Illini to Lose their Best Recruiter

[tornado]

Sort of an oxymoron, I suppose, but Illini assistant Tracy Webster has been known as possibly the single strong point among the Illinois coaching staff when it comes to recruiting.
He is supposedly responsible for wrapping up the Jereme Richmond committment.
Presently Illinois is in a heated recruiting battle for Darius Miller, going nose to nose with University of Kentucky.
And one way Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie has figured that might give him the advantage for Miller, is to lure away the Illini's best recruiter with an offer to move to UK.

Champaign News-Gazette writer Paul Klee is reporting just that, and says Gillispie has spoken with Webster about hiring him, and (according to Klee)
"This is obviously a great opportunity for any assistant coach. It is my belief that it will happen. That is just my opinion. Webster is a fine recruiter, and it would be a blow to the Illinois program and would give Kentucky more inroads in Chicago and throughout the Midwest."

http://www.news-gazette.com/chats/2007/09/05/chat_with_paul_klee__bob_asmussen/#submitform

So what do people think will happen if Illinois' best recruiter leaves?
More meltdown........

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=169&F=2616#s=169&f=2616&t=955847

[cpacmel]

It's official now:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070905/SPORTS03/70905028

[tornado]

Thanks.......kinda weird that a staff of assistants who are so perennially lambasted
for their poor job of recruiting, one of them actually gets what amounts to a HUGE promotion!


More, although this is the guy who was wrong on Matt Roth!

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

[Average Joe]

Weber simply won't last long, the U fo I fans must be really fed up being ridiculed.

[meth]

I have heard strong rumor that Webster is simply jumping ship.
A sinking ship at that, and no matter what, he wasn't going to at Illinois beyond the end of this season, anyway.

[Average Joe]

Lots of severe meltdown at illiniboard, with McClain also coming under fire

[tornado]

I wonder how long BAM will last if they don't win a bunch in the early season.

[BU1999]

I have an ILLINI friend who seriously wants the whole crew gone now
all it takes is some people with clout

[BradleyBrave]

I have heard strong rumor that Webster is simply jumping ship.
A sinking ship at that, and no matter what, he wasn't going to at Illinois beyond the end of this season, anyway.

With a ship sinking this fast, one can't jump soon enough. He should consider himself very lucky to get the opportunity he did. The other coaches on that staff won't be so fortunate. Book it.

[SFP]

Webber can coach PERIOD!!!!! He came close to winning it all not too long ago. So he has trouble recruiting but so do most coaches who recruit within the rules. What he needs to do is clean house and get some assistants that know how to recruit 2-3 star recruits and find diamonds in the rough type players. Believe it or not recruiting in the mid-west is not easy. (weather sucks, not to many national games, not urban enoough etc..) If he finds a top recruit every other year and surrounds them with role players, they should stay competitive. Patience is what the Illini fans need. If I was a young basketball stud I'd take a look at Florida and UCLA. Why? Great programs, warm weather and fantastic looking women. Then again the mid-west has the best fans and the people are great.

[Braves4Life]

Webber can coach PERIOD!!!!! He came close to winning it all not too long ago. So he has trouble recruiting but so do most coaches who recruit within the rules. What he needs to do is clean house and get some assistants that know how to recruit 2-3 star recruits and find diamonds in the rough type players. Believe it or not recruiting in the mid-west is not easy. (weather sucks, not to many national games, not urban enoough etc..) If he finds a top recruit every other year and surrounds them with role players, they should stay competitive. Patience is what the Illini fans need. If I was a young basketball stud I'd take a look at Florida and UCLA. Why? Great programs, warm weather and fantastic looking women. Then again the mid-west has the best fans and the people are great.

Well said Pete. I agree with most of what you say. However, Weber MUST recruit big, wide bodies in order to compete in the Big 10. The top B-10 schools not only have this, but also quick and talented 4 & 5 star athletes - both big and small.

There are some good coaches in the B-10 that are equal in ability to Weber, but have better athletes -- Sampson (though I can't stand him), Izzo, Tubby, Matta, to name a few.

I'm afraid another "good coach" and good guy (Weber) is about to be fired. Illini fans are used to seeing talented and exciting players; they don't have the patience, nor basketball IQ to watch a game played the mid-major way.

[bert notorius]

Guenther will not be the AD to fire Weber and Guenther is not leaving until he has the football program turned around. And that is what we call in other circles a 'book it'.

[MacabreMob]

Guenther will not be the AD to fire Weber and Guenther is not leaving until he has the football program turned around. And that is what we call in other circles a 'book it'.

So does this mean Illinois is making the push to become KNOWN as a football school under Guenther (and basketball can take a back seat, worry about that later so long as it doesn't get too terribly bad which it shouldn't under the helm of such a "great guy" who everyone agrees has great coaching skills)?

[chitownBUB]

Webber can coach PERIOD!!!!! He came close to winning it all not too long ago.

Weber did all that with five starters, all of whom were NBA draft picks, and four of whom were solid NBA players, and one will be an all star. All those players fell in his lap, he didn't recruit a single one of them.
The caliber of recruits he has now is light years away from that. He is basically playing with about the same talent level that most midmajors get. That showed last year, when BU played them even with a team picked in the middle-of-the-pack in the MVC.
His coaching might help him get by Minnesota and Savannah State, but note in 2006-2007, they LOST to nearly every single sub-100 RPI team they played.

[tornado]

Lots of severe meltdown at illiniboard, with McClain also coming under fire

Here is the PJS coverage

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/090607/ILL_BE9F2ED7.077.php