U. of I.’s athletic house in need of a cleaning

From the Saturday, Aug. 22, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

Thursday was Campus Move-In Day for incoming freshmen at the University of Illinois. Over the next several months that will be followed by Campus Move-Out Days for big names in the school’s athletic department.

At least, that’s my suspicion.

And, honestly at this point, probably Illinois’ best hope.

Anyone who knows me online, in real life or through this newspaper column knows about my passion for U. of I., from which I graduated in 1998. If you cut one of my wrists, it will bleed orange. If you cut the other, it will bleed blue (both Illini and Cubbie). I love my alma mater.

But I’m disappointed in it. I’m frustrated with it. And I’m not alone.

I want to see Illinois get its house in order. And in regards to its athletic department, that may require completely cleaning it, as in recent months its revenue sports programs have metastasized from vexing underachievers into full-blown embarrassments.

This past March in a piece for CBSChicago.com, I wrote that, “In a perfect Illini world, Tim Beckman would roll to a Rose Bowl next January and John Groce would follow up with a Final Four run in March. But as any University of Illinois fan knows all too well, we don’t live in a perfect Illini world. Instead, we live in the one created three years ago by athletic director Mike Thomas. And right now, it’s in a world of hurt.”

Five months later, that’s become an entire universe.

In May, Beckman’s football program was accused of bullying players and mishandling injures (an investigation into the allegations continues). Then, Matt Bollant’s women’s basketball program drew charges of racism from former players (two investigations have shown the claims to be unfounded, but a $10 million lawsuit and stench still lingers). And now, Groce’s extended recruiting woes and over-reliance on transfers have been exposed following yet another injury to fifth-year point guard Tracy Abrams and yet another substance-fueled suspension for forward Darius Paul, which resulted Friday night in his dismissal from the program.

From all appearances, Beckman (4-20 Big Ten record), Bollant (17-33) and Groce (24-30) will each get another opportunity to right their program’s listing ships this season. But with injuries, challenging schedules and boatloads of negative press, the waters are going to be very choppy.

That goes doubly so for Thomas, who was hired in 2010 to lift Illinois sports to new heights but instead has seen them achieve new lows in regards to fan enthusiasm, attendance and overall confidence. Today, the university’s dominant color may still be orange, but the disgruntled fan base’s mood is increasingly blue – and at this point bordering on black.

Earlier this month, Thomas lost his best safety net at Illinois when Chancellor Phyllis Wise was forced to resign for reasons largely unrelated to sports, although the litigious state of Illinois athletics – for which she was ultimately responsible as the top campus leader – surely didn’t help her status with new university president Timothy Killeen. It sure shouldn’t have.

How things shake out for Illinois on the gridiron and hard courts this year remains to be seen. But once a new chancellor is named, it’s difficult to imagine that he or she will be content with maintaining the status quo.

In the 1989 film “Batman,” Jack Nicholson’s “Joker” declared, “This town needs an enema.” He was talking about fictional Gotham City, but could have talking about real-world Champaign-Urbana, as everyone who cares about U. of I. sports is tired of seeing seasons – and the university’s reputation – spiral down the drain.

We’ve seen enough dark nights at Illinois.

It’s time for things to change, one way or another.