horizon League, but Bollant has a history of beating Big Ten teams, and if he does anything remotely close to what he did at UW-GB, then Illini fans will at long last see the drought of going to the NCAA Tournament for the women's team come to an end.

Bruce Weber was fired just one day after the Illini were defeated by Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament (does anyone see a trend here?), finally ending the speculation of the inevitable happening. Weber seemed to be a defeated man during the last few weeks of the season, and even he sensed that this would be happening. Thomas once again went to the Mid-American Conference to nab his new coach, getting John Groce from Ohio University. Groce is an up and coming coach that, like Beckman, has a lot of energy and seems to be a good fit as the Illini team begins to rebuild. It didn't take long for Weber to find a new job, as he was hired by Kansas State to fill their vacancy after Frank Martin left for the South Carolina job. Groce will have a size issue on his hands, as sophomore Meyers Leonard declared for the NBA, and will be leaving school once the semester is over. No matter if you think that Leonard is ready for the next level or not, he has some good reasons for making the decision. He lost his dad at an early age, and his mom is not in the best of health. Plus, his older brother just returned from Afghanistan. Leonard will move to Long Island with his mother to begin training for the upcoming draft. With the exception of Michael Orris, who was granted a release of his scholarship, the other commitment in the class, Jalen James, seems like he is still coming. Everyone else should be back as well, but during a coaching change, you never know about transfers, especially now since Jerrance Howard, a favorite among the current players, will not return. Groce made that announcement on Thursday, and has his coaching staff pretty much in tact. Dustin Ford and Jamall Walker will join Isaac Chew on Groce's first staff at Illinois.

Beckman's first Illinois Spring game will be on Saturday, and judging by his enthusiasm over the past few weeks, the team is as ready as they will be. Since media are not allowed at practice but just a couple different times, we have no idea what will happen during the game. One thing that Beckman did stress was that they would not show everything in their arsenal, since the game will be televised and the Illini's first opponent, Western Michigan, will be able to decipher some of their plays otherwise. Since the Broncos are in the same conference as Beckman's old team, Toledo, they may already have an idea of some of his tendencies. The Illini conducted a draft to construct teams, with the winners getting steak, and the losers getting "beans and weenies", according to Beckman. The front runner for quarterback still will be Nathan Scheelhaase, although Reilly O'Toole and Miles Osei will also see action at the position.

Believe it or not, there are other sports going on besides the ones that involve coaching changes.

The Illini baseball and softball teams have been in action for well over a month, but the results have been less than favorable. The baseball team is off to an 18-14 start, including a 3-4 conference mark. They are on the road this weekend at Purdue.

The women's softball team is not doing as well as the baseball team, currently with a 17-18 record, which includes a 2-7 Big Ten mark. The Illini will host Wisconsin this weekend at Eichelberger Field in hopes of climbing over the .500 mark.

Decisions.....Decisions.....Indecision?

I always knew that coaching searches involved quite a bit of stress, but nothing compares to the one that University of Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas is putting forth. This search keeps getting more and more wacky by the day, and it appears just when there is movement and a possible decision has been made, a snag develops and nothing is done. Case in point with the way the past week has gone regarding the search.

First of all, the main choice of Thomas, Shaka Smart, turned down the offer to come to Champaign, instead opting to stay at Virginia Commonwealth, where he is comfortable and building quite a history. The next choice on the list, Butler's Brad Stevens, also turned down the Illini to remain the Bulldogs' coach. There was some confusion as to whether or not an offer was actually made to Stevens, but apparently he was in fact contacted and decided that where he was currently was good enough for him. You really cannot blame these coaches for wanting to stay put, especially since the U of I is undergoing some changes at the top of the administration, which is causing a lot of undue stress to many at the campus.

