Illinois Fires John Groce
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/840665427500007424
Says Auerbach. Never seemed to get it together and that program should probably be good with Chicago right there.
Will it help them or hurt in the NIT?
you're using a timeout to guilt-trip your players into playing better against Michigan while Coach Beilein is discussing Strategy to use against the Illini...
He got hired because he beat Michgan. He got fired because he couldn't beat Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament.
Maybe Illinois should use other criteria for hiring and firing their coaches. Something more relevant to their own school, perhaps?
Decent chance he'll end up at Cleveland St. Wonder where Illinois goes from here. They need a guy with Chicago ties and Groce certainly wasn't that.
Heard Belein would be fired after the season about a month ago, he would be a good hire it seems
Realistically though, they could look into Billy Donlon. His firing at Wright St. was odd to begin with since he was coming off his strongest year yet and he's from Illinois.
About how to run an offense, like Belein with Donlon's defense, he will be a great coach. Hope he stays here awhile
OP says: "... that program should probably be good with Chicago right there."
You say: "They need a guy with Chicago ties ..."
I say: If they want to get high-end Chicago players, they need to do some combination of what Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke are doing. (Never mind the "tradition" for a moment ...) Nothing a whole lot of slime couldn't fix ...
If you're going to be a Chicago Player, you're going to have to get your hands dirty. If they want to do it another way, they'll have to be satisfied with the leftovers and whatever they can gather in the Midwest.
That's part of it, but you can still find good players in Chicago the right way. Collins has recruited Law (top 100 guy), Jordan Ash (top 250), and Scottie Lindsey. All Chicago guys who help them out. I doubt they're doing anything to dirty and they've had great success. There's tremendous depth in Chicago HS hoops and getting a guy who is aware of the environment and can find the right guys is important.
Couldn't agree more, Chicago bball recruiting is FILTHY and all the big programs pillage talent from there. It's like Rutgers trying to keep football talent in New Jersey.
Honestly, they probably need to start cheating heavy if they want to really win, otherwise they are a middle tier B1G team.
Just in: @IlliniMBB fires John Groce.@BTNTomDienhart's take » https://t.co/bOQYX93cQ5 pic.twitter.com/F4cSxislPu
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 11, 2017
Groce wore too many white collars
My thoughts exactly
If you can't beat white collar teams I guess you get booted.
like I said in that other thread, kind of the immaculate loss.
Tri-Champion team had given every last ounce they had grinding their way to a totally improbable title.
They were going nowhere in the NCAAs, they had nothing left.
Lose to Ohio U, get Caris, deliver signature beatdown after signature beatdown on Groce's Illinois. Seriously, it seemed like every time we needed a huge win, there was Illinois waiting on the schedule, and we didn't just get the W, but we lit them up.
And then the gift of Maverick's ill-fated diss.
All these things might not happen if a gassed UM team doesn't crap out again Groce, getting him the Illinois gig.
Yes, that was key. They were always just good enough to give us that top 50 or 100 win we needed to put us on the right side of the bubble.
HEY JOHN GROCE: pic.twitter.com/ud1Ao9TXu1
— Illini Barstool (@BarstoolILL) March 11, 2017
Adios, thank you for Caris LeVert.
Tom Crean should be available.
Maybe they can go after Thad Matta. I can't imagine his seat being very cool right now.
Won't this be their 3rd coach in 6 years.
They had Bruce Weber for nine years (2003-12) and then Groce for five. I guess technically you would be right about three coaches in six years (when they hire the new one) but that's a bit misleading.
Firing an underperforming coach after five years seems pretty normal to me. How long would you expect them to keep him? We're talking about a program that nearly went undefeated and played in the national title game a little over a decade ago, and now it can't make the tournament.
Yeah, they'll probably lose some transfers/recruits, but that's true of every coaching change.
(Don't get me wrong, as a Michigan fan I'm sorry he's fired, since we beat him 90% of the time.)
One of my favorite moments vs Groce
he was one "r" short of being a grocer. oh what could have been
Some people are make their feelings on this very clear, of course:
If any other schools want to hire John Groce just remember......... pic.twitter.com/mQf9aGAwpw
— Peyton Russell (@IlliniPeyton) March 11, 2017
Don't all their coaches wear those?
Knowing how little money Illinois seems willing to throw money into athletics, I wonder if they go after a guy like Peter Moser from Loyola. He's not really a good coach but he can recruit for a school with almost no draw for athletes. And it would be such an Illinois hire. Not saying they should get him, but it would be hilarious if they did.
On a side note, Richmond's head coach just pulled a Chris Webber. He called a timeout when they had none. That is unexcusable for a head coach.
What "big name" retread are they going to hire in his place?
A. Larry Brown
B. Billy Gillispe
C. Pat Knight
D. Tubby Smith
...in all honesty, they should wait to see if (and hope) Fred Hoiberg gets fired. If that happens, break the bank for him.