Groce to Illinois

[Da Coach]

Illinois now in damage-control mode-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/illini/x760604729/Illini-still-focused-on-Groce

What I don't understand is how one single member of the Board of Trustees can hold an entire university hostage like this. Each board member should have no more power than any other member.

Here is how silly this has gotten. According to the above article by John Supinie-

James Montgomery, one of two trustees who voted against the hiring of football coach Tim Beckman over the lack of minority hiring in football and men??™s basketball, suggested to a wire service for the school consider President Barack Obama??™s brother-in-law, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who is 27-45 in the Pac-12 in four seasons.

???I just became concerned that they were now getting into a second tier,??? Montgomery told The Associated Press. ???I sent a communication to the president and the chairman of the trustee board, Christopher Kennedy, giving them the resume of a gentleman from Oregon State University.???

The AP story said Montgomery also suggested that former Chicago Bulls and New Mexico State and Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus, once considered a potential candidate for the job, would be worth a look.

So this board member is concerned that Illinois is "now getting into a second tier" of coaches? Yet he is suggesting that they hire Craig Robinson, who's record in the Pac-12 is 27-45! And he has coached his Oregon State team to the 9th seed in an awful conference the last 2 years. Robinson's average RPI in his 4 years at Oregon State is 173, and he's never been better than 132!

And I won't even waste energy making fun of his other suggestion, that Illinois consider Reggie Theus. What a joke! His guys are somewhere in the 9th or 10th tiers.

[Old Coach]

Yep. This 80 year old man is holding the entire process hostage. Ridiculous....

[lefty]

Illinois now in damage-control mode-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/illini/x760604729/Illini-still-focused-on-Groce

What I don't understand is how one single member of the Board of Trustees can hold an entire university hostage like this. Each board member should have no more power than any other member.

Here is how silly this has gotten. According to the above article by John Supinie-

James Montgomery, one of two trustees who voted against the hiring of football coach Tim Beckman over the lack of minority hiring in football and men??™s basketball, suggested to a wire service for the school consider President Barack Obama??™s brother-in-law, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who is 27-45 in the Pac-12 in four seasons.

???I just became concerned that they were now getting into a second tier,??? Montgomery told The Associated Press. ???I sent a communication to the president and the chairman of the trustee board, Christopher Kennedy, giving them the resume of a gentleman from Oregon State University.???

The AP story said Montgomery also suggested that former Chicago Bulls and New Mexico State and Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus, once considered a potential candidate for the job, would be worth a look.

So this board member is concerned that Illinois is "now getting into a second tier" of coaches? Yet he is suggesting that they hire Craig Robinson, who's record in the Pac-12 is 27-45! And he has coached his Oregon State team to the 9th seed in an awful conference the last 2 years. Robinson's average RPI in his 4 years at Oregon State is 173, and he's never been better than 132!

And I won't even waste energy making fun of his other suggestion, that Illinois consider Reggie Theus. What a joke! His guys are somewhere in the 9th or 10th tiers.

I would much rather have Theus than robinson if you HAD to make a choice....

aaahh...what happened to the days when the AD was able to make a decision

[tornado]

the guy is gonna suggest Howard Moore next

[Bravesfan]

Illinois now in damage-control mode-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/illini/x760604729/Illini-still-focused-on-Groce

What I don't understand is how one single member of the Board of Trustees can hold an entire university hostage like this. Each board member should have no more power than any other member.

Here is how silly this has gotten. According to the above article by John Supinie-

James Montgomery, one of two trustees who voted against the hiring of football coach Tim Beckman over the lack of minority hiring in football and men??™s basketball, suggested to a wire service for the school consider President Barack Obama??™s brother-in-law, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who is 27-45 in the Pac-12 in four seasons.

???I just became concerned that they were now getting into a second tier,??? Montgomery told The Associated Press. ???I sent a communication to the president and the chairman of the trustee board, Christopher Kennedy, giving them the resume of a gentleman from Oregon State University.???

The AP story said Montgomery also suggested that former Chicago Bulls and New Mexico State and Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus, once considered a potential candidate for the job, would be worth a look.

So this board member is concerned that Illinois is "now getting into a second tier" of coaches? Yet he is suggesting that they hire Craig Robinson, who's record in the Pac-12 is 27-45! And he has coached his Oregon State team to the 9th seed in an awful conference the last 2 years. Robinson's average RPI in his 4 years at Oregon State is 173, and he's never been better than 132!

And I won't even waste energy making fun of his other suggestion, that Illinois consider Reggie Theus. What a joke! His guys are somewhere in the 9th or 10th tiers.

This is what happens when "affirmative action" trumps common sense. The idea is to hire a qualified minority coach, not ANY bad coach that happens to be out there! If we have gone through the list, then the next best option is to hire the best remaining coach out there, no matter what his race is. Robinson is a "suicide" hire just to satisfy a nutcase like this Board member is. I can sort of see Theus being hired over Robinson, but frankly I most certainly don't want him either as he is arrogant and has not won consistently enough.

