Illinois names Thomas AD
Mike Thomas, the athletic director at Cincinnati since 2005, was named to the same position Wednesday by Illinois.
“Coming to the University of Illinois is just an exceptional opportunity," he said. "The University of Illinois has always been an institution that really was of keen interest to me ... I know the foundation that we have in place right now is only going to springboard us to a greater future.”
The announcement was made in the Colonnades Club in front of assembled media.
LISTEN TO THE NEWS CONFERENCE HERE
UI president Michael Hogan, chancellor Phyllis Wise and interim chancellor Robert Easter met with several candidates today and made the decision to pick Thomas.
“We selected Mike because of his great experience in both athletics and academics,” Hogan said. “His student-athletes excel in competition, in the classroom, in leadership, and in life after collegiate athletics.”
Among the items on Thomas' plate: the future of football coach Ron Zook and men's basketball coach Bruce Weber. Thomas on Wednesday he had yet to met either coach nor has he conferred with Ron Guenther, who retired as Illinois AD this summer.
CHAT WITH ASMUSSEN ABOUT THE HIRE HERE
Guenther was expected in C-U later Wednesday.
Columnist Loren Tate's take:
Cincinnati's Mike Thomas struck gold with the hiring of Brian Kelly, who took Bearcat football on a 33-6 run before moving to Notre Dame last year. On the court, the Bearcats haven't been able to match the Bob Huggins years and needed last season's 26-9 finish to lift the five-year record to 87-77.
Mike Thomas sounds like a candidate with solid football credentials, and I understand from reading Mr. Tate and other informed observers' comments how the health of the football program impacts the other programs.
My own hope is that we have success under Coaches Zook and Weber, but if that's not to be, then that we can attract and keep impact coaches in both sports. We should be a destination for the Brian Kelly's -- not a stop on the way to some "top flight" program.
Agree Jeff, but if we are truly honest with ourselves. Illinois is a final stop for both Zook and Weber. They have both pledged allegiance to us. I think we need to stop criticizing they both and get behind them for the long run. If you get too big of a name in here, they could leave us for OSU, Texas, Mich., Notre Dame, Florida, or KY. You have to find guys who are just right, and I think we have them both..think about it Zook took us to the rose bowl and Weber took us to a National Title game. What more could we want! Think about that for a little while Illini Nation. We got our 2 guys, lets get behind them!
PEguy, that's perhaps the lamest attitude I've ever heard. I'd rather have success over loyalty any day of the week. If you're successful your coaches will always be hot commodities. That's the way life works. If you base your hires based on not losing coaches, you'll end up exactly where we are right now. Mediocre. You find the best candidates and try to keep them happy. If they bolt. You do the same.
I don't see whats lame about loyalty. I agree, if you have SEVERAL losing seasons, changes need to be made. But we haven't seen this. In the past 6 years we've seen Rose Bowl and National Title appearances. We've seen several winning seasons in basketball and a recent Texas Bowl win in football. We are winning. Certainty attacts recruits, they want to know the coach is gonna be there. Look at MSU, those kids know Izzo is gonna be there for all 4 years and he has become an icon.
Comments
IlliniHQ.com embraces discussion of Illini sports. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. we reserve the right to remove any comment at its discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.