Hearing that Illinois lost its top rated recruit and only one from the state of Illinois. Apparently was not granted admission so off to Cincy
Lovie
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If that is true, where is the support for Lovie with the administration?
I don't think that many coaches were lined up to take the Illini job after Beekman or Cubit. Illinois is not a destination job, and hasn't for a long time. Everytime they get someone decent, pulled away by a better program pretty quickly.
Everyone deals with kids who can’t qualify, more importantly is why isn’t he bothering to recruit in state?
Lovie said he offered 19 players from Illinois in the class of 2020. Not much he can do if they choose to go elsewhere
They have concentrated their efforts in other states, offering a kid is a waste of time if you haven’t bothered to do the ground work before hand.
I know one of the 19 he offered tried to commit and sign and he wouldn't let him. I wonder how many of the other 19 were in similar situation?
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Also in regards/t9 the 19 in state offers, ask when they offered those 19 kids and a large majority is very very late in the process. The 2021 class has more talent I feel Nd they are stil! way too slow to extend offers
Bears have not been able to find anyone as good as him since they let him leave. Good enough to get the team to the super bowl with rex grossman at QB.
You have your opinion, which I respect. But, as for Lovie being overrated, I disagree. He isn't going to be in the HOF. I am not sure if you mean Lovie coaching at U of I or in general. I will leave the U of I stuff out and just talk about his time with the Bears.
I have never heard anyone say Lovie was a great coach. He wasn't. But, I think he was a good coach. And he definitely was better than every Bears coach in my lifetime outside of Ditka and Halas. Now, what do we have to compare to him? Yes, not much. But I would say since 2000, Lovie's NFL winning percentage is better than the majority of coaches in that time span. There are good and great coaches in the NFL. But there have been a ton of flops too.
Never in my lifetime have the Bears been known as a team with a great offense. It has mostly been below average. With players whose careers have spanned or partially occurred during my lifetime the Bears have put 2 RBs, one TE and no QBs in the HOF. And they have only put a couple offensive linemen in there. It has been all defense. Hard to win with half a team. We are seeing it currently.
My point to all of this is...if someone is calling Lovie great, then yes, that is overrating him. But, if anyone calls him a good coach I think that is accurate and not an overreaction.
The Bears are a terrible organization so it’s not really a good measuring stick.
So that should make his record even more impressive. Take away his first year and he had a .600 winning percentage and never was worse than 7-9. He was let go after a 10-6 season.
But Bruce, that 10-6 season came after the Bears were 7-1 at one point if my memory serves. They also missed the playoffs after being in 1st place in the division that year. Wasn't that they year Cutler broke his thumb? I think he broke it in either their 8th or 9th game. I think Lovie was a good coach. But, I also think it was time for a change. However, if I knew what was coming after him I would have said just keep Lovie.
Real bad. My coworker grew up in Nebraska, and has a lot of knowledge of the program as well as connections. I asked him if they were disappointed in Frost. His response was, "yes, but people don't realize how big of a hole he had to climb out of. The previous few coaches there ruined the program."
Lovie lost his fire ever since leaving the NFL. Good guy good coach but he has no passion. He is done as a head coach. IMO.
What does they say about Scott Frost if just just got embarrassed by a guy with no passion?
Nebraska is bad and so is Illinois. Someone had to win and this time it was Illinois. It might be one of the few wins this year for Illinois. The Big10 is bad this year. Their is only a few teams I would consider worthy of being in the top 25 and only one OSU worthy of being in the playoff. Nebraska and Illinois are light years away from being good programs. Heck they can’t recruit top players from their own state.
It appears college football is pretty bad this year. OSU was fortunate to escape with a win today. B12 is not good. ACC has a huge drop after Clemson and ND. SEC is Bama and then the rest. Who knows about the pac12 but they have been irrelevant the last few years. BYU and Cincy seem decent but likely will not get a chance to prove it.
