Memory Lane: Bruce Weber's 100th day

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EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF THE NEWS-GAZETTE

This week: Bruce Weber's transition from Southern Illinois to the Big Ten was a bit hectic. Beat writer Brett Dawson discovered that much for his story on the new Illinois coach's first 100 days.

Date: Aug. 10, 2003

Headline: Weber hasn't stopped for a breath yet in first 100 days at UI

By BRETT DAWSON

CHAMPAIGN – Last Thursday afternoon, Larry Lubin sat courtside and watched the Illinois men's basketball team practice in preparation for its trip to Europe.

Shortly after Lou Henson's first Illini recruit left the building, Shaun Pruitt, who someday might become Bruce Weber''s first Illinois commitment, took his spot on the sideline at the Ubben Basketball Complex.

Frank Williams showed up, too. And Sergio McClain. They took part in practice, running through drills with current players.

It's fitting, perhaps, that a day with so many links to Illinois' past – and perhaps its future – had its own historic significance. It was the 100th day since Weber was introduced as head coach of the Illini.

It's been a whirlwind three months for the former Southern Illinois coach, who took over when Bill Self left for Kansas.

But he's enjoying the bumpy ride.

"What's that old saying about being careful what you wish for?" Weber said. "Well, that's what happened."

Not that Weber has regrets.

When he watches Dee Brown sprint the floor or sees Deron Williams deliver a pinpoint pass, he realizes how lucky he is.

But for all the good that's come from Weber's move to Illinois, the first 100 days of his tenure have been far from perfect.

He has spent almost all of his time separated from his wife and three daughters, who only recently relocated from Carbondale to Champaign.

Besides readying for a trip to Europe, Weber is scrambling to shake hands with boosters and media members since the minute he set foot on the Illinois campus.

And then there's the matter of recruiting, where Weber is fighting to keep up after getting a late start on the high school class of 2004.

"Sometimes it seems like you're never caught up," Weber said. "I think it takes about a year to get your feet wet in a job. It's been overwhelming at times. There are days when you just say to yourself, 'Just get me through the day.' "

Family matters

Weber figures the next nine days – during which Illinois will play six games on a tour of Sweden, Estonia and Finland – will be the most fun ones of his brief tenure at Illinois.

And though he hardly could hide his anticipation for the European tour most of the summer, Weber also looks forward to the day it ends and he returns home.

Because Weber's daughters register for school this week – his oldest two, Hannah and Christy, will attend Centennial – his family isn't making the trip to Europe. That means that just a week after his wife and daughters finally joined him in Champaign, Weber jetted off for another week without them.

"Early on, I was so busy that there really was no sense in them being here, but you get into that third month and it gets tough being away from them," Weber said. "We're trying to sell a house and buy a house, and we've got kids and we''ve got dogs, and my wife is trying to handle all of this by herself.

"There were times I'd call down there, and they'd say, 'Please come help us.' You really come to appreciate your wife and her patience. It's tough being a coach's wife or even a coach's child. It's a crazy, hectic life."

Not that Weber's hasn't been equally dizzying.

Birth of a salesman

With oral commitments from four top 100 high school seniors, Indiana coach Mike Davis has spent this summer laying the foundation for what might become the nation's best recruiting class.

Two of the top players in the state of Illinois – wing men Xavier Price and DeAaron Williams, neither of whom had scholarship offers from Illinois - have cast their lot with Big Ten schools Purdue and Wisconsin, respectively.

And two of the Illini''s top targets in the frontcourt chose other schools last month, when Oklahoman Darnell Jackson picked Kansas and Kalen Grimes of Florissant, Mo., chose Missouri.

Meanwhile, Weber has yet to secure a commitment.

He's not sweating.

Weber knew coming in that this would be a tough recruiting year, given the fact he wasn''t hired by Illinois in time to make in-home visits to juniors in the spring or to get in on the first wave of phone calls to the Class of 2004.

"I've said before, we're going to have to get lucky this year," Weber said. "If we can get a kid or two we feel good about this year, that puts us in good shape. Then we just have to make sure that the next class, when we have to get four, is really strong."

There is some reason for optimism. Illinois remains in the thick of the recruiting race for its top target, point guard Shaun Livingston of Peoria Central, a consensus top-10 player in the senior class.

And Pruitt, a 6-foot-8 inside-out threat from Aurora West, said this week he's only seriously interested in two schools: Illinois and Michigan State.

"I'm getting to know Coach Weber a lot better," Pruitt said. "I like what they do offensively, and he seems like a really good guy."

So little time

Recruiting isn't the only thing keeping Weber on his toes this summer.

Since shortly after taking the job, he's been a hot commodity on the speaking circuit, which has taken him to meet alumni groups in Springfield, Peoria and Chicago, among other stops.

Between that and the steady stream of interview requests from media outlets across the state and the nation – ESPN.com did a feature on Weber's first 100 days last week – Weber said he sometimes feels he hardly gets a moment to himself.

Not that he was expecting many.

As an assistant to Gene Keady at Purdue, Weber got a look at the demands on a head coach''s time. But until you''ve been through it yourself, Weber said, there's no way to prepare.

"I had been in the Big Ten a long time, and I watched Coach Keady and I had an idea of how busy he was, but this is bigger than I even imagined," Weber said. "And I haven't even done the golf outings yet."

The days ahead

The golf outings will come. And more importantly, so will the games.

Illinois has a demanding preconference schedule, and this week's European trip was set up with an eye toward the late fall, when the Illini will take the court for the first time against outside competition.

Weber likes what he's seen from the players he has, and he likes how much of them he saw last week during the practices the NCAA allows for teams taking overseas tours.

"You see Dee do things that are just amazing, and Deron is so good," Weber said. "Those are the two guys wehadn't seen in the beginning (while they were in Greece with USA Basketball). And I like what the other guys are doing, too. I still don't know how it compares to the rest of the Big Ten, let alone the rest of the country. We'll get a taste of that in November and December."

For now, Weber hopes to put a good taste in his team's mouth with a 10-day trip that he hopes will bring his team closer together.

"He seems pretty cool, and the style of play looks like it's going to be a lot of fun," Williams said. "It's just nice for us that we're getting this chance to get to know him, and he''s getting to get a feel for all of us."

In Weber's eyes, his entire 100-day feeling-out process for the Illinois job has been a success.

But he's looking forward even more to the next 100. And the 165 after that.

"I think it probably takes you a year to get really comfortable in a job, but even then, things don't really slow down," Weber said. "I told my wife 22 years ago when we got married — this was one of our early years at Purdue — 'Once we get this program established, things will settle down.' Well, it's 22 years later, and that still hasn't happened."

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