The term "have-not" is very misleading. If you look at the amount of exposure that the University of Illinois gets from its athletics, I would bet that it is up there with Ohio State. Plus, the University of Illinois does it for half the price. Plus, from a basketball persepective Illinois is as competitive or more competitive than Ohio State.

Posted by ax474 on November 18, 2009 at 9:46 AM  |  Suggest Removal

I believe both terms are misleading because I believe for schools like Illinois, Minnesota and Indians it is a league of the "wills" and the "will nots". It is the difference between schools/states that recognize the importance of athletics on a big time school's image and those that are not marketing savvy enough to recognize it.

Posted by blmillini on November 18, 2009 at 10:10 AM  |  Suggest Removal

this just shows how incompetent Coach Guenther is. Football is the main revenue sport and he's driven it into the toilet.

Posted by MarkHoekstra on November 18, 2009 at 10:14 AM  |  Suggest Removal

Not that anyone would bother, but you need to read the entire article to understand how the numbers are calculated. You also need to look at how many sports are supported. For example, OSU supports twice as many athletes and carries twelve more sports than Illinois which obviously requires more more "expenditure".

Posted by IlliniCB on November 18, 2009 at 11:16 AM  |  Suggest Removal

It would be interesting to see how the players have done with their academics comparatively speaking across the 11 institutions, not excluding graduate rates, and the like. Rumors seem to be everywhere that certain BigTen Schools have lower academic standards compared to others within the BigTen, for example, entrance requirements, progress criteria and grade standards, completion success rates leading to an acadmeic degree, and so forth.

Posted by kfj on November 18, 2009 at 2:38 PM  |  Suggest Removal

Very telling.Time for the Ron's to wave bye bye!

Posted by Martin09 on November 18, 2009 at 3:21 PM  |  Suggest Removal

There's two sports that make money: football and men's basketball, and they support all the rest. Both turned a profit, but imagine how profitable the football team could be if there was a remotely competent AD in charge.

Posted by IlliniOllie on November 18, 2009 at 7:08 PM  |  Suggest Removal

Unfortunately, Illinois will continue to be a Have-not for as long as Guenther is the AD. 18 years, 5 bowl games and 10th in the Big 10 in wins - that is Guenther's legacy. A balanced budget and not getting investigated by the NCAA is the priority of this administration - two things with which he has been reasonably successful. Winning is secondary. Our motto should be: ILLINOIS - where 10th is good enough!

Posted by BelieveInIllinois on November 18, 2009 at 7:47 PM  |  Suggest Removal

This is precisely what you get when you have a football program that goes to 3 bowl games in 15 years.

This goes back to the awful mismanagement of the football program from the top down.

The DIA is a living breathing example of tripping over dollars to pick up dimes. It appears they have no big picture outlook, or understand the importance of buying victory games in order to have a long term payoff such as low tier bowl games, which if done consecutively, can lead to better bowl games, which leads to better ticket sales, which leads to the ability to raise ticket prices, which leads to more income, which leads to more flexibility to pay coaches, which leads to better on-field performance, which leads to more alumni donations, which leads to more flexbility, etc. etc. etc.

Since my junior year - 1995 - this team has gone to 3 bowl games... 15 seasons... you actually have to TRY to suck that bad.

Posted by uofi1998 on November 19, 2009 at 7:08 AM  |  Suggest Removal

It is time to demand that the Trustees and President move way beyond status quo and help athletics = our academic stature.

Posted by TotalIlliniFan on November 19, 2009 at 12:49 PM  |  Suggest Removal

I agree that Guenther's highest priority is to balance the budget. Other school invest money in their basketball madness, and they use it as a recruiting tool, and something to generate excitement amongst their fans.

Illinois's basketball madness is typically boring, and lackluster. It has been going downhill, recently. They had some good years, but they need to invest some money to make it great.

Posted by ax474 on November 19, 2009 at 5:01 PM  |  Suggest Removal