Which leads us to the current week and the three-ring circus that this has become. Once Smart and Stevens were out of the picture, Thomas set his sights on Ohio University coach John Groce, who just led the Bobcats to a Sweet Sixteen berth in the NCAA Tournament and came within an eyelash of knocking North Carolina to advance to the Elite 8 (the Tar Heels ended up winning in overtime). Groce was an assistant at Ohio State under Thad Matta and was responsible for recruiting Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook to Columbus. With all of the social media avenues out there today, things really can take on a life of its own, and this search certainly has fallen into that category. There was even talk of a press conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to announce Groce as the new Illini coach, but the Illinois Sports Information office quickly put that rumor to rest when it was revealed that there was no agreement in place after all. Apparently, one of the Illinois trustees is not backing the hire on a matter of racial issues. This dates back to when Tim Beckman was hired as football coach and the same trustee and another one, both of whom are African-American, wanted a minority candidate hired.

So, we wait yet another day for news of an imminent hire of a basketball coach at the University of Illlinois. It still appears that the new coach will be John Groce, but when that is officially announced is still anybody's guess at this point.

Stay tuned.

Transition Phase

We are now a little over a week since the Fighting Illini bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament, and as a result, Bruce Weber getting fired from the head coaching duties, thus completing AD Mike Thomas' "trifecta" of removing the football coach, the women's basketball coach, and the men's coach all in the same season. Actually, it was only 104 days since Thomas took the job that all of this has happened. Thomas has hired a search firm to assist in the quest for Weber's successor. I'm sure you have all heard of the top candidates rumored to be coming to Champaign, but I thought I would break each one of them down and explain why each would either be a good fit or not.

The top name on everyone's list it seems is current Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart, who just bowed out of the NCAA Tournament by losing to Indiana in the third round. Smart has been the frontrunner for pretty much everyone, given his coaching style and his young age. He would be the perfect fit in Champaign, but it remains to be seen if he is interested in leaving VCU for greener pastures and more money to boot. There have been rumors abound that suggest that Smart is interested in taking the job, to those that simply state that he is not wanting to leave VCU, since he has it pretty good out there in Richmond, Virginia.

If Smart doesn't end up taking the job, there are other candidates that would be more than suitable. The first person that comes to mind is current Alabama coach Anthony Grant. Grant fits a couple of key characteristics in he is a minority hire, and also that he has inroads into the city of Chicago. Grant wouldn't be the flashy hire like Smart would be, but he would definitely be more than servicable. Another person that has been mentioned more than once is current Marquette coach Buzz Williams. Since Marquette is still playing in the NCAA Tournament, Thomas cannot and probably will not speak to him until his team is done, and Williams would certainly be a unique personality to replace Weber as coach. Still another person that has been receiving considerable mention for the head coaching position is Duke assistant Chris Collins. Collins, the son of former NBA star Doug Collins, is from Chicago, so he would have the experience needed to recruit that area. Perhaps the main stumbling block for Collins would be his lack of head coaching experience. According to the job description that was posted last week detailing the job, Thomas is looking for someone with previous head coaching experience, something that Collins lacks. It remains to be seen which direction Thomas will go in when it comes to naming a coach, but it sounds like it is Shaka Smart's to turn down. Will Shaka make the Smart move? Only one person probably knows the answer to that question, and he isn't saying anything at the moment.

Another One Bites The Dust

Those familiar with the sport of horse racing have undoubtedly heard of the term "trifecta". The University of Illinois is about to pull a trifecta that I don't think has ever been done before, and that is get rid of the three main head coaches in one calendar year. First of all, back in November, Ron Zook was let go after a freefall that saw the football team go 6-6 after starting the season 6-0. At the time of the perfect start, nobody envisioned that the season would end like it did, much less costing Zook his job. Next, last Friday, new athletic director Mike Thomas announced that women's basketball coach Jolette Law would not be retained following an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament, which followed yet another subpar season. During her 5 year tenure at Illinois, Law compiled a dismal 69-93 record, and finished the 2011-12 campaign a very disappointing 11-19, which included the first round loss to Michigan. Law could never really get it going in Champaign, and perhaps her finest moment was landing Destiny Williams as a recruit, but that was very short lived, as she played all of one game before leaving the program and transferring to Baylor, where she had a stellar career.

