12/21/24
April 21, 2003
Self moves on to Kansas, : and no one should really be surprised. It would have been a much bigger shocker had he stayed, but now the fun starts. Who's next at U of I?
posted by wfrazerjr to basketball at 09:00 AM - 5 comments
I think Crean would be a solid choice, but I agree — Floyd could be the man here. He's already proven himself as a solid college coach, has been in the NBA (which scores points with recruits), and is well-known in the Chicago area after his time with the Bulls. The X factor would be Weber at Southern Illinois. Known as a coach who gets the most from his players, his record in the tourney is stellar and he's well-liked. Here's a secondary question: Would the Illini be better served with a less well-known commodity, or should they be looking for that guy who will stay for 20-30 years and BECOME the program (re: Gene Keady, Bobby Knight)?
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:40 PM on April 21, 2003
Mark Few of Gonzaga is one guy who should be getting some looks to move to a bigger name program. He wasn't the first guy to make the Zags prominent, of course, but he has kept their run alive. I'm tossing his hat in the ring for him, I think he'd appreciate that.
posted by vito90 at 01:56 PM on April 21, 2003
My sentimental favorite would be Rob Judson, coach at NIU. He played under Lou Henson at Illinois, and was an assistant with Lon Krueger and Bill Self at Illinois and Molinari at NIU and Bradley. He recruited the Peoria trio (McClain, Griffin, and Williams) in addition to Brian Cook. He turned around the NIU program from a team that won 5 games the year before he got there to a team that won 12 and 17 games, respectively. The only knock on him would be him having only 2 years of head coaching experience. However I believe Illinois should take a chance on him. He's learned under some great coaches and could well become Illinois's version of Tom Izzo. I think the only problem is that within the next 1-2 years, Illinois will be ready to contend for a national championship, even without Villanueva. I don't think Illinois will want to take a chance on messing that up with someone that still might have to do some learning on the job. Of course I'm secretly hoping we can get Lou Henson back to Illinois. Then he can coach here until he keels over on the sidelines.
posted by gyc at 02:45 PM on April 21, 2003
If Illinois brings back Henson, I'm buying a red sweater and rooting for Indiana.
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:33 PM on April 21, 2003
I'd like to see Floyd get the nod. It couldn't hurt the recruiting either.