I hope Illinois can stand this Board member down and hire Groce since he is one of the best remaining candidates left.

[TheAsianSensation]

Yes, he's concerned the search is getting into the 2nd tier. So he just wants to skip that and go straight to the 3rd tier.

[tornado]

when dealing with the media and "activists" for various "disenfranchised" groups and people who claim to be minorities - common sense is an extremely scarce commodity...

BTW -- did anyone read this piece from a couple days ago - a national opinion writer has now defined all people who claim to be minorities for reasons other than "RACE" are frauds......
He has summarily trashed all disabled, Hispanics, Orientals, women, gays, children, handicapped, and otherwise any other kind of minority

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1491283

[Da Coach]

Groce has still not agreed to a contract from Illinois-

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/18111478/ohios-groce-still-in-negotiations-with-illinois

Part of the problem is that if Illinois can get past the problem with the Trustee demanding that he be able to name the next coach, Groce now obviously has some leverage, and he knows there have been other coaches offered in excess of $2 million per year for the Illinois job. It is unlikely Groce will get that much, but you can't blame him for trying, especially now that he seems to be in a position to dictate the terms. Illinois AD Mike Thomas cannot afford for this circus to go on too much longer.

Ohio University is trying to raise enough money to keep Groce at Ohio-

http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x760605513/Ohio-trying-to-find-money-to-keep-Groce

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/illini/ohio-seeking-raise-for-illinois-target-groce/article_b60b1e4e-78ee-11e1-b44c-0019bb30f31a.html

[ancona flash]

You could make an argument that Bradley hired as coach just as accomplished as the guy Illinois hires. They coached against each other and Geno consistently finished ahead of Ohio in the MAC. And he's our coach.

I also think the movement of the Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart's of the world staying at their mid major jobs is a HUGE victory for fans of mid major basketball everywhere! In the Illini's case, these guys took a look at recruiting Chicago, the internal upheaval at UIUC, and a fan base that borders on unrealistic and said "Thanks, but no thanks." I love it.

[bradleybraves1]

You could make an argument that Bradley hired as coach just as accomplished as the guy Illinois hires. They coached against each other and Geno consistently finished ahead of Ohio in the MAC. And he's our coach.

You make a great point flash. Whoever inherits that Illinois program will be taking over a program that was left in much better shape than the one Ford inherited at Bradley. Coach Ford is literally having to dredge up and resurrect a ship that sunk to the bottom of the sea. The Illinois program is being rescued before it has a chance to take on too much water (unlike BU where the decision to change coaches was probably one critical year too late). Their new coach should experience a much quicker turnaround than BU.

[Bravesfan]

You make a great point flash. Whoever inherits that Illinois program will be taking over a program that was left in much better shape than the one Ford inherited at Bradley. Coach Ford is literally having to dredge up and resurrect a ship that sunk to the bottom of the sea. The Illinois program is being rescued before it has a chance to take on too much water (unlike BU where the decision to change coaches was probably one critical year too late). Their new coach should experience a much quicker turnaround than BU.

Come on! Let's not rewrite history here! If Les were here this past year, we would have been no worse than a .500 team (and a much better team during Les's last season if we did not have two Valley all-conference players injured the whole year)! The last time I checked, Illinois was almost as bad as we were during Les's last season. Therefore, how you think Illinois' program is in much better shape than ours is is beyond me!

Now maybe a .500 record was enough for many fans as an excuse to get rid of Les. But please don't say that our program was "a ship that sunk to the bottom of the sea"! The reason we did so bad this past year was due Les's players playing to the new system that Geno installed. Maybe Geno will have more upside potential than Les did (time will tell), but our program would have been at least on a more solid footing if it weren't for the injuries under Les's watch, and if the returning players did not have to learn a new system from scratch this past year.

[bradleybraves1]

It's officially Groce -- http://www.suntimes.com/sports/11585...all-coach.html

[Rusty 54]

Will be very interesting to see who wins a conference championship first, Groce or Ford.

I think Groce will be good for Illinois, seems like a great recruiter, super competitive, and the Ohio fans on Illinoisloyalty seem to think he is the greatest coach ever.

If I were Illinois, I would not be happy paying Parker Executive Search $90K after how the process unfolded.

[bradleybraves1]

It's funny how things work out. Coach Ford and his Kent State teams were more successful than Groce's Ohio teams and, arguably might be considered the better and more desirable head coaching candidate. Bradley signs Ford to a $700-900,000 contract and we hear how BU overpaid. What does this say about Illinois paying Groce a reported $500,000 more per year? Who got the better coach? The better value?

[Beninator]

It's funny how things work out. Coach Ford and his Kent State teams were more successful than Groce's Ohio teams and, arguably might be considered the better and more desirable head coaching candidate. Bradley signs Ford to a $700-900,000 contract and we hear how BU overpaid. What does this say about Illinois paying Groce a reported $500,000 more per year? Who got the better coach? The better value?

How many UIUC fans would admit to being happy to hire Groce soon after Weber was fired?