I note in Tate's column Thomas wants to play more games at Soldier Field.  Wasn't it too small last time we played NW there?  Didn't they have to use only one endzone so both teams offense went the same direction the entire game?

Oh,wow is all I can say to this post...I hope you don't have a driver's license or vote!:)

nambere wrote: I note in Tate's column Thomas wants to play more games at Soldier Field.  Wasn't it too small last time we played NW there?  Didn't they have to use only one endzone so both teams offense went the same direction the entire game?

That was Wrigley Field.

Drinking early today, eh?

Dah!!!!  Insert foot.

On the contrary, it was too big.  Tens of thousands of empty seats.

BRucksJr wrote: On the contrary, it was too big.  Tens of thousands of empty seats.

When we played Washington State.  To my knowledge we've never played Northwestern there; if we did it would have been in the leather helmet era.

Maybe it would work now to play in chi every other yr or something like that but; I still think thomas is an idiot.

We are in trouble at the top of our very insignificant athletic dept. Believe me there is not much respect for Illinois athletics leadership in Chicago (or any where else right now).

Big Bob in Brandon

buglebob wrote: Maybe it would work now to play in chi every other yr or something like that but; I still think thomas is an idiot.

We are in trouble at the top of our very insignificant athletic dept. Believe me there is not much respect for Illinois athletics leadership in Chicago (or any where else right now).

Big Bob in Brandon

If this is true, then how did he attract Illini supporters in Chicago to be a part of the Chicago Athletics Advisory Board?  You make many blanket statements with very little meat on the bone, would you care to share specific examples with us?

Is there anything that MT could do to win you over?  What specific mistakes has he made that make you believe UofI is in trouble?  If you were the AD, what would you do to brand Illinois?

just wondering

On a side note, Soldier Field stinks for hockey (as I'm sure every other outdoor venue does).

edit: whoops, just saw the other thread.

PaytonHighstep wrote:

buglebob wrote: Maybe it would work now to play in chi every other yr or something like that but; I still think thomas is an idiot.

We are in trouble at the top of our very insignificant athletic dept. Believe me there is not much respect for Illinois athletics leadership in Chicago (or any where else right now).

Big Bob in Brandon

If this is true, then how did he attract Illini supporters in Chicago to be a part of the Chicago Athletics Advisory Board?  You make many blanket statements with very little meat on the bone, would you care to share specific examples with us?

Is there anything that MT could do to win you over?  What specific mistakes has he made that make you believe UofI is in trouble?  If you were the AD, what would you do to brand Illinois?

just wondering

He hasn't been here long enough to do much qand he surely has not, but - his biggest action to date was to fire a football coach and hire another with no clear cut path to follow.  This, friends, resulted in a clear step backwards from where we were with our biggest sport.

Thomas definitetly jumped off the bridge before he chk'd the depth of the water with that one.  He lucked out with a decent hire in basketball but not so lucky or smart with football.  Thomas is a minor leaguer that will never be able to gain favor from the vast majority of HS coaches around the state to be able to improve our in state recruiting and the staff in general does not have the pazzaz to recruit as well as the previous staff nationwide.

Add to that the fact that so far they don't coach as well and we have a loser.  I personally don't think that the coaching is going to get much better as well.

To finalize - it is a fact from people in Oh that many folks were happy to see this guy go when he got the Illinois job.  He is tough to work for with a lack of insight for our needs.

Time will not show this guy to be a good hire.  We can only watch and hope, but that is my opinion based on some decent knowledge from his previous work.  You can feel very optimistic if you want - but I don't have that feeling at all.

By the way - I don't want to be right about this football situation and I hope your feelings are more positive and correct - whatever they are; but, are you betting we go to a BCS bowl in the next cpl of years ?  Outback or Gator bowl ?

Big Bob in Brandon

i like what Thomas is doing thus far with the branding.  i like the changes to MS and I am a huge fan of the "Our Team, Our State" marketing.

That said, i feel like we are spinning our wheels trying to get into Chicago at this point.   I think we are trying to make a big splash early in Soldier Field when we are not ready for that.  Playing a competitive game in Chicago would be great - if we could keep it competitive.  We are going to play the best UW team in a decade there this season and i would be absolutely shocked if we don't get clubbed.  i see that as a setback, not a step forward.

you have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run.  stepping into Soldier Field against this UW team is asking for a beating, and the media narrative following a likely blow out will be "same old Illinois."  we would have been better off beating Miami of OH or even playing SIU (big Chicago alumni base for Southern) than UW.

buglebob wrote: 
  He lucked out with a decent hire in basketball

You can always tell when there is a personal agenda against somebody, when someone can't credit them for anything good that they seemingly do, but chalks it up to "luck".  MT made good football hires at Cincy, with both guys moving on to bigger jobs.  But I'm sure those were just "lucky" too. 

We'll see if Beckman turns out or not, but the Groce and Bollant hires look pretty excellent at this point.  Obviously the football hire is going to carry the most weight.

Again you pollute an otherwise innocuous thread with a diatribe dogging the AD and the coach. Why? We already know yor opinion because you insert it into almost every thread. Find something else to do with your time, you may feel better, I know I will.

buglebob wrote:

PaytonHighstep wrote:

buglebob wrote: Maybe it would work now to play in chi every other yr or something like that but; I still think thomas is an idiot.

