JimJohnson
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I hope not. He was awful in CU.
He could coach circles around Groce.
I hope not. He was awful in CU.
Is that why Groce did better with his players than Weber did? I don't ever want to see Weber micromanage a fricking offense ever again.He could coach circles around Groce.
Is that why Groce did better with his players than Weber did?
GRRRR Fire Groce he sucksIllini BB tonight without JJ.
NU grads working in the sports department of a certain newspaper.I didn't know the Chicago media cared about subpar collegiate football and basketball in Urbana.
Josh Whitman hired as AD. After Rick George's continuous "no"s and the apparent no interest in Craig Tiley, I think this was the best candidate out of the ones that were being mentioned. This AD position needed to be an Illini guy. Glad they got one in there.
It's pretty well known by now that Mike Thomas was the wrong fit, picked by the wrong guy (Hogan), and only here to fire Weber and Zook. He never had a clue how Illinois worked, and never developed relationships with our biggest alumns and potential donors (Shad Khan).What does this mean?
I still don't get it. Don't you think Shad Khan and the rest of the gang would accept a non-Illini guy if he was able to make the programs scandal free and winners?It's pretty well known by now that Mike Thomas was the wrong fit, picked by the wrong guy (Hogan), and only here to fire Weber and Zook. He never had a clue how Illinois worked, and never developed relationships with our biggest alumns and potential donors (Shad Khan).
I should have elaborated on the Illini guy part. Tom Michael would have been an Illini guy, but he would have been Ron Guenther lite. He would have been a yes man for all of Guenther's minions and probably Guenther himself.
So the position needed to be an Illini guy, someone who knew what Illinois was all about, but someone who isn't under the Guenther umbrella and someone who can mend the splintered factions of boosters and donors that Mike Thomas created.
Rick George was the pristine candidate for this position but he wasn't leaving Boulder. If it wasn't going to be him or Craig Tiley, Whitman was the next best choice.
Even though Barbara Wilson said filling the position with an Illini wasn't a priority- 4 of the 5 most named people in the search were former Illini: Rick George, Craig Tiley, Josh Whitman, and Tom Michael. With the non-Illini being the supposed "final 2" candidate Patrick Chun. Makes you kinda think they knew they wanted to fill this with an Illini.
Maybe. We could have had the chance to find that out if we would have went with the Xavier AD everybody thought was the next hire before Hogan pulled the trigger on his hitman Thomas.I still don't get it. Don't you think Shad Khan and the rest of the gang would accept a non-Illini guy if he was able to make the programs scandal free and winners?
He started at Georgia Tech in 2013. Didn't hire Paul Johnson or Brian Gregory, but from the sounds of things he's going to fire Gregory because Georgia Tech basketball has been a dumpster fire since before Paul Hewitt was fired. So we'll get to see how he is at hiring a coach at a power conference school.How is that Xavier AD doing in his new post?
He started at Georgia Tech in 2013. Didn't hire Paul Johnson or Brian Gregory, but from the sounds of things he's going to fire Gregory because Georgia Tech basketball has been a dumpster fire since before Paul Hewitt was fired. So we'll get to see how he is at hiring a coach at a power conference school.
He was already the chair of the NCAA tournament committee his first year there if I'm not mistaken.
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Thomas was under qualified to be an AD? He hired Cronin, Butch Jones and Brian Kelly. He won a Robert Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director Award at both of his previous spots (Akron and Cincinnati).Thomas was underqualified to be an AD and didn't have relationships with potential football and basketball coaches. It has nothing to do with him being an Illini guy. Aside from being completely tone deaf and a walking PR disaster, the frightening part of Thomas' tenure was how badly he miscalculated the MAC coaching candidates, when the MAC was supposedly his one area of expertise. Toledo was looking to get rid of Tim Beckman and promote OC Matt Campbell to their head coaching spot because Campbell was (obviously) the brains behind the operation...the fact that Thomas and Illinois proactively HIRED Beckman is still incredible to me. How did Beckman even get through the interview process? He can't even speak in sentences. The hiring of Groce from Ohio was nearly as baffling...a guy who is 34-30 in the MAC taking over for a coach who had gotten Illinois to the NCAA finals? Yeah, Bruce Weber had run his course at Illinois, but the best Thomas could do was John Groce?
Being an athletic director at a major institution is pretty simple...who can you get to coach the football team? Who can you get to coach the basketball team? Those are really the only two areas that are relevant. Thomas was a dismal failure on both counts.
If I had to take a crack at why he was a failure, the coaches he hired must not have liked working for him. Otherwise, Butch Jones should have wanted to be Illinois' football coach. The way I also understand it is that he is the one who essentially ran Snacks off the campus, not Groce. I don't have an inside track on that one. It's just what I've read elsewhere on more than one occasion.Underqualified was probably too strong a word, but again, who did he have relationships with in football and basketball? If he had no relationships with potential football and basketball coaches, did he have connections with the high school coaches in Illinois for recruiting purposes? Those Robert Neyland Awards don't really count for much, as history shows.