From the Saturday, Dec. 5, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …
The WISCH LIST
By Dave Wischnowsky
There are no guarantees in life.
But there are wise decisions.
And while a sizable swath of Illini Nation has vociferously disagreed with me online this week – thank you, Twitter – I think that the University of Illinois made a wise call last Saturday when it announced that it would be extending interim head football coach Bill Cubit’s contract for two years.
Now, that isn’t because I think Cubit is the long-term answer for Illinois. Or even because I expect that he’ll enjoy any significant short-term success. But what I do think is that the short-term stability provided by extending him for two years does offer Illinois the best long-term options.
And right now for Illini athletics, that’s what it’s all about.
Illinois football is a mess. Illinois basketball is a mess. Ticket sales are down. Fan apathy is up. And many of the university’s deep-pocketed donors are disenchanted and disillusioned with the state (school) of affairs.
None of this was the plan back in 2011 when longtime athletic director Ron Guenther retired, leading to hopes that a visionary successor would elevate the athletic department to newfound levels. Instead, however, Illinois ended up with Mike Thomas, an AD whose reputation as a bad boss to work for at Cincinnati had become so widespread among the national coaching fraternity that he lost the ability to hire elite ones.
As a result, Illinois ended up replacing the struggling Ron Zook and Bruce Weber with Tim Beckman and John Groce, who then went on to struggle even worse.
None of that can happen again. And now that Illinois has finally – and mercifully – cleared its deck of both Thomas and Beckman (with Groce quite possibly next on the chopping block), the university must take the time to actually get things done right, not just done fast.
Illinois simply cannot afford more long-term mistakes, which is why extending Cubit makes sense. It buys more time to hopefully hire the right AD, rather than just an AD. For that crucial job, my top two choices remain former Illinois tennis coach and current CEO of Tennis Australia Craig Tiley (a true sports visionary) and former Illinois football player and current Colorado AD Rick George (a tested sports businessman).
Despite George’s statement on Nov. 19 that he’d decline an Illinois offer, I think it remains possible that the university could hire either him or Tiley – if given more time. From what I’m told, both men would garner the enthusiastic backing of the wealthiest donors, which can’t be understated.
Other candidates also may be able to do the same, but those two generate the greatest donor excitement. And that’s the formula for fixing Illinois athletics: The right AD + big donor enthusiasm + big donor dollars = a great chance to hire the right football coach, and if necessary at a later date, the right basketball coach.
Many fans have argued that Cubit’s two-year deal will kill Illini recruiting and make the job toxic. But that’s thinking small picture. Because the reality is that the right coach isn’t going to stress out over a couple of weak recruiting classes. Rather, if he’s right, he’ll start fixing things.
At the same time, it was highly unlikely that the best possible coach for Illinois was going to take a job without knowing who his permanent AD is. It’s also highly unlikely that the best possible AD would want a job where he’s stuck with a new long-term football coach that he didn’t hire.
It’s not as speedy as many may wish, but there is a process to fixing Illinois athletics. And while there’s also no guarantee that will happen, Illinois at least is wisely following it.