I had a great Illini experience today that I wanted to share.
I work at Marion High School in Southern Illinois. We have a young man (Darryl Sullivan) who currently has the highest high jump in the country so far this year, at 7'3". (His previous PR was 6'10", which he recorded last year.) As you can expect, our phone has been ringing off the hook for the past two weeks. He has full ride offers from every track and field program you can imagine, including Oregon, Arkansas, and most of the SEC.
This brings me to today. Illini Head T&F Coach Mike Turk visited our school talk to Darryl. I was fortunate enough to sit in the meeting. I was blown away by him and his presentation. What impressed me was that he spent very little time discussing track and field. Rather, he focused on how he and the program would provide Darryl with every thing he needed to be successful academically and in life. He discussed how his program was a family and he cared far more about Darryl, the person, than Darryl, the high jumper. I have never met Coach Turk before today (and I'm not really a T&F guy), but he sure appeared to be a class act. As an alum, I was extremely proud of how he represented the University of Illinois.
Afterwards, I could not resist the urge to ask him about Josh Whitman and Lovie. He had great things to say about both. He called JW "brilliant" and said he loves working for him already. He said JW envision Illinois being the best athletic program in the country.
He also told me that he was walking a T&F recruit around campus the day Lovie was in the Illini Union. He said that he introduced himself to Lovie and then introduced the recruit to Lovie. Coach Turk said that Lovie stopped in the midst of all the activity and spent some time talking to the recruit and encouraged him to become an Illini.
Great experience. Hope you enjoyed!
I work at Marion High School in Southern Illinois. We have a young man (Darryl Sullivan) who currently has the highest high jump in the country so far this year, at 7'3". (His previous PR was 6'10", which he recorded last year.) As you can expect, our phone has been ringing off the hook for the past two weeks. He has full ride offers from every track and field program you can imagine, including Oregon, Arkansas, and most of the SEC.
This brings me to today. Illini Head T&F Coach Mike Turk visited our school talk to Darryl. I was fortunate enough to sit in the meeting. I was blown away by him and his presentation. What impressed me was that he spent very little time discussing track and field. Rather, he focused on how he and the program would provide Darryl with every thing he needed to be successful academically and in life. He discussed how his program was a family and he cared far more about Darryl, the person, than Darryl, the high jumper. I have never met Coach Turk before today (and I'm not really a T&F guy), but he sure appeared to be a class act. As an alum, I was extremely proud of how he represented the University of Illinois.
Afterwards, I could not resist the urge to ask him about Josh Whitman and Lovie. He had great things to say about both. He called JW "brilliant" and said he loves working for him already. He said JW envision Illinois being the best athletic program in the country.
He also told me that he was walking a T&F recruit around campus the day Lovie was in the Illini Union. He said that he introduced himself to Lovie and then introduced the recruit to Lovie. Coach Turk said that Lovie stopped in the midst of all the activity and spent some time talking to the recruit and encouraged him to become an Illini.
Great experience. Hope you enjoyed!
