Ok, here's the premise - Whitman knows he can hire Lovie Smith, but sensing that this season would be a dud, he decides to let Cubit coach out the year. Would Illinois football be better off over
a) The short term - specifically the 2017 & 2018 recruiting classes...;
b) The long term...
If Lovie was coming into the program in 2 weeks. Does the stink of this season stick to him? Would he be able to hire better coaches by not trying to do it in the Spring? Would he be better off selling hope to the 2017 class without them having seen any of this year? Or would Cubit taking a bunch of MAC level recruits all year set us back? Are the 10-11 guys Lovie has now better than the 20 or so Cubit might have had?
I worry that Purdue will hire someone competent or with at least as much name recognition as Lovie, be it an up and comer like Fleck or a Les Miles, and due to the timing of the hiring, it's all roses and good will during the rest of the recruiting cycle. Lovie, on the other hand, will be dealing with negative recruiting based on this season.
a) The short term - specifically the 2017 & 2018 recruiting classes...;
b) The long term...
If Lovie was coming into the program in 2 weeks. Does the stink of this season stick to him? Would he be able to hire better coaches by not trying to do it in the Spring? Would he be better off selling hope to the 2017 class without them having seen any of this year? Or would Cubit taking a bunch of MAC level recruits all year set us back? Are the 10-11 guys Lovie has now better than the 20 or so Cubit might have had?
I worry that Purdue will hire someone competent or with at least as much name recognition as Lovie, be it an up and comer like Fleck or a Les Miles, and due to the timing of the hiring, it's all roses and good will during the rest of the recruiting cycle. Lovie, on the other hand, will be dealing with negative recruiting based on this season.
