"Illinois currently has the 3rd best football program in the state, behind Northern Illinois and Northwestern. What is your plan for ending this embarrassment, and how will you carry it out?"
We of course need the right AD to ask this question to ensure we get the right coach. We talk about spending the big bucks to get coaches, but maybe we're aiming too low. Perhaps we should first spend it one level up the chain, to get a good AD who we know will make good coaching hires. How much would it take to ensure we get a good one? Would $1.1 million, double what we're paying Mike Thomas, do the trick?
If you were to ask me who would be the ideal AD to pose that question and sift through coaching candidates, I would say Craig Tiley. He earned the Illinois tennis job by laying out a vision for building a program, and he successfully executed it, building from nothing a team that rose to the top of college tennis under his watch. Would a salary of $1M/year or greater be enough to bring him back from Australia? Whether it's him or someone else comparable, I want my alma mater to put in the necessary coin and get it done.
We of course need the right AD to ask this question to ensure we get the right coach. We talk about spending the big bucks to get coaches, but maybe we're aiming too low. Perhaps we should first spend it one level up the chain, to get a good AD who we know will make good coaching hires. How much would it take to ensure we get a good one? Would $1.1 million, double what we're paying Mike Thomas, do the trick?
If you were to ask me who would be the ideal AD to pose that question and sift through coaching candidates, I would say Craig Tiley. He earned the Illinois tennis job by laying out a vision for building a program, and he successfully executed it, building from nothing a team that rose to the top of college tennis under his watch. Would a salary of $1M/year or greater be enough to bring him back from Australia? Whether it's him or someone else comparable, I want my alma mater to put in the necessary coin and get it done.
