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Illinois Basketball: Tough, but necessary, decision for Josh Whitman

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 21, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders run on the court before a basketball game against the Missouri Tigers at Scottrade Center. Illinois won 75-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders run on the court before a basketball game against the Missouri Tigers at Scottrade Center. Illinois won 75-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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An era of Illinois basketball ended yesterday with the firing of John Groce.

This decision wasn’t easy for athletic director Josh Whitman. He had to fire a head coach with a family, but he also had to let go his friend who he developed a relationship with.

Groce has been with the Illinois basketball program for five seasons now and one thing almost all people have said about him was how good of a person he is on and off the court.

It is always sad, even for those calling for a coaching change, when someone gets let go. That feeling after it happens is almost out-of-body and you are kind of not sure what to do next.

Groce will land somewhere, I am thinking Cleveland State because former Illini AD Mike Thomas is now the AD there as well. I hope nothing but the best for Groce and my opinions on his coaching had nothing to do with the opinions of him as a person.

But Illinois is now entering into a new era of basketball. Whitman has a huge job on his hands to find the right coach, and during his press conference, he gave everyone his outline of how he will go about the search.

I am excited about the future for multiple reasons.

The first reason that I am excited is because Whitman isn’t hiring a search firm. This means he will be hands-on in the hiring process and that is great news for this program.

Another reason I am excited is because this team does have talent on the roster right now. There are some good recruiting classes on the roster just waiting to burst out and start winning.

In addition to the players on the roster, there is also a class of 2017 waiting in the wings and adding those players to the mix is huge for the next head coach.

Also, I can’t wait to see who the next head coach will be. I have wanted Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall for quite some time and there have already been reports that Whitman is going to dump some top dollar into the next leader.

Next: Final top 5 coaches to replace John Groce

Whoever the next head coach is going to be, I am excited about the future. Yesterday was a tough, but necessary, transition into the future. I now truly believe that we will win.

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