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Although it hasn’t been made official by the University of Illinois yet, multiple credible sources say that Ohio University Head Basketball Coach John Groce will become the new Head Coach of the Fighting Illini basketball program. This comes on the heels of the aftermath of two highly sought after coaches {VCU’s Shaka Smart and Butler’s Brad Stevens} turning down Illinois contract offers.
Groce has been the Head Coach at Ohio since 2004. Before that he was an assistant at Taylor High School {Not sure what state}, North Carolina State, Butler {Before the Brad Stevens era}, and Ohio State. As the Bobcats head coach he took the team to 3 postseason appearances, 2 Mid American Conference tournament championships, and took the mighty North Carolina Tar Heels to the brink of elimination just last week.
The University of Illinois will hold a press conference t0morrow to make the official announcement and introduce John Groce as the new head coach. Groce will replace Bruce Weber who coached the Illini for the previous 9 seasons. Weber had initial success during his first couple of seasons in Urbana, but he did so with Bill Self’s recruits.
But once Self’s recruits were gone, the Illini program fell from glory. John Groce will be getting a contract reportedly worth $2.5 million per season. My only concern is weather or not he can recruit. One of the problems Bruce Weber had was being able to recruit here in the Chicagoland area.
But only time will tell, let’s see how this turns out….
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On the final week of college football’s regular season, the Illinois Fighting Illini football team has their backs against the wall. The 2011 season began with promise. After winning the Texas Bowl to finish the 2010 season on a high note, the Illini kicked it into high gear in the offseason. When the 2011 spring football program took place this year, there was a lot of buzz and excitement for the upcoming season. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhasse was ready to lead this team, Senior Running Backs Jason Ford and Troy Pollard were ready to anchor the ground game, and a group of young receivers and offensive linemen were ready for the big time.
And the Illini proved to be big time at the start of the season by winning the first 6 games. The offense was prolific, the defense was decent but had it’s moments, special teams was competitive, and it seemed like Ron Zook had finally poised his team to take over the Big Ten and make a run for the BCS. But then offensive production slowed down which in turn affected the defense. Special teams wasn’t so special, and the team fell apart which resulted in a 5 game losing streak.
How the Illini fall apart so fast still remains a mystery. Did the team get tired after the first 6 games? Did the Illini hit a string of bad luck? Or was it the fact that the Illini had an easy schedule for the first 6 games and then reality sunk in when conference play started? Whatever the case is, the Illini are in a fight to save the season. They are also in a fight to try and save Ron Zook’s job. In my previous report: http://q101.com/2011/11/joe-pa-may-not-be-the-last-big-ten-coach-to-exit/
I talked about Ron Zook’s coaching history and mentioned how he has always had solid teams but was unable to win conference championships and has a 1-4 record in bowl games. I also touched on his struggles with recruiting. While Illinois is bowl eligible this year, they could be left out of the postseason if they lose their final game this Saturday. Remember, not all 6 win teams get into bowl games. And the one’s that do have to make one heck of an impression on the bowl selection committee.
Perhaps arch-rival Northwestern will get a bowl over Illinois because the Wildcats have won 5 in a row compared to Illinois losing 5 in a row. There is also the Purdue Boilermakers who will be bowl eligible should they beat Indiana this weekend. They may get in a bowl game over Illinois because the Boliermakers own a victory over the Fighting Illini. Should Purdue win on Saturday, the Big Ten will have 10 bowl eligible teams.
And at the most only 6 or 7 will get a bowl game, especially if the Southeast Conference has anything to say about it. The best way for Illinois to improve their chances of going bowling is to win their final regular season game this weekend. And they have a perfect opportunity to do it when they head to Minnesota to play the Golden Gophers. Minnesota is the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten this season {Only Indiana is worse}.
Minnesota has only won 2 games all year, only 1 conference win, and last week they were the reason Northwestern became bowl eligible. I could only hope that the Illini have been busting their asses in practice this week and that the Illini team who started 6-0 will show up on Saturday. Not only are the Illini playing to save their season, they are also playing to help Ron Zook keep his job. But in all honesty, even a berth in the postseason may not be enough to keep Ron Zook employed at the University Of Illinois. But if this team truly cares about their coach and truly wants Ron Zook back next season, then the Fighting Illini must play like there is no tomorrow and beat Minnesota. The Illini Nation is currently holding their breath and praying for a miracle.
