Lovie and the Illini....
- Thread starter Frabjous
- Start date
As much as I love seeing us whip the Illiannoy, this piece is a little unfair to Lovie. He inherited a train wreck and Vince Lombardi would have an uphill battle with this mess. He should be given a chance to fix the mess.
Lovie seems like a decent fellow and he has secured a decent first recruiting class. The concern I would have is this class( his second) is not good at this point. They have little depth and having a winning record seems like a big stretch this year.
Glad with have Fitz.
He was. See above.
EDIT: That's strange. Someone mentioned "Butkus was pretty good." Now the comment is gone.
Last edited:
Dick Butkus is the one actually mentioned in the article. I deleted my comment after scanning the entire article, which spent a lot of words on a national article about a bad football program
This may be a crap article but there is no doubt in my mind that Lovie has been a disaster at Illinois. His staff has shown very little aptitude in developing or recruiting talent. His first recruiting class was not a good one overall and they replace a graduating class with some good, albeit underachieving talent. Illinois is less talented this year than they were last year and Lovie's second recruiting class looks worse than the first so far. Most of all, I just don't think Lovie demonstrates the energy and enthusiasm that is necessary to resurrect that program. I think Lovie thought he could just show up, collect a big paycheck and the kids would just trip over themselves to come play for him. Big miscalculation. As much as I don't like him, Illinois would have been exponentially better off hiring Fleck.
Last edited:
Agree with you that Lovie doesn't really seem to give the kind of shit necessary as the HC at a college rebuild. But Illinois is a sleeping giant of a program. They will get it right down there pretty soon and I'm good with that. The Big Ten West needs to get a lot better.
In basketball, sure. But Illinois' recruiting base isn't good enough in football. It's not like Ohio where OSU turns down future major-conference stars every year. This is why people expected Lovie might need to do well in Texas (being from there) and Florida (having coached there).
Unfortunately, the in-state programs in FLA and TX kind of own the best prospects. NU gets the next tier in TX, leaving the spoils for Lovie......
I agree with just about all of this, but I do think Lovies class last year was an upgrade from the Becky/Cubit era. I know that isn't saying much, but the cupboard left him was so bare, that first class will have many in the rotation this year. The 2018 class IMO is poor up to this point.
I also agree that Fleck would have been a better choice because of his approach. I don't like him either, but he is already outrecruiting Lovie.
I've seen them very, very good over the years when they have had an excellent HC and good support from the administration. Easy to get in and great visibility as a program. I believe that they will get up to speed with facilities. I think there is no reason why they shouldn't be in the top tier of the Big Ten most every year.
Besides no real natural recruiting area and always playing second fiddle to basketball?
Admitted snarkiness aside, they've had a couple of nice seasons over the last 20-ish years, the most recent being Zook's 2007 season a decade ago. I just have a tough time seeing them somehow turning things around.
Didn't they just about totally re-do both the football stadium and basketball arena? Lovie though he could just throw his NFL resume out there and the top kids would flock to Rantoul. hasn't happened but I think he ok for now collecting his semi retirement pay.
You gotta go back more than that. This is a very good university with easy admissions for athletes. A giant alumni base near to the school, etc. They need to get the HC right and they need to make it seem that football is important. But when (if) they do it will be formidable. They will get the talent to win if they get it right.
What does great visibility mean? In the day and age of the BTN and multiple ESPN's every P5 program has great visibility.
Good point. Visibility is a bad word for this. They will enjoy great butts in the seat support when they get things on track. In a way a school like NU never will.
So a large student body - that doesn't necessarily mean kids will want to go to middle of nowhere Illinois to play ball.
I enjoy my fair share of Downstate bashing, but kids OVER AND OVER go to small college towns like Lawrence, KS, Iowa City and Auburn, AL to play sports. There's little evidence to suggest top athletes are thinking much about the metro they settle in.
All of this is in addition to the fact that most non-NU fans (along with tons of best college town lists) don't exactly consider Champaign the shlthole this board does.
Champaign is absolutely a shithole but anyone who doesn't think it's a crazy good time for a college kid looking to party is lying and has a big ol dump in their pants
Couldn't agree more. There is nothing I can think of that would qualify Illinois as a sleeping giant in football. Only a great coach who would be successful anywhere could get Illinois to compete for a West title. Which doesn't qualify anyone for giant status unless you can do that and more pretty consistently. Even competing for a West now and then would take success in out-of-state recruiting the likes of which Illinois has never experienced. If they got that coach, he would likely be young and ready to move on when the first better opportunity came along. I think a good modern day parallel to Illinois is Iowa State. Even Rutgers is a better football job than Illinois.
GOUNUII
Iowa State? The second most popular team in a state one fourth the size of ours? GMAB. We'd take a LONG time to turn things around (that is what decades of futility does, after all), but the potential is there. There are only a handful of counties where Illini fans aren't a plurality in this state (and no, that does not include Cook), and we'll always have a leg up in recruiting, even if that just means getting a phone call that a school like, say, Iowa State doesn't. Is our football potential the sky? No. Is it Iowa State's?! Way better.
I also think you use the term "middle of nowhere" too liberally. Champaign isn't some outrageous distance from Chicago compared to other large flagship schools and their biggest metros.
Even if we gave him the leg up recruiting in state that Ill. last had 20+ years ago ... what does that get him? Not enough for anybody to raise their game to the level of NU, Neb. Iowa and Wisconsin. It's not in the cards for a school that is just another State U. in the grand scheme of college football. BTW ... Iowa St. has won 83 games since the 2000 season began. Illinois just 79. So in the lives of current recruits Ill. is indeed just another Iowa St. The numbers tell the story and they don't lie.
GOUNUII
Rumour has it, Smith got some intel and is sending his starters out to Rantoul for the opening game. Everyone will think they suck week after the surprise loss in Week One.
Very good player, but I'm not exactly putting him on the same level as the other guys mentioned on this thread.
If players of that caliber (hall of fame) are the standard, 2/3rds of the big ten would be in the same boat, without a question including NU.
FYI - Whitney Mercilius was an all American, first round pick and decent pro
Yes he was. My previous comment was in part pointing out that the Illini haven't been great of late, but also that many posters here are showing their age by throwing out names from the 50s and 60s.
Similar threads
