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Surprise, Surprise.

  • GOONx19
    Bruce Weber got canned. Who are the potential applicants for Illinois?

    http://espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/story/_/id/7664755/illinois-fighting-illini-bruce-weber-loses-job
  • gorocks99
    Bet they'll make a big push for Smart. Maybe Frank Martin. Illinois will throw a metric fuckton of money to get someone to try to clean up that mess.
  • vball10set
    Shaka Smart.
  • Skyhook79
    Lou Henson
  • Prescott
    Weber gets a $3.9 million buyout. I am in the wrong business.........FYI:ESPN is reporting that VCU's Shaka Smart could be the No. 1 target. Smart was an assistant at Akron when Thomas was the athletics director at the school.......I knew Smart would be the target, but I didn't know Illinois AD has a history with him.
  • Little Danny
    Mike Thomas (Illinois AD) has a history of pulling from the MAC conference (Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, the Toledo coach). Keep an eye on the hot coaching prospects from the MAC. Maybe the Akron coach (Thomas was the AD there before Cincinnati).
  • se-alum
    It would be interesting to see how Smarts style does in the B1G.
  • reclegend22
    Smart also is from the Midwest. Grew up in Madison and attended college in Ohio before taking the assistant coaching position at Akron. With all of that information, it sounds like a big time job in the Big Ten might be a comfortable fit for him.

    But I don't think Smart leaves VCU. I think he follows the path of Brad Stevens and stays there, continuing to build the school into a perennial basketball program in the pattern of Butler and Gonzaga, until a more prestigious job opens up. Although Wisconsin isn't one of those more "prestigious" jobs, being from Madison, you have to wonder if taking over the Badgers isn't something Smart might have in mind? I have no idea about that, though, just a hunch as Bo Ryan, although great, is 64.
  • reclegend22
    Dan Dakich seems to suggest that Illinois and Brad Stevens might still be a scenario. I guess we'll see.
  • gorocks99
    In other news, Doc Sadler got canned at Nebraska today.
  • Mulva
    Maybe Bruce Weber will take a huge paycut and go back to Southern Illinois.

    Chris Lowery messed them up worse than Bruce did to the Illini.
  • reclegend22
    Good call on Weber back to So. Illinois. I could easily see that happening, if he really desires to continue as a head coach and not go the Bobby Lutz route and pick-up an assistant gig at another top level school. However, Weber would have to swallow major pride in order to do so. (You don't make it to the Big Ten level in this business without at least a little bit of ego.)
  • LJ
    Talk about cleaning house.
    Head football coach- Gone
    Head Women's basketball coach- Gone
    Head Men's Basketball coach-Gone
  • 0311sdp
    LJ;1110401 wrote:Talk about cleaning house.
    Head football coach- Gone
    Head Women's basketball coach- Gone
    Head Men's Basketball coach-Gone
    As they all should be, Illinois is a great recruiting area for all sports, especially basketball with the greater Chicago area. No reason why the Illini should not be a contender year in and year out in all sports.
  • Classyposter58
    reclegend22;1110396 wrote:Good call on Weber back to So. Illinois. I could easily see that happening, if he really desires to continue as a head coach and not go the Bobby Lutz route and pick-up an assistant gig at another top level school. However, Weber would have to swallow major pride in order to do so. (You don't make it to the Big Ten level in this business without at least a little bit of ego.)
    Ha I don't know anyone who would take a demotion in their job back to the one they previously had after getting fired. That'd hurt anyone's ego