Illinois is not good but would have been interesting to see them with their full team against Purdue and Minnesota. They had to play their 4th string qb and were missing like 15 players total. It was interesting that they had more out than Wisconsin would have yet they played both of those games. They realistically could have be 4-1 at this point. They have 3 very tough games left but likely will have a chance in the consolation week. 3-6 in the big ten translates to a bowl season most years. That is realistically the ceiling for Lovie
My two cents here...whatever happens this year is kind of a wash and won’t hold it against the coaches too much. It’s been a total s*** show and to try to run your program during this is kudos to you for trying and managing through it.
Ecspecially true for the BIG10. “We’re not playing this year. Oh wait, maybe we will. No, we are Committed to not playing this year. Well now that other conferences are plying....we will start in 30 days.”
Try getting your team focused and ready through that.
Ecspecially true for the BIG10. “We’re not playing this year. Oh wait, maybe we will. No, we are Committed to not playing this year. Well now that other conferences are plying....we will start in 30 days.”
Try getting your team focused and ready through that.
Nope
My boss wouldn’t let me use that as an excuse. I don’t get a pass because of covid. Nor will a lot of other business professionals. Why should he get a pass? I am not buying it. Your giving a pass for someone who hasn’t changed anything in what 4-5 years since he has been there? Nope not me. Carry on!
Did half your business have to sit out for 2 weeks for contract tracing without being able to contact anyone and the intern was forced to be the CEO? Essentially that is what some of these teams are dealing with. And it is pretty random. Wisconsin was lucky that it was able to shutdown while Illinois was forced to play without 15 guys and with its 4th string qb. Had Illinois canceled the games like Wisconsin, they would be sitting at 2-1 and in the mix for the conference championship. At most businesses all the employees can still participate in Zoom calls and remain active in business decisions. Not the case in NCAA football this year. Does it excuse Harbaugh, Franklin, Frost, Lovie etc... no but likely will get them a pass this off-season.
Answer is yes! 3 months shutdown. No they don’t get a pass for being bad for years. It’s doesn’t give them an excuse you got that right.
I am an Illinois alum and I was excited with the Lovie hire. It was the best hire and biggest splash that could have been made five years ago.
That said, it appears to me the experiment has failed and the faster we can move on, the better off it will be for all parties. That is what makes games like Saturday’s so perplexing and frustrating. It was near total domination by the Illini. There was nothing to not like as a fan.
But then you realize that all a win like that will do is string out the Lovie experiment another year or so. He has shown an absolute allergy to any recruiting effort, the game management decisions in close games are awful, and the actual scheming is inconsistent at best.
With OSU, Iowa, Northwestern, and the crossover week game left,I can look at last week’s performance and know they are “capable” of winning any of those games. A worst case scenario is that they eek out a win against only Iowa giving Lovie a 3-6 season and just enough ammunition to hang on for one more year with further awful recruiting digging the hole deeper.
Sadly the best case may be losing out the last four games and having a sliver of a chance they make a change at 2-7.
I am not rooting for that and it stinks to feel that way after such a dominant performance, but they are in danger of being “just ok enough” to continue walking the program off the cliff.
That said, it appears to me the experiment has failed and the faster we can move on, the better off it will be for all parties. That is what makes games like Saturday’s so perplexing and frustrating. It was near total domination by the Illini. There was nothing to not like as a fan.
But then you realize that all a win like that will do is string out the Lovie experiment another year or so. He has shown an absolute allergy to any recruiting effort, the game management decisions in close games are awful, and the actual scheming is inconsistent at best.
With OSU, Iowa, Northwestern, and the crossover week game left,I can look at last week’s performance and know they are “capable” of winning any of those games. A worst case scenario is that they eek out a win against only Iowa giving Lovie a 3-6 season and just enough ammunition to hang on for one more year with further awful recruiting digging the hole deeper.
Sadly the best case may be losing out the last four games and having a sliver of a chance they make a change at 2-7.
I am not rooting for that and it stinks to feel that way after such a dominant performance, but they are in danger of being “just ok enough” to continue walking the program off the cliff.
Saturday against the Huskers is what I expected for the Illini this year...nice rushing attack, competent passing game, extremely opportunistic defense.
If the Illini don't lose both Peters & Williams at the same time, they might be 4-1 (and about the same strength position of the 5-1 Bears a month ago). Maybe the Buckeyes have an outbreak and lose their 1 & 2 QB's Thursday, and the third stringer gets hurt the first quarter Saturday...see how they look with the fourth string QB (sadly, the offense probably still will be better).