We are in trouble at the top of our very insignificant athletic dept. Believe me there is not much respect for Illinois athletics leadership in Chicago (or any where else right now).

Big Bob in Brandon

If this is true, then how did he attract Illini supporters in Chicago to be a part of the Chicago Athletics Advisory Board?  You make many blanket statements with very little meat on the bone, would you care to share specific examples with us?

Is there anything that MT could do to win you over?  What specific mistakes has he made that make you believe UofI is in trouble?  If you were the AD, what would you do to brand Illinois?

just wondering

He hasn't been here long enough to do much qand he surely has not, but - his biggest action to date was to fire a football coach and hire another with no clear cut path to follow.  This, friends, resulted in a clear step backwards from where we were with our biggest sport.

Thomas definitetly jumped off the bridge before he chk'd the depth of the water with that one.  He lucked out with a decent hire in basketball but not so lucky or smart with football.  Thomas is a minor leaguer that will never be able to gain favor from the vast majority of HS coaches around the state to be able to improve our in state recruiting and the staff in general does not have the pazzaz to recruit as well as the previous staff nationwide.

Add to that the fact that so far they don't coach as well and we have a loser.  I personally don't think that the coaching is going to get much better as well.

To finalize - it is a fact from people in Oh that many folks were happy to see this guy go when he got the Illinois job.  He is tough to work for with a lack of insight for our needs.

Time will not show this guy to be a good hire.  We can only watch and hope, but that is my opinion based on some decent knowledge from his previous work.  You can feel very optimistic if you want - but I don't have that feeling at all.

By the way - I don't want to be right about this football situation and I hope your feelings are more positive and correct - whatever they are; but, are you betting we go to a BCS bowl in the next cpl of years ?  Outback or Gator bowl ?

Big Bob in Brandon

buglebob wrote:

PaytonHighstep wrote:

buglebob wrote: Maybe it would work now to play in chi every other yr or something like that but; I still think thomas is an idiot.

We are in trouble at the top of our very insignificant athletic dept. Believe me there is not much respect for Illinois athletics leadership in Chicago (or any where else right now).

Big Bob in Brandon

If this is true, then how did he attract Illini supporters in Chicago to be a part of the Chicago Athletics Advisory Board?  You make many blanket statements with very little meat on the bone, would you care to share specific examples with us?

Is there anything that MT could do to win you over?  What specific mistakes has he made that make you believe UofI is in trouble?  If you were the AD, what would you do to brand Illinois?

just wondering

He hasn't been here long enough to do much qand he surely has not, but - his biggest action to date was to fire a football coach and hire another with no clear cut path to follow.  This, friends, resulted in a clear step backwards from where we were with our biggest sport.

Thomas definitetly jumped off the bridge before he chk'd the depth of the water with that one.  He lucked out with a decent hire in basketball but not so lucky or smart with football.  Thomas is a minor leaguer that will never be able to gain favor from the vast majority of HS coaches around the state to be able to improve our in state recruiting and the staff in general does not have the pazzaz to recruit as well as the previous staff nationwide.

Add to that the fact that so far they don't coach as well and we have a loser.  I personally don't think that the coaching is going to get much better as well.

To finalize - it is a fact from people in Oh that many folks were happy to see this guy go when he got the Illinois job.  He is tough to work for with a lack of insight for our needs.

Time will not show this guy to be a good hire.  We can only watch and hope, but that is my opinion based on some decent knowledge from his previous work.  You can feel very optimistic if you want - but I don't have that feeling at all.

By the way - I don't want to be right about this football situation and I hope your feelings are more positive and correct - whatever they are; but, are you betting we go to a BCS bowl in the next cpl of years ?  Outback or Gator bowl ?

Big Bob in Brandon

Ok.  MT went after the sexy hire (Sumlin) and got beat out by a better program (Texas A&M).  He was rumored to go after a couple of other guys, but nothing is proven there, and ended up going with Beckman.  He tried to get the guy everyone wanted and it didnt' work out.  Zook's time was up and to think the season would have gone any different this past year (2-5 wins) is crazy talk.  The Illini program would be in worse shape because we would have 3 or 4 recruiting classes in a row where teams would be undercutting the Illini program with Zook being a lame duck Head Coach.  I would hope you can see that?

I am a resident of the suburbs of Chicago and I will be at Soldier Field rooting on the Illini.  I look forward to being able to do this every year or every other year!  I think it is a great thing to build an image up here and tap into some of these OL targets this staff and the previous staff have missed on up here over the last 3 seasons.

I like Soldier Field from the inside and think it can be a good venue for the Illini to hold an event at and really make inroads with the alumi base in Chicago.  Will the Illini be able to invite recruits to this game like any other home game?  I think there is real value in this to sell to Chicago area kids, telling them they will play a game in Chicago every year for friends and family to attend.

Bob, try taking a positive approach sometimes.  I am not saying be a kool-aid drinker, but I don't think MT or TB are trying to go 2-10.  I believe they are trying to build a winner and a program on solid footing.  I think TB really had a problem with the depth chart and how it was left.  I think he is on the right track building the depth as well.  This doesn't happen overnight and I feel that is where posters are making a mistake expecting instant results from a program that hasn't been a consistent winner since the late 80'/early 90's.