Today’s column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …
The next Illini basketball coach better have wings
The WISCH LIST
Feb. 25, 2012
Caught in a nosedive so steep that it can’t seem to pull out no matter how hard Bruce Weber tugs on the busted controls, the University of Illinois basketball program is almost surely going to be hiring a new captain this spring.
But, when it does, Illini athletic director Mike Thomas should make sure the guy has his wings.
In the past week, Illinois hoops fans have watched with dismay as the Fighting Illini completely lost their fight during lopsided losses at Nebraska and Ohio State. Having now dropped six games in a row and eight of the past nine, this team hasn’t just burst its NCAA Tournament bubble heading into Sunday’s game against Iowa at Assembly Hall (5 p.m., BTN).
It’s popped the balloon on Weber’s job stability, as well.
As a result, the remainder of this 2011-12 basketball season is no longer about what’s happening now at Illinois. Rather, it’s about what will happen next.
And as speculation has begun to buzz about who could, should or would succeed Weber in Champaign, I’ve already found myself taking issue with some of the proposed coaching candidates.
Namely, those who aren’t college head coaches at all.
This week, for example, Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Sam Aggrey was asked by an emailer, “I’ve heard rumors that Simeon [High School] coach Robert Smith could be in line for the Illinois job, have you heard anything and would he be a good fit there?”
Aggrey replied that “if Illinois came calling, [Smith] would have to listen,” before wisely adding, “But despite his success, the university might think it’s too big of a leap to go from coaching in the Chicago Public League’s Red-South division to the Big Ten.”
And indeed it would be. Hiring a high school coach, no matter how accomplished – and Smith undoubtedly is that, with four state titles – to be the head coach at a major college is folly. Just ask Notre Dame, who in 1981 hired Cincinnati Moeller football coach Gerry Faust after he had won five Ohio state titles in six seasons, only to see him go 30-26-1 during five years in South Bend.
Hiring Smith as Illinois’ head coach would be a mistake. Same goes for the apple of some other Illini fans’ eyes: current Illinois assistant Jerrance Howard. This past week it was suggested to me that Illinois fire Weber immediately so the 31-year-old Howard could have a “tryout” during the season’s final few games.
But I see no benefit in that. Quite simply, Howard needs to first show that he’s a head coach at all before becoming a candidate to be a head coach in the Big Ten. And he isn’t going to prove that this season in a handful of meaningless games with an Illini roster that’s mentally exhausted.
But even if the Illini did play better under Howard, what would that really show? After all, Mike Quade’s Cubs went 23-14 after he took over for Lou Piniella in 2010, but Quade proved to be a terrible hire.
By giving Howard a “tryout,” Illinois would only give him false hope that he could win the job. Then when he didn’t, a certain segment of the Illini fan base and perhaps Howard himself, would be angry and insulted.
It’s best for Illinois to simply let Weber finish out the season – it will be over soon enough – and then hire a new, proven head coach. Then, if that coach is smart, he’ll try to retain Howard as an assistant and perhaps even convince Robert Smith to join his staff, as well.
And, that, to me is an idea that could truly fly.