The Illini will not be favorites the next three weeks - Buckeyes, Hawkeyes, or Wildcats. Maybe they get a good shot off against Iowa. But the crossover game could be very interesting with a down "name program" - Michigan or MSU?
Next year? I have no problem with a high powered rushing attack with Williams running the show. I am a Wilmo fan after all... But 7-18 for 104 yards passing (Rutgers) just ain't gonna cut it in the Big Ten week in and week out. And the defense's ability to run the "Cover Who" and give up buckets of yards is disconcerting - like the last 3 quarters against the Badgers making the frosh look like a Heisman candidate. But the schedule isn't bad - Nebraska in Dublin, UTSA, @ Virginia, Maryland, @ Purdue, Charlotte...4-2 start is possible.
But yea...less than 48 hours to Illini hoops! A little CSU Cougar for Thanksgiving...is there even a line on that game? I see we still know how to schedule the Illini Classic...
🤣😂🏀
If the Illini don't lose both Peters & Williams at the same time, they might be 4-1 (and about the same strength position of the 5-1 Bears a month ago). Maybe the Buckeyes have an outbreak and lose their 1 & 2 QB's Thursday, and the third stringer gets hurt the first quarter Saturday...see how they look with the fourth string QB (sadly, the offense probably still will be better).
The Illini will not be favorites the next three weeks - Buckeyes, Hawkeyes, or Wildcats. Maybe they get a good shot off against Iowa. But the crossover game could be very interesting with a down "name program" - Michigan or MSU?
Next year? I have no problem with a high powered rushing attack with Williams running the show. I am a Wilmo fan after all... But 7-18 for 104 yards passing (Rutgers) just ain't gonna cut it in the Big Ten week in and week out. And the defense's ability to run the "Cover Who" and give up buckets of yards is disconcerting - like the last 3 quarters against the Badgers making the frosh look like a Heisman candidate. But the schedule isn't bad - Nebraska in Dublin, UTSA, @ Virginia, Maryland, @ Purdue, Charlotte...4-2 start is possible.
But yea...less than 48 hours to Illini hoops! A little CSU Cougar for Thanksgiving...is there even a line on that game? I see we still know how to schedule the Illini Classic...
🤣😂🏀Not sure who they would attract after this season. Seems like a lot of coaches will keep their jobs and recently not many mid majors have wanted to “move up” to Champaign. The previous AD thought he would find upgrades when he fired Zook and Weber. Turned out neither program has been able to maintain or improve. Zook was a great recruiter but terrible game coach and Weber was the opposite. New AD made some splash hires with Lovie and Underwood. Lovie seems to be able to get transfers due to his NFL background and opportunity for instant playing time. Underwood has gotten some amazing recruits but we will see about his coaching if this season runs it’s course. At least basketball gets some top local talent.
Agree that the pickings may be slim for a new coach this year. But the real worst case scenario is winning 2 games this year and retaining a Lovie whose incoming recruiting class will be the worst in Illini history (and now he has a few doozies stacked like that in the underclasses). Then you will see 3-5 wins in 2021 on the backs of the little remaining talent in the senior class and an absolute cliff in 2022 where the talent would resemble a mid level MAC team, and even that may be generous.
Then Lovie inevitably gets fired or chooses retirement after a 1 win 2022 season leaving the new coach with an 85 man roster with no semblance of mid tier power 5 talent.
That is college football hell and I’m afraid the beloved are heading there.
From the start, Lovie's problem has been that he has no contacts among college coaches. all his contacts were in the NFL and most of them failed at Illinois, Hardy Nickerson and Donnie Abraham.
that said I believe he will be back in 2021 when the awful recruiting finally catches up...although now with players being granted an extra year of eligibility due to Covid, who knows what the roster looks like next year. this is especially true as Lovie loves transfers.
as an alumnus, just win.
that said I believe he will be back in 2021 when the awful recruiting finally catches up...although now with players being granted an extra year of eligibility due to Covid, who knows what the roster looks like next year. this is especially true as Lovie loves transfers.
as an alumnus, just win.
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