Everyone thinks I'm this big time Guenther fan, but I am definitely not on board with any fire Mike Thomas bandwagon...with one caveat.
I'm about winning programs more than marketing and radio contracts, so to me Illinois sports doesn't feel a whole lot different right now than it did when Guenther was on board. This is pretty much the sentiment expressed in the article by Wischnowsky posted yesterday, so it would at the very least be hypocritical of me to want MT fired.
More importantly, if you look at Thomas' hiring record I believe he's hired two men's basketball and three men's football coaches prior to coming to Illinois. Of those five coaches, four have been successful at least to the point of still being employed where he hired them or having gone on to bigger jobs. So he did come to Illinois with the proven ability to find coaches, albeit at lower levels.
Another factor is that Thomas made his fires and hires shortly after arriving at Illinois. As mentioned above this is a bigger stage than he oreviously had been on. Additionally, hiring coaches at Illinois comes with some challenges- the BOT, the history of the football program, etc. Thomas may not have been fully aware of those and fully equipped to handle the difficulties. Maybe he has the capability to learn and adjust, grow into the job.
A final factor in my mind, is the mathematics of sporing events. Half the contestants lose, therefore, roughly half the coaches have losing records and are "failures." There are mitigating factors- the ability to schedule wins, the greater than average resources at Illinois compared to other programs, the lower than average resources at Illinois compared to the rest of the BIG, our VG basketball history, our VP football history, etc. BUT the point is, a high percentage of coaching hires should be expected to have losing records and be considered "failures."
People, college athletics is very competitive and it's not easy hiring/retaining great coaches. Beyond that it's not easy knowing when you haven't hired the right coach. So unless I know that Thomas won't fix his problems, grow into the job, I'm up for him making the next hires at Illinois SHOULD THE NEED ARISE. My caveat is that if Thomss really does have trouble relating to coaches, finding people to hire, I'd have reservations that he could do the job at this level.
Also none of this post should be construed as me believing Groce should be fired.
I'm about winning programs more than marketing and radio contracts, so to me Illinois sports doesn't feel a whole lot different right now than it did when Guenther was on board. This is pretty much the sentiment expressed in the article by Wischnowsky posted yesterday, so it would at the very least be hypocritical of me to want MT fired.
More importantly, if you look at Thomas' hiring record I believe he's hired two men's basketball and three men's football coaches prior to coming to Illinois. Of those five coaches, four have been successful at least to the point of still being employed where he hired them or having gone on to bigger jobs. So he did come to Illinois with the proven ability to find coaches, albeit at lower levels.
Another factor is that Thomas made his fires and hires shortly after arriving at Illinois. As mentioned above this is a bigger stage than he oreviously had been on. Additionally, hiring coaches at Illinois comes with some challenges- the BOT, the history of the football program, etc. Thomas may not have been fully aware of those and fully equipped to handle the difficulties. Maybe he has the capability to learn and adjust, grow into the job.
A final factor in my mind, is the mathematics of sporing events. Half the contestants lose, therefore, roughly half the coaches have losing records and are "failures." There are mitigating factors- the ability to schedule wins, the greater than average resources at Illinois compared to other programs, the lower than average resources at Illinois compared to the rest of the BIG, our VG basketball history, our VP football history, etc. BUT the point is, a high percentage of coaching hires should be expected to have losing records and be considered "failures."
People, college athletics is very competitive and it's not easy hiring/retaining great coaches. Beyond that it's not easy knowing when you haven't hired the right coach. So unless I know that Thomas won't fix his problems, grow into the job, I'm up for him making the next hires at Illinois SHOULD THE NEED ARISE. My caveat is that if Thomss really does have trouble relating to coaches, finding people to hire, I'd have reservations that he could do the job at this level.
Also none of this post should be construed as me believing Groce should be fired.