So, in keeping with the trifecta theme, the fate of men's basketball coach Bruce Weber hangs in the balance, due to his team doing a free fall of their own, starting the season off 15-3, but stumbling down the stretch, finishing the regular season 17-14 and just 6-12 in the Big Ten. This has been a painful season to endure for Weber's group, and covering it on a weekly basis has certainly been no picnic. I remember saying about a year ago that the team's spirit was broken by Jereme Richmond, who ended up leaving school after just one season, and that wasn't even a complete campaign. But, that pales in comparison to what they have done this season. The 2011-12 version of the Illini have lacked heart and desire in many of their games recently, and the 27 point loss at Nebraska a couple of weeks ago was the final straw. All signs are pointing to Weber being fired at season's end, whenever that will be. Thomas has been quoted on several occasions saying that he will evaluate all coaches at the end of the season, and will take into account the entire body of work as it relates over the last few seasons. It is apparent that this Illini team is broken and in dire need of a change at the top, and it is hoped that the current team can put it together and make one last attempt at salvaging a season that is lost in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. By virtue of the Illini's collapse, they earned (if you want to call it that) the #9 seed, and will play Iowa, who is the #8 seed on Thursday morning (10:30 am, BTN). This is actually a decent scenario for the Illini to actually win a game in the tournament and live to see another day, since the Hawkeyes are the only team that they have beaten during this long string of losing. Since the Big Ten Tournament is the only possible chance that the Illini have of making the NCAA Tournament, they will need to pull a major miracle, winning 4 games in 4 days. Since this team has had problems winning a single game over the past 2 plus weeks, that seems a foregone conclusion at this point. Most likely they will be playing in the NIT, and due to scheduling conflicts, will not be able to host a first or a third round game, provided they even get that far. The spirit of the team has been severely damaged, and many are just wanting this season to be over, and the tenure of Weber to be history as well. The only remaining question now is when that will happen.

So, how did we get to this point? The answer to that question can be summarized by two words: Ron Guenther. After all, it was Guenther that gave all three of these coaches extensions on contracts that should not have been extended in the first place. Now, the University of Illinois is faced with yet another buyout of Law's contract, which will total $620,000 over the final two years of the contract. To further this, Weber's buyout has been rumored to be well over $3 million, and this doesn't include buying out the assistant coaches and their contracts. Plus, you have to also shell out money for new coaches in both cases as well. The women's hire won't be nearly as much as hiring a new men's coach, but it still will require an increase nonetheless. Mike Thomas has had quite a few months on the job, and completing the "trifecta" will be his finest work yet.

I feel I need to end this week's installment of the blog with a little good news, and that comes from the wrestling team and Mario Gonzalez, who won the Big Ten title in the 197 lb. weight class. Gonzalez was the first grappler in the 197 lb. class to win a title for the Illini since Pat Quirk accomplished the feat back in 2001. Next up for Gonzalez, the NCAA's in St. Louis beginning on March 15. Joining Gonzalez in the Gateway City will be Jesse Delgado (125), B. J. Futrell (133), Conrad Polz (165), Tony Dallago (184), Jordan Blanton (174) and Daryl Thomas (141).

That's it for this week as we get ready for March Madness. Let the madness begin!

