I never said Maryland was a top-10 program. I said it was a better job than Illinois (it still is), which is why I'm not surprised he didn't take the top-10 job in Champaign.

The list of jobs that are better than the Illinois is way longer than 9 - that was the whole point.

Now that Illinois was so public about the $$ that was offered, they are gonna have to offer way too much money to what will probably be a lesser coach. Again - past history/success does not matter much when big time coaches are deciding where they are going to work (with very few exceptions = UCLA).

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Well, to be fair, not that it matters at this point, but I never said Illinois was a Top 10 program (other than that first list which was meant to be tongue-in-cheek).

They are probably somewhere between 12-20 with all those schools about the same.

I think Illinois will still hire a very high-quality coach. Thomas seems to have made the mistake of throwing a lot of money to a guy that doesn't really care about money.

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You know me like that.

Tongue in cheek? You spent the rest of the day arguing that point? Anyway....

(According to Bernstein, so who knows) Thomas also included guarantees about facility upgrades that hadn't been promised before (not sure what that means?). But that's two big things they promised him that still didn't sway him to come to Illinois.

Frank Martin would be a good hire in one sense, but it sure seems like there are a lot of "whispers" about his way of doing things. Not sure Illinois wants that potential mess.

Why not go for the Butler coach?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

why is everything in the state of Illinois always fucked up?

If you want to attract somebody, build the facility first, then try to impress somebody with it.

Kind of like saying, hey honey, if you marry me, I'll lose this beer gut.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Sure. Sounds good.

I just don't want Leonard Hamilton so expect the press conference announcing him as the new coach sometime tomorrow afternoon.

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You know me like that.

You seemed so outraged at the notion that it seemed like fun.

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You know me like that.

The definition of "outraged" gets stretched every day around here.......

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M&H had a guy from the sporting news on this morning. He was arguing that being a 'basketball school' is no longer a selling point to coaches. That they rather be at a football school and benefit from the financial windfall that comes from that. Said that most coaches wouldn't leave Alabama for the Illinois job as an example. Similar pay now that college coaches are getting paid but with a fraction of the expectations.

Interesting. Not sure I completely agree.

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Team Cutler.

Nostra-freakin-damus.

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That might have been Mike DeCourcy, the Sporting News' college hoops' scribe who also is a frequent guest with Mac & Spiegs.

My guy has confirmed that reps from Illinois flew to Indy this morning and the flight returned to Champaign about 10 minutes ago.

My guy is going to find out who is on that plane and then tell me if he knew that already.

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You know me like that.

I am glad I am not paying that fuel bill. Not sure about this move if they are cherry picking from Butler.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Brad Stevens shoots down the Illinois rumors.

To paraphrase: "What you talkin' bout, Willis?"

Stevens rumors not dead yet. Mike Thomas is wining and dining him at an undisclosed location (The Beefhouse).

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Brad Stevens out. Pat Groce now focus.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-0326-illinois-basketball--20120326,0,1634851.story

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Like football, like basketball.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Wow. U of I athletic program is a shit show. Turned down by both the VCU & Butler head coach? Whats next, Robert Smith from Simeon HS turning them down?

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

What if Groce turns them down?

Is it Reggie TheUs then?

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Ohio is a shit school in a low major basketball conference. He will take the job.

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Oh I think he will as well.

I'm just specumulatin.

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We now have enough evidence to show that Mike Thomas is incompetent as an AD. First of all, you don't fire someone without having 1 or 2 people who you have already spoken with as being a possible replacement, ready to go. Second of all, you don't go public with who you are making an offer to unless you have already had discussions with the person & they have agreed to come work for you.
I get the impression that Thomas is just sending offers out to people & telling the media & crossing his fingers.
By the time you get to the offer stage of the hiring process, you should already know if the candidate is going to take the offer or not. Money along with every aspect of the job should be discussed beforehand & agreed to, then the offer becomes merely a formality. A good Manager who does his due diligence & communicates with potential candidates should never ever have an offer declined.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Robert Smith will be the new coach and he'll bring Sonny Parker's son (Jabari) with him.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

See, now I think Mike Thomas has an awesome plan.

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I guess you could say working in CPS where rules are rarely enforced is sort of like the NCAA. Or at least good practice.

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I joked in another post that Smith will be the next guy to turn down the Illini job.
If Thomas actually hires Smith, this program is in even worse shape that we thought.
Someone should ask Seth Davis if he still thinks Illinois is a top 10 job.
At this point, it isn't top 40.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

You don't hear much about a College Program naming a High School Coach there head coach, especially a School people have heard of.

Going to Ohio, probably tired of being turned down by other coaches, instead of possibly going for some guy that people have heard of, like Mack at Xavier or Drew from Baylor.

I'm not sure which bland douchebag was hosting on the Score at 7:00 last night but the guy was a complete moron.

First I heard him say the Sox rotation has a lot of question marks. I suppose that's true in as much as we don't know what any pitcher in history is going to do before he does it, but the White Sox obviously have what appears to be the most solid top to bottom rotation in the AL Central. If you're going to criticize the White Sox, there are far better places to attack than the five competent starting pitchers.

Then this dope got on Illinois. He stated that the Illini have no football history or tradition. I suppose if the station's baseball expert doesn't know who 1965 AL MVP Zoilo Versalles is, I shouldn't really expect that the Millennial dummy filling in on a Sunday night shift has ever heard of Red Grange or Dick Butkus or Ernie McMillan or Ray Nitschke.

Finally, before I pushed the fuckin' button, I heard him framing the Illini coaching search in a manner suggesting that there is something wrong with the U of I. I think in any other situation, if a man were to be offered the same job at twice the pay at a different company, we might well be asking what's wrong with the man rather than the company making the offer.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

If I hear about Zoilo Versalles one more goddamn time.....

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