Also, the guys at High Motor Guy let me join in on their podcast this week. We discussed Jay Cutler’s injury: http://www.highmotorguy.com/2011/11/22/hmg-podcast-11-22-11/
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe Salgado
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Although he denied it in an interview yesterday, I think it is safe to say that Illinois Head Football Coach Ron Zook is on the hot seat. When asked about his job security Zook responded by saying “Now is not the time.” But he also said “I love the University Of Illinois and I want to stay here.” When he was asked further questions about his employment he immediately changed the subject. Ron Zook is in his 7th season as the head coach of the Fighting Illini football program.
This year the Illini started the season 6-0, but have gone 0-4 since then. During this losing streak the offense has gone downhill and the already shaky defense has gotten worse. While the Illini are already bowl eligible, many feel that the Illini can and should be doing much better than they are now. And I for one agree with that sentiment. While I think Ron Zook is a good coach when it comes to X’s and O’s, he still has his flaws such as recruiting and being able to take a program over the hump.
Let me remind you of Ron Zook’s head coaching history…… He first came to Illinois in 2005 after 3 seasons at the University Of Florida. He was originally the offensive coordinator for Steve Spurrier, he was named the Gators head coach after Spurrier left to coach the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Zook lead the Gators to 3 winning seasons between 2002-2004, compiling a record of 23 wins and 14 losses. Midway through the 2004 season, Florida announced that Ron Zook would be fired at the end of the season.
Although the university was not completely clear on the reason for his firing, there were many theories as to why. I have 2 main reasons for why he was fired: 1. He never won an SEC conference championship, nor did he win the SEC’s Eastern Division during his time there. And even though the Gators went to a bowl game every year during his time at Florida, they never went to a BCS bowl {2 Outback Bowl’s and a Peach Bowl}, and they lost every bowl game they played in. If I was an athletic director, I’d say 3 winning seasons is pretty damn good.
But college football is very political, especially with BCS schools. So Ron Zook was fired but was almost immediately hired by the University Of Illinois. Zook was hired to be the Fighting Illini’s head coach after previous coach Ron Turner left to become the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Chicago Bears. Also leaving was the majority of Turner’s recruits who either graduated, turned pro, or transferred. There were some recruits who were still on board but for the most part Zook had to do his own recruiting for the 2005 season.
Zook was expected to make an impact from the start, but the Illini began a rebuilding process instead by going 2-9 {0-8 Big Ten record}, and finishing last in the conference. 2006 was even worse with a 2-10 record {1-7 Big Ten}, and finishing 10th in the conference that year. It seemed like the Fighting Illini were finally starting to turn the curve in 2007. That year they finished 9-3 behind Ohio State, and got an at-large bid to the Rose Bowl. It was Illinois first Rose Bowl appearance since 1984.
But Zook was still unable to get a bowl victory as the Fighting Illini fell 49-17 to the USC Trojans. After 2 more losing seasons {5-7 in 2008 and 3-9 in 2009}, the athletic department at Illinois decided to shake things up. They gave Ron Zook a new offensive coordinator in Paul Petrino, and made changes with a few position coaches as well. This resulted in a 6-6 2010 season and a victory in the Texas Bowl over Baylor. Even though Ron Zook finally got his first bowl game victory as a head coach, it still did not please the Illini nation. After the first 6 weeks of this season, it looked like the Illini were finally living up to Big Ten standards. They won their first 6 games of the season with sizeable margins of victory. The offense was running at full speed and the defense didn’t have much to worry about.
But since then the Illini has been on a 4 game losing streak, the offense has not been as productive and that has put the defense backs against the wall. This is been ongoing storyline with Ron Zook’s tenure at Illinois. And as much as I think Ron Zook is still a good coach, I also feel that his time may be running out at Illinois. The fans and the alumni are already voicing their displeasure with the current state of the team.
And if this losing streak continues, Ron Zook will most likely be out of a job. Illinois has 2 games remaining on the 2011 schedule, luckily this week’s game is against Minnesota. But they wrap up the season against the #17 Wisconsin Badgers led by star Quarterback Russell Wilson. The Wisconsin game will be a tough one for sure. But after the way Zook’s time has gone at Illinois, even if they do win these last 2 games it may still not be enough for Ron Zook to keep his job.
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