Illini to Lose their Best Recruiter

[DannyCooksey]

Nope--
the best move is to hire the dad of one of the players.......
maybe the best bet is to hire the dad of the kid named Jeffrey.
I am sure he'd take the job, as he's always wanted to coach and who wouldn't want to be your kid's coach?
There is no single name that could get past MORE doors in Chicago than Michael Jordan.
If mj would buy a team bus for a minor league baseball team, I am sure he'd do this for his own kid.

A good thought, but I think you are vastly overrating MJ's skills as a father. Remember this is a guy who claimed to retire (the 2nd time) to be around the house more and spend more time with his kids and his wife. Instead he spent a few years whoring around before going back to the court with the Wizards? Now he's in the ownership group with the Bobcats, not to mention the fact that he hasn't lived in their Highland Park mansion (now for sale) for nearly 2 years. Father of the Year he is not.

I agree that he would make a huge impact, but I can't see it happening for all the reasons I listed plus the fact that I can't see Little Brucey hiring a guy that powerful and with that large an ego to sit on his bench. He has enough pressure on him already and the minute MJ strolled onto the floor at AH, he'd get the biggest ovation that place has ever heard. Bruce would not be able to handle that.

[chitownBUB]

I don't know, college coaches and ADs seem to be willing to hire the Devil himself if he could put butts in the seats and wins in the W-L column.

[Da Coach]

IMO, Bruce Weber and maybe the AD Ron Guenther must have been happy to let Tracy Webster go. Maybe they wanted him gone? Because there is no way Billy Gillispie could have talked to Webster to offer him the job, unless Illinois granted him permission to do so. Webster was under contract with Illinois, and I am certain those contracts do not allow the coaches to discuss other job opportunities with competing coaches.
Especialy at this time of the year with the season about to start, and in one of the most crucial times for recruiting (just a few weeks away from the early signing period when most top rated recruits commit and sign), I would think nearly every school would not allow their key coaches to be contacted by other schools, especially guys involved in key recruiting battles for the best recruits and competing with those very schools!
Illinois was locked in a crucial recruiting battle with Kentucky for Darius Miller, a battle they now apparently have lost. Tracy Webster was the key recruiter for Illinois with Miller. To allow him to leave and go to Kentucky is simply unbelieveable! Illinois had every right to prohibit him from doing so, and should have done so at this crucial time.

Does anyone else recall that Michigan fired head coach Steve Fisher abruptly in October of 1997 when the Ed Martin scandal emerged.--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan_basketball_scandal

The Michigan AD contacted the Bradley AD and wanted to talk to Bradley coach Jim Molinari about the head coaching vacancy. But because of the timing, right before the season was to begin, the Bradley AD refused Michigan's request. That was the right thing to do then, and it is what Illinois should have done now.
The only conclusion left to make is that Ron Guenther and Bruce Weber wanted Webster gone.

[BradleyBrave]

IMO, Bruce Weber and maybe the AD Ron Guenther must have been happy to let Tracy Webster go. Maybe they wanted him gone? Because there is no way Billy Gillispie could have talked to Webster to offer him the job, unless Illinois granted him permission to do so. Webster was under contract with Illinois, and I am certain those contracts do not allow the coaches to discuss other job opportunities with competing coaches.
Especialy at this time of the year with the season about to start, and in one of the most crucial times for recruiting (just a few weeks away from the early signing period when most top rated recruits commit and sign), I would think nearly every school would not allow their key coaches to be contacted by other schools, especially guys involved in key recruiting battles for the best recruits and competing with those very schools!
Illinois was locked in a crucial recruiting battle with Kentucky for Darius Miller, a battle they now apparently have lost. Tracy Webster was the key recruiter for Illinois with Miller. To allow him to leave and go to Kentucky is simply unbelieveable! Illinois had every right to prohibit him from doing so, and should have done so at this crucial time.

Does anyone else recall that Michigan fired head coach Steve Fisher abruptly in October of 1997 when the Ed Martin scandal emerged.--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan_basketball_scandal

The Michigan AD contacted the Bradley AD and wanted to talk to Bradley coach Jim Molinari about the head coaching vacancy. But because of the timing, right before the season was to begin, the Bradley AD refused Michigan's request. That was the right thing to do then, and it is what Illinois should have done now.
The only conclusion left to make is that Ron Guenther and Bruce Weber wanted Webster gone.

I agree to an extent, but off-the-record conversations can and do happen all the time, and if Webster really wanted to go, he could either quit or get fired. Sure, Illinois has recourse, but Guenther is a notorious tightwad (why else would he let Ron Turner mail in the last 2 years of his contract?), and likely wouldn't want to spend the money to pursue any legal recourse against Webster or Kentucky. Essentially, it comes back to Guenther. His time has passed, and if the Illini want to reach that level of national prominence that so many alums think they should, they need new leadership at the top.

[MacabreMob]

The only conclusion left to make is that Ron Guenther and Bruce Weber wanted Webster gone.

I think Guenther is calling all the shots down there.

[tornado]

A friend of mine who went to the Illinois football game yesterday said that the entire Illinois basketball coaching staff (what's left of it) including Weber, Price, and McClain, were at the football game, sitting together with a couple of recruits.
Also sitting with them was Jerrance Howard.
Jerrance, as many know, is from Peoria Central, but some of the speculation centered on whether Jerrance would be in line to get the new assistant coaching spot at Illinois that is now open with the departure of Webser.
Howard also has worked under Billy Gillispie at both Texas A&M and Kentucky.
Dee Brown was also spotted at the game, but he is not a very likely candidate for the assistant job.
But neither one has any experience recruiting kids out of Chicago.

[tornado]

Hmmm.... looks like Illinois and Bruce Weber are about to lose out on another of their top
recruiting targets. They were in the final three for Chipola guard Mario Little, along with
Kansas and Kansas State. But after his visit this past weekend to Kansas, Little is considering
cancelling the remainder of his visits,
"Little said he’s “not sure” about making his final two visits — to Kansas State next weekend and Illinois on Sept. 28.
“Topping this visit will be tough,” he said."

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/sep/10/little_has_great_visit/?sports