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Post by jgrout on Aug 14, 2007 0:52:28 GMT -5
There's a link on the Fighting Illini volleyball Web site that asks for Huff Hall memories to celebrate on November 17th, 2007, the last home weekend of the upcoming season. Here's mine from exactly twelve years before... My Huff memory was arguably the last high point in the Mike Hebert era at Illinois.. an Illinois five-game victory over Minnesota on November 17th, 1995 featuring 41-kill performances by Fighting Illini Erin Borske and Golden Gopher Katrien DeDecker. After the match, Coach Hebert gave an impromptu speech to the boosters, praising both players' (and both teams') efforts. As Bob Seger put it, I wish I didn't know now what I didn't [yet] know then...
A few months later, Hebert had left for Minnesota... his budget had been raided to hire blowhard WBB coach Theresa Grentz... and Borske had flunked out of school. Sigh... |
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Post by smiley on Aug 14, 2007 2:07:59 GMT -5
In 1992 wwe beat Nebraska THREE times. I don't know if anyone else has ever done that. After losing the first conference match at Penn State we didn't lose another GAME the reat of the regular season. Losing to eventual national champ Stanford in the absolute LOUDEST match I've ever been to. The highpoint was a 56 second rally in which Bev Oden later said she thought her ears were going to bleed.
Erin Borske may have been the best offensive player I've ever seen. The Penn State match that year may have been even better. To think she was just a Sophmore. The shame was is that she could get good grades when she applied herself.
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Post by Phaedrus on Aug 14, 2007 8:18:24 GMT -5
A few months later, Hebert had left for Minnesota... his budget had been raided to hire blowhard WBB coach Theresa Grentz... and Borske had flunked out of school. Sigh... I knew Mike had left because of the Grentz hiring but didn't know that they had raided his budget. Is this another great move by Ron Guenther? And how many NCAA trips had Grentz taken the WBB team? Hmm. |
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Post by Pasquale on Aug 14, 2007 8:36:47 GMT -5
Without question, the 1992 match against Stanford was the most exciting match I've ever seen at Huff - an instant classic.
I'd have to throw in the come-from-behind victory over #1 USC in 2004. It wasn't as loud as the 1992 match with Stanford, but it was a great victory and wonderful to see Illinois back among the elite.
Though it wasn't played a Huff, one of the other great Illinois matches was another come-from-behind victory over #7 Texas in 1998 at Mother McAuley High School in Chicago. It was Sance's senior year and she was unstoppable . . . a great victory and a great match.
The loss of Borske was huge for Illinois. She was special . . . and not too shabby in the back row either.
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Post by soothsayer on Aug 14, 2007 9:33:10 GMT -5
I heard Borske wanted to follow Hebert to Minnesota but Illinois wouldn't release her. So she dropped out. Not that she flunked out. Maybe it was both?
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Post by smiley on Aug 14, 2007 10:32:55 GMT -5
I'm not sure about her wanting to follow Mike but I do know she had the opportunity to play at several other schools. I'm fairly certain she didn't flunk out so much as was not really wanting to work at her grades. She was a volleyball player first, a partier second, then came school a distant third.
I did meet her at an Alumni match a few years ago. She's married, has kids, and seems to have really matured.
Let's not forget great matches in the old matchbox, Kinney Gym. 2300 people in a place made for maybe 500, LOW ceilings, and no airflow. Talk about home field.
Karol Kaers was women's athletic director back then and I believe that she was more responsible than Ron about Mike. His contract was expiring and she says she had no idea he was leaving???
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Post by jgrout on Aug 14, 2007 11:55:08 GMT -5
I heard Borske wanted to follow Hebert to Minnesota but Illinois wouldn't release her. So she dropped out. Not that she flunked out. Maybe it was both? Borske wanted a release that would preserve her remaining years of eligibility, but the NCAA requires the releasing school to certify satisfactory academic progress... this is a very low standard that is seldom missed, and the few sophomores who are at risk of missing the standard (and losing a year of eligibility after four semesters) usually bypass the penalty by enrolling in junior college and earning an Associates Degree. Borske and her parents gambled that she'd meet the standard after her fourth senior college semester and lost. Though Borske may have wanted to play for Mike at Minnesota, she'd have had to walk on and play out-of-state tuition. At the time, once a player signed an LOI with one Big Ten school, she could not sign an LOI elsewhere in the conference under any circumstances. I believe this policy is still in force. |
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Post by jgrout on Aug 14, 2007 12:06:41 GMT -5
I knew Mike had left because of the Grentz hiring but didn't know that they had raided his budget. Is this another great move by Ron Guenther? Up to that point, Illinois had paid the local cable system to put volleyball matches on local cable TV. Part of Grentz's deal was similar exposure, which Guenther accomplished by taking the money away from volleyball. He hired Grentz to get a second revenue sport for the Assembly Hall... let's be blunt here... but he should have fired Grentz as soon as it became clear that she wasn't going to recruit well enough to do anything else. He or his successor may face that same sad decision about Illinois MBB, but that's another story... |
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Post by Phaedrus on Aug 14, 2007 12:09:10 GMT -5
I knew Mike had left because of the Grentz hiring but didn't know that they had raided his budget. Is this another great move by Ron Guenther? Up to that point, Illinois had paid the local cable system to put volleyball matches on local cable TV. Part of Grentz's deal was similar exposure, which Guenther accomplished by taking the money away from volleyball. He hired Grentz to get a second revenue sport for the Assembly Hall... let's be blunt here... but he should have fired Grentz as soon as it became clear that she wasn't going to recruit well enough to do anything else. He or his successor may face that same sad decision about Illinois MBB, but that's another story... One major difference to me is that I actually like Weber. Grentz not so much, at least by what I had seen in public from afar. |
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Post by jgrout on Aug 14, 2007 12:09:11 GMT -5
Kirsten Gleis had a lot to do with those 3 wins over the Huskers. She was a 24 yr old professional who was enrolled at Illinois 1 semester. Sour grapes until you show us the contract... |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2007 13:33:42 GMT -5
I think Mike fully addresses this in his autobiography, if you haven't read it.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on Aug 14, 2007 14:29:24 GMT -5
Personally, I try to fight all my memories of the Illini. I was hoping this thread would have given me some pointers.
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Post by Huskyfan on Aug 14, 2007 15:12:09 GMT -5
forget about her even being pro, they brought her for one year, and knew she was only going to be there one year. It flies in the face of the student athlete concept. She wasn't there to pursue a degree, she was there to compete. That was not what I heard. Kirsten was going to stay but some Big Ten coaches complained and protested (one in particular was Schleuder from Minnesota). I believe this was also mentioned in Mike's book. Another memorable match for the Illini that season (92) was a match against Stanford early in the season in some small college in Naperville (I believe). It went 5. |
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Post by smiley on Aug 14, 2007 22:47:40 GMT -5
I heard the same about the coaches and it wasn't just the B10 ones. What was ironic was that shortly after many of the biggest complainers had foreign players on their teams. I remember Mike was hoping she'd get another year and that it was more her decision to not return.
There have been so many memorible matches over the years. Some we won and some we didn't. But I would imagine any team at any school can say the same.
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