I know the title is a pretty darn bold statement. How did Josh Whitman save Illinois basketball, football and athletics only a year into the job?
There are lots of reasons, but I have found three main ones.
Firings
This always sucks because when someone is fired they lose their job and their entire coaching staff usually does too. Whitman’s first day on the job included the firing of head football coach, Bill Cubit.
The reason Cubit had the job was because Tim Beckman was fired right before the 2015 season, and the interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson decided to have Cubit remain coach for two more years. Whitman found this not good enough and ultimately let him go. The football program was a mess and Whitman made the first step in turning it around.
Basketball head coach John Groce was given one more year after one of the worst seasons in school history, though. Of course, a lot of the blame that season was on injuries, and rightfully so. This past season, however, just did not meet fans expectations. The team went 18-14 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
Whitman and Groce were good friends, so the firing was surely a hard one for him to make. He did it, though, and he now has the men’s basketball program back on track.
Matt Bollant was the latest firing for Whitman. Bollant, former women’s basketball head coach, had high expectations when brought in and he was thought of to be the best hire Mike Thomas made. Well, after racism accusations, the program took a turn for the worst.
Bollant was never able to recover and the program has been abysmal. Whitman again did the right thing, but he fired a good person and a good staff. Making the hard but right decision has proved to be beneficial to the university.
Hirings
Now onto the fun part. Who has Whitman brought in to replace the people he fired? Proven WINNERS.
Whitman hired Lovie Smith to be the football head coach his second day on the job. That, of course, was splashy and everyone was on board. Smith had been to a Super Bowl and he is well respected across all levels of football. Illinois has not seen this type of head coach with this type of staff (most NFL experience in all of college football by the way) in its history.
Whitman made the home run hire here. He resurrected the football program almost overnight. Despite a 3-9 season last year, the future is very bright.
Only eight days after head volleyball coach Kevin Hambly left to coach Stanford (can you blame him), Whitman brought in Chris Tamas. So far, Tamas has secured top notch recruits and has been an assistant on winning programs. It sure is hard to replace Hambly, but Tamas seems promising.
Whitman sure moves quickly. It took him seven days to find his next men’s basketball head coach. That coach happened to be none other than Brad Underwood.
Underwood went 53-1 in conference play at Stephen F. Austin and he claims famous upsets over VCU and West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. He was met with national acclaim, as many popular beat writers for ESPN and Yahoo! Sports said that Illinois made a slam-dunk hire.
At Oklahoma State, Underwood took a 12-20 team to a 20-12 team in his only season. He wins everywhere he goes. Underwood is 109-27 is his career and he is the third fastest all-time to reach that mark.
The women’s basketball program also needed a coach, and of course, Whitman found the right person in a week. Nancy Fahey was named the new leader of Illini women’s basketball. She is winningest DIII coach of all-time and she boasts four national titles. In all of the NCAA, she trails only Geno Auriemma for most wins. I know the jump from DIII to DI would scare most, but coaching is coaching, and Nancy Fahey is in the Hall of Fame because of it.
Press Conferences/Social Media
This is probably my favorite part about Josh Whitman. He constantly just oozes confidence and belief in this athletics program during press conferences. Whitman inspires all of the Illini community to invest into this program.
In almost all of his press conferences, he says things that bring chills to any Illini fan. We truly are lucky to have someone so passionate and so charismatic leading Illinois athletics. I would say that Whitman is the antithesis of Mike Thomas. He has personal relationships with his coaches and he really believes in everything he does.
Fans should rest easy. Whitman is one of the best ADs in the Big Ten and all of the country. Beyond hiring and firing people, Whitman makes many appearances at all athletic events. From gymnastics to football, Whitman can be seen. He takes every sport seriously and it shows. His twitter presence is undeniable. Most of his tweets are well-timed, and he makes sure all coaches can be found on Twitter. Lovie Smith is probably the most active, but it is still cool to see everyone on social media.
Next: Optimistic outlook for the 2017-2018 season
Josh Whitman is inspiring fans and making all the right decisions. With him leading Illinois athletics, I truly believe that We Will Win. Go Illini.