Hey everybody, let's get at it.

Replacing and getting big-name coordinators on both offensive and defensive sides does not make sense, in view of Zook having just one year left of security. No big namer (i.e.,Larry Johnson) in his right mind would consider knowing that Zook may very well be gone after next season.

It will have to be at least a two-season guarantee for Zook and big name coordinators to be around.

The idea sounds plausible but reality-wise, it is not going to work.

Zook is going to have to let go of his 'micro-management' of his coaches go. Has RG and Zook talked about this? (I wonder)

I just see no logic here. It has to involve changes within Zook (growth) and changes within the organizational functions and structure to be re-considered in line with guarantees internally and externally.

I just only hope that RG is trying to quiet things down 'til end of the season to make wholesale changes from top to bottom.

Thoughts?

A statement and a question:
Loren, Illinois does not need Superman, just a good head football coach.

Mr. Guenther has done many great things for U of I, but he has failed at hiring a good head football coach.

Why won't you hold him accountable for the failures of the football program?

Sincerely, Karl in Columbia IL

During the game today the ESPN broadcasters made reference to an incident that a curd, I believe he said last year. William and Benn sat out side a bar that Zook had made off limits to the team. They took down names of players that was going in and turned them into Zook.

Could this be what has divided this team?
Dan Brandon dbrandon54@live.com

Do you remember when the Miami Hurricane coach Randy Shannon came in and took over for their old coach because they kept losing? When he came in he didn't play may of the seniors during the 2007 season, he instead put in the underclassmen and those same underclassmen have led them to where they are today (bowl eligible).

With that said, why won't this coaching staff bench these seniors and play the underclassmen? They have absolutely nothing to lose for the rest of the season because they've already lost!

Leshoure...the most effective RB we have had since Mendenhall. Charest...did a nice job! Juice is not the man anymore, even Benn is losing it. Every week we do the same thing over and over- ITS NOT WORKING!

Do you think we should stop playing the seniors and play the underclassmen for the rest of the season on offense? We have NOTHING to lose

This is a very strange and eye opening quote.

"During a commercial break in his Thursday radio show, Zook made reference to the UI's erratic historic record and vented about "fighting something we can't see." After the game Saturday, Disch noted: "Look at the history of the place. It doesn't happen overnight, or often.""

Disch is right historically the Illini have not been great in football, but the FACT that this staff has had 5 years to turn this program around and still can't, despite having top 25 talent, is not "overnight". This staff has no answers.

I can't stand the lip service that the two Rons and his staff are giving all of us fans. Are all of us fans stupid?

I have heard Zook say a quote that I have heard a million times."Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the defenition of insanity...well isn't this EXACTLY what they are doing?

It is beyond dissapointing that NOTHING is going to change now.

Trust me...doing nothing now is going to hurt ALL of the sports teams not just the football team at the U of I.

The lack of success in football translates in millions of dollars in lost revenue for the ENTIRE sports department. The lack of butts in the seats, and the lack of donations coming in will more han offset the cost of keeping this staff. Surely Gunther knows this...I do!

Having a "lame duck staff" only hurts the program. The U of I will lose recruits nonetheless, and the sooner we get different people in here the more of the chance we can salvage this recruiting class.

Right now my beloved Illini are one of the biggest laughing stocks in college football. It is heard all over the radio, tv, and internet. The most dissapointing thing is we have top 20 talent. This is a sad state of Illini football.

What possible reason did Zook have for pulling Charest out on his drive that wound up inside the ten? Maybe they didn't practice that particular situation during the week, but that was his drive. He deserved to see it to its conclusion, even if we wound up with no points (which happened anyway!)

Loren,

I've been a season ticket holder since 1992, which of course means that I

Loren...I listen to the games on radio and wonder why they interview Coach Zook right after the game from the locker room? The poor man is so far down and upset you can hardly understand him...I'm sure it would be fun after a win, but what agony to listen to him after a loss.

Hey Guys,

As much as I want to complain about the football program, I will shy away from doing so (for now, anyway).

Sounds like Alex Legion was lights out during the O&B scrimmage. What, if anything, looked different about his play? Are you confident in his ability to carry his success in practice/scrimamge over to the regular season?

Thanks.

Loren, I keep wondering, where did Minnesota hire Tim Brewster from, was he a head coach or an assistant? Is there another ex-Illini that is coaching at the Division I or II Level?

