[McDunkin]

 Illinois keeps coming up empty in its search for a new basketball coach.

Butler coach Brad Stevens declined an offer by Illinois, and he released a statement Sunday saying he will remain with the Bulldogs.



Illinois was offering Stevens a lucrative contract, similar to what Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart also turned down, worth about $2.6 million annually, according to Tribune sources.



The search will now focus on Ohio coach John Groce, whose Bobcats lost to North Carolina on Friday in the NCAA tournament‘s Sweet 16.



Sources told the Tribune that Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas made a serious run at Stevens, working on a package that matched his current contract in length, securing him through 2021-22, and substantially increasing his salary. One source said the price tag was around $21 million for an eight-year contract.



"I am happy and extremely grateful to be the head coach at Butler University," said the statement from Stevens, who led the Bulldogs to the last two NCAA tournament title games, "and I am already looking forward to next season and the start of our postseason workouts in April."



Thomas has told Illinois’ board of trustees he wants to introduce the next Illini coach before leaving for the Final Four. Groce would be the sixth candidate on Thomas’ list, following Smart, Alabama’s Anthony Grant, Florida State‘s Leonard Hamilton, Washington’s Lorenzo Romar and Stevens.



Groce has Mid-American Conference ties, which falls in line with Thomas’ hiring history, and was also known as a strong recruiter when working as an assistant at North Carolina State, Butler, Xavier and Ohio State.



Chicago native D.J. Cooper was overlooked by Illinois — and turned down an offer by DePaul — to attend Ohio, where he led the team in scoring and appeared in two of the last three NCAA tournaments.



After Smart declined, Thomas targeted other minority candidates before regrouping and focusing on Stevens, sources said. Grant and Hamilton, according to a source, both had reservations about the uncertainty of administrative leadership after President Michael Hogan recently resigned amid scandal.



The board of trustees had emphasized the significance of hiring an African-American coach to Thomas. Two members had voted no on the contract of new football coach Tim Beckman, who is white.



Stevens and Groce are white.

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

[Wahoo757Participant]

It’s pretty sad to see what the Illinois basketball program has come to.

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

exactly what i was thinking man. As a life long Illini fan, it has been real rough couple of years. From the Lon Kruger years with Frank Williams and Brian Cook, who were perenial contenders, to Bill Self and his great recruiting to Bruce Weber taking those recruits to a championship game and now here we are in complete disarray. I was really really hoping Shaka was going to take the job but for me at this point, I would like them to bring in Lorenzo Romar. He used to coach at SLU so he knows the midwest. Also, at UDUB he shown the ability to land stud recruits. This is a premier basketball program and I hope before I get old and even more crusty, the Illini make it back at least a Final Four.

[BleedingBlueParticipant]

 I heard Chris Collins, who’s the associate head coach under Coach K, is the frontrunner for Illi right now.

[cominup7Participant]

It is somewhat hard to recruit D1 talent in the Chicago area because you have to get into the inner circle of all the AAU and high school coaches, but it is by no means impossible. Actually the Illini job has to be one of the top 15 basketball programs (potentially) to coach for. If the next coach can make inroads and create a pipeline in the Chicago Public League and also in the Peoria area, Illinois can become a perennial top 10 program.

Just look at a few of the Chicago area players making an impact for Tourney teams this year:

Anthony Davis (UK), DJ Cooper (Ohio), Lenzelle Smith (OSU), Dion Dixon (Cincy), Ryan Boatright (UCONN), Jack Cooley (Notre Dame)…there are 35 players on teams all together

The funny part is that none of these players, except Davis, were All-Americans, so the problem isn’t the talent in the area but Bruce Weber’s poor recruiting skills. The team that Weber took to the Final Four was built by master recruiter Bill Self, who knew to recruit talent rich IL hard (Dee Brown, Luther Head, Rich McBride, James Augustine, Roger Powell, Shaun Pruitt, Calvin Brock, etc.)

Dear next ILLINI coach: make RECRUITING ILLINOIS your TOP PRIORITY and you’ll be fine 

[F_DA_POParticipant]

What’s up with you constantly posting recycled articles that sites like ESPN covered a week ago?

[Author]

Posts