In the Bubble thread, somebody had mentioned that if we are in the NIT we very well could have to go on the road to play in the first round due to the circus being scheduled there
I'm sure everybody remembers, the last time we were in NIT we had to go on the road because of this same thing as well.....Remind me again why we got rid of the Chief? oh yeah it was so we could host NCAA postseason tourney games LIKE, the NIT!! The more you start to look at things around here, it makes it seem like COACHING is not the only problem at this university. Much like bad pro sports franchises , I'm really begging to think its a TOTAL school/organizational problem we have on our hands here..think about it...
1.) We have administration members that come out in the press and tear the school down in open forum pointing out they have never hired a minority coach for football or basketball. Where are your priorities at when you say things like that in open forum? Shouldn't this type of stuff be handled within the school and not in the media for everybody to hear and get a negative perception of your program and school?
2.) We got rid of a iconic figure/ mascot, thanks in no small part to some of our own professors at our University bad mouthing the very school that gives them a lively hood , but also because the NCAA threatened to ban us from hosting postseason events. So again you are a representative our the University of Illinois and you have the audacity to rip them up in open public? As far as the NCAA is concerned, when those postseason events are usually being held, we conveniently schedule other events at around that time of the year so it really doesn't matter
3.)We are just a few years removed from one of the bigger state scandals involving this university, "The Clout Scandal" in which we lost a president, a chancellor , and 7 of the 9 Board of Trustees members...again negative publicity and points to disorganization and lack of attention
4.) Facility upgrades have been something that has been talked about for probably going on a decade, and while the economic state of the country possibly has a play into why this has never pushed on, it still doesn't shy away from the fact that all this school does it talk, it never seems to put up! Other Universities have done this and its given them an edge, especially in recruiting
There are probably even a few more things I could list here from just the last couple years. The more you take a step back and look at things from the outside in, it really doesn't surprise me that we are in the shape we are in with our 2 major sports programs. I can only hope that Mike Thomas knows what he is doing and just isn't falling in line with those that have preceded him. It also going to take more then a AD with lofty aspirations in my opinion to right this ship. He's also going to have to have a total school backing from top to bottom if he really is going to change anything. This school needs to start changing the way things are handled within itself too. Perception and image are everything, especially when it comes to your sports programs, and right now this school just looks like a disorganized mess.