And, so the freefall continues. It has now been a week since the now infamous Bruce Weber press conference, where he essentially let everything out about his feelings, calling out a few of the players on the Illini team in the process. During that span, the Illini dropped a home game to Purdue (the game that brought on Weber's rant), got blown out at Nebraska by 23 points, and then went to Ohio State and promptly got drilled on national television. These are certainly not good days around the Illinois basketball program, and there is plenty of blame to go around. You have to blame Weber for a lot of this, throwing his players under the bus with those comments, and emotions coming to the forefront as a result. During Saturday's loss at Nebraska, center Meyers Leonard was shown on camera crying on the bench, being consoled by freshman Myke Henry and assistant coach Wayne McClain. You could also blame the players, because after all, they are the ones out on the floor giving the effort, or in the case of the past couple of weeks, not giving the effort. You see guys like Leonard, whom the NBA scouts have deemed a mid to late first round draft pick, trying out there, but the mental composure of Leonard the other night may be a concern to people wanting him to succeed at the next level. After all, these are 19-22 year old kids that we are talking about. Weber has said before that one of the problems is that Tracy Abrams has become the leader, and he is a freshman. A FRESHMAN! Nobody seems to want to step up in the locker room and take ownership of this current downfall, but Abrams has. That takes guts. Another person that you can place the blame on is former athletic director Ron Guenther. After all, it was Guenther who extended these contracts of not only Weber, but former football coach Ron Zook, as well as women's basketball coach Jolette Law. You could very well see a scenario at the end of the basketball season where the football coach, and both the men's and women's basketball coaches will be fired in the same calendar year. I am not sure that there is another instance of this anywhere in recent memory in Division I, maybe not ever. The buyouts alone for these three coaches are staggering, with Zook's totaling $2.6 million for the remainder of his contract, Weber's will be somewhere around $3.5 million, if he is indeed let go at the end of the season, and Law's is not as much, at around $310,000. You just look at those figures and wonder just what Guenther was thinking about when he made those deals.

A little over a month ago, the Illini were riding high, on top of the conference standings, and sporting a 15-3 overall record after just defeating Ohio State, who was ranked in the top 10 at the time. Since that time, the Illini have gone just 1-9, the only win coming against Michigan State, who ironically, was also a top 10 team when the Illini beat them. Now, the Illini are 16-12 overall, and near the bottom of the Big Ten at 5-10. Coming into this season, it was unfathomable to think that the basketball team could trump the disastrous slide that the football team achieved, but it has happened. Playing their way off the proverbial NCAA "bubble", and now fighting for a NIT bid, the "Slidin' Illini" have 3 games left in the regular season to salvage something before the Big Ten Tournament. Believe it or not, if the Illini win their last 2 games at home, and somehow, some way, find their game at Wisconsin in the final game of the season, they will STILL have an outside chance to make the Big Dance. This scenario is very unlikely given the recent struggles of this team, but if the players decide to finally put it together, anything is possible. The first chance comes on Sunday when Iowa comes to the Assembly Hall (5:00 pm, BTN). I'm not saying that this is even a possibility, it is just food for thought. It is hard to fathom a team that lost as bad as they did at Nebraska even having a remote chance to redeem themselves, but first things first, they need to beat Iowa. However, it is probably too late for Weber, regardless.

The Illini women's basketball team wraps up the regular season this weekend when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin to battle the Badgers. Even though their record is not good (11-17 overall, 5-10 in the Big Ten), they have at least been respectable recently, unlike their male counterparts. Given the past history for the women, they tend to play their best basketball at the end of the season, and with their Big Ten Tournament next weekend at Bankers' Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, they could make some noise. However, it is probably too late for Law, as the record has not indicated that she should stay around. Athletic Director Mike Thomas has repeatedly stated that he will evaluate all coaches at the end of the season and look at "the full body of work", and the lack of NCAA Tournament appearances may be all he needs to see. Hmmm. Sounds like a familiar trend to me.

Finally, even though it feels like football weather outside, Tim Beckman won't have his team take the field for nearly 5 months, but ticket prices for the upcoming season were announced on Wednesday, and the prices have actually come down since last season. Sideline season seats average about $33 per ticket, while single-game tickets for Big Ten games will be $50 (non-conference games are half of that at $25). Seems like the athletic department wants fans to come out to games, and are afraid that a lackluster home schedule will prevent them from doing so. Spring practices begin in March, so it is not that far off.