Based on Guenther's commnets, Zook appears to be safe through next year.
Clearly, sweeping changes need to be made on the defense for next year. Why not bring in a bonafide DC (pay him) that could potentially be a head coaching candidate down the road? Had the right idea with Larry Johnson, but let's expand the pool of candidates.

Loren,
In your article "AD talks, but is anyone listening," you said that during a commercial break in his Thursday radio show, "Zook made reference to the UI's erratic historic record and vented about 'fighting something we can't see.' After the game Saturday, Disch noted: 'Look at the history of the place. It doesn't happen overnight, or often.'"

I will admit that their statements may be somewhat true. But why say those things publicly at this point? That is loser speak, and it's placing the blame on someone/something other than themselves.

These coaches need to finally admit they are out of their league. I hate to tell you this, but any modicum of hope this fan base had left in it is GONE after the severely retarded Ron Guenther gave his 52 second "press conference" at half time of Saturday's game.

Loren: Drove in from Indiana to see the O&B. My impression is that there will be s bit of a drop in defense, but we don't be as offensively challenged, so maybe a push. But the best thing was that his group seems to have good chemistry and works a a team. The flow seemed to be much better, with noticebly less "stationary" ball control, albeit the freshman at times had to be reminded of where they need to be. I think they will be fun to watch, but definately will have to work hard to beat Purdue, Michigan State and Minnesota. So how "excited" are you?

I think these are tough times for all of the Illini Nation. The admissions scandal, no one knows who is really in charge anymore as the university leadership is a mess, the anti-chief people are at it again asking everyone to turn in their chief apparel for "a different shirt", and then the woes of the football team. I think right now a lot of people just feel an indifference to the University. This could trickle down to the basketball team, just don't want to get too excited again only to be disappointed again. A little good news will start to bring people out again. Your thoughts on this.

Considering all of the aspects of the Illinois defense, which part do you think has been the biggest weak spot this year -- D-line, Line Backer, Corner or Safety? Also do you think we see more of Terry Hawthorne in the defensive backfield as the season goes on? Why haven't we seen more of him already?

I noticed two things about our receivers on Saturday. First, and most obvious, the play selection did not often have a deep alternative, and one could argue the the coordinator has no confidence in the pass protection, but more importantly, all year it has seemed that receivers do not break off and try to move to where they can get open when the quarterback is running for his life. This seems like poor coaching of receivers to me.

I was floored by Guenther's statements Saturday. Why not wait until the end of the season as was expected and as he indicated?
Were his actions driven by:
1. Costs to buy out Zook and his staff.
2. Belief that Zook can in fact turn it around.
3. The fact that he doesn't expect to be AD much longer and doesn't feel he should make that decision. Let the new AD do that.

Do you believe there will be a significant drop-off in season ticket or all ticket sales if Zook stays on? If I recollect correctly haven't season tickets grown from about 25,000 4 years ago to about 45,00 now? I would think that amount could drop easily by 10,000 given the track we are on and regardless of whether or not they are sason tickets 10,000 less tickets @ $40 each x six games = $2.4 million. That scenario can't look good to the DIA either can it? I have 4 season tickets and unless there is a coaching change I'm going to cancel mine.

I read a quote from Ron Gunther that here will be changes in the football program but not at the head coaching position. Does this mean that Mr. Gunther will be pressuring Coach Zook to replace many of his assistant coaches? Will Gunther be picking them or will Coach Zook? With every move Coach Zook makes and Gunther's statements, I am left confused as to what to expect the rest of this season and the entire 2010 season.

Possible solution: If it is too costly in terms of both money & recruiting to fire the coach, it might be more cost effective to spend that money on upgrading the coordinators.

Jeff Jagodzinski is unemployed last I checked (maybe Louisville calls him?) Bring him in at a nice salary to run the offense his way. Same on the defense, bring in the talent at $500K beats buying out the head coach altogether.

During Saturdays game one of the announcers brought up Juice and Benn reporting on players going to an off limits bar in the off season. He wondered if that had some of his teammates working against him.

Shortly after that Charest comes in and it looked like the pass blocking got a little better.

Do you think theres anything to this?

Loren and Jim,

Thanks for doing these chats. Why does Zook continue to not use his second half timeouts? I could see if we were down by 4 or 5 scores, but being down 10-14 points you never know whats going to happen. Another question, have either of you seen any upperclassmen improve under the current staff?

How can a great university like Illinois, in the fifth most populus state within travel times of very good recruiting grounds not have a consistently good football team.