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Post by gurnee50 on Aug 17, 2023 13:40:49 GMT -5
You're probably right. But I've been thru the Bruce Weber debacle (using Bill Self's recruits to get national acclaim and attention), and I just don't want a repeat.
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Post by vbnerd on Aug 17, 2023 14:17:14 GMT -5
1) Preseason can be a pretty rigorous time of the year so some of the comments about players not being stronger may be fatigue. Do we know the practice schedule? Do we know if Tamas tapered before this match? I can imagine a scenario where they were expected to gut one out and just didn't, creating a valuable motivational opportunity for the staff going forward. Also, I see complaints about recruiting but I think we all know he can develop players (7 freshman, right?) and prep a team. There was no video for EIU, probably no game plan. You'd like to think they can win on talent alone but this team will improve over the course of the season.
2) Someone posted the non-conference schedule and that doesn't look like they expected to be a top 25 team. Notre Dame and Oklahoma should be improved so if I say 1-1 that weekend, and I think UCF is expected to recede a bit so lets say 8-2 with a loss to USC. In conference they are H&A with Rutgers, Iowa, Northwestern and Indiana, home against MSU and Michigan, and away vs Maryland. Even at 8-3 they are alive. Then they have 9 matches vs the top of the conference and they probably need two or three to impress the committee.
19-11 +-1 should get them in the tournament (assuming they have a couple wins vs top team).
I'm not saying to book your trip to Tampa but I'd certainly wait until Columbus Day to see how things unfold before talking about the interim coach.
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Post by tedheise on Aug 17, 2023 14:33:08 GMT -5
I was too aggravated after last night to post anything. Much of what I’m going to say is covered by others. [snip for space] This has been therapeutic. Thanks for letting me rant. As a glass half full guy I think if some things fall into place there is still a good chance we can finish in the top half of the B1G and the tournament. I suspect we will not see any of last night’s lineups when real play starts. At least I hope not. I dunno, your post did not at all strike me as a rant—seemed very calm and reasonable, not to mention objective. Thanks for taking time to write it up!
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Post by bops68 on Aug 17, 2023 14:33:21 GMT -5
People attacking Gurnee50 because he has concerns about IL volleyball's future then you are just not being honest with yourself. 5 years ago was well...........5 years ago. Jordan Poulter, Quade, etc will make a lot of coaches look amazing. We are light years away from where we were 5 years ago and if you don't see that then you have blinders on.
The fact is Women's volleyball is changing dramatically and we are falling further and further behind. Look at the the rosters of the top BT schools or Texas or Stanford or Florida. They are loaded. There are girls buried on their benches that would be starters for us. Stud transfers galore to take the spots of players well......that would be starters for us. It is just how Football, Basketball, and now Volleyball is heading. If you want to win and win consistently filling holes with experienced good players is the future whether we like it or not. Tamas has said in not exact words he isn't really crazy about bringing transfers because he doesn't want to upset recruits well then you might start losing to EIU's of the world more consistently. You will also see athletes. The best women's volleyball in college and internationally has become about crazy athletes and if you are tall and athletic you are a unicorn. We have 3 maybe 4 good "athletes" on the team. We are tall but I don't see the athleticism, at this point, to compete at the highest level in the BT. That could change but you can look at girls and tell like Barry she is an amazing athlete but she is only 5'6".
Tamas when he first got here he was constantly on social media. Now you don't see that much. I don't know what the issue is with recruiting but with the amount of talent coming out of IL every year to OTHER schools is just crazy especially Chicago metro. We are never even mentioned it seems. Why is that? Do we just not try? Do we give up? Ella Wrobel is buried on Wisconsin's bench.....she would be a welcome addition right now wouldn't she!! Kenna Wollard, huge recruit from Dunlap not even Chicago, I believe both her parents went to IL and she commits to Purdue.........sorry that is just not good and at a position of HUGE need. I know "you can't get them all" which is true but man.
Roster construction and depth is just confusing to me over the past few years. How do we have no pins? You have to have depth and that is is on the coach.
Hiring his wife.....time will only tell. I will say this I thought the middles looked better when Rashinda was here. Just my personal opinion. And sorry one of the best middles to put on a USA jersey? Man there are some amazing middles that have been on USA.
And with all this someone said he is the 6th highest paid coach or something?? And don't forget UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon are coming .........
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Post by knapplc on Aug 17, 2023 14:57:26 GMT -5
The thing about hiring his wife - nobody seemed to have a problem with Jen being on the staff when they were a perennially ranked team.
One ugly loss in a game that doesn't count and suddenly this is a bad hire? Five years later?
Seems more reactionary than realistic critique.
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Post by exit237a on Aug 17, 2023 15:12:58 GMT -5
The thing about hiring his wife - nobody seemed to have a problem with Jen being on the staff when they were a perennially ranked team. One ugly loss in a game that doesn't count and suddenly this is a bad hire? Five years later? Seems more reactionary than realistic critique.
She wasn't paid staff until this offseason. She was a volunteer. I'd think there will be more expectations and scrutiny when the head coach's wife gets hired on. That is why she's being talked about now. It has nothing to do with the exhibition game.
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Post by badgerbyproxy on Aug 17, 2023 15:20:06 GMT -5
The thing about hiring his wife - nobody seemed to have a problem with Jen being on the staff when they were a perennially ranked team. One ugly loss in a game that doesn't count and suddenly this is a bad hire? Five years later? Seems more reactionary than realistic critique. Fans on a forum being reactionary? Who would’ve thought?
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Post by nevollfan on Aug 17, 2023 15:29:55 GMT -5
Reading all these posts - what a disappointment. We’ve all been mentioning the need for depth at the OH position. Barry playing OH? We must be desperate. This falls on the coaching staff for not recruiting or hitting the portal strong enough. We need bodies. Getting out recruited by schools we should never get out recruited by. If have a terrible season, no way Raina comes back for a Covid year. Losing to EIU is appalling. Losing to EIU and hiring your wife to be a paid assistant coach is appalling. So the Tamas' are cashing two paychecks while losing to EIU? The optics are terrible. Didn't bother to add any depth in the offseason through the transfer portal when everyone on this board were screaming for him to do something. And Huff Hall has nothing to do with recruiting. Humbly brought in great players with the same gym. And Illinois had the best basketball arena in the country in the 1960's and it led to absolutely nothing on the recruiting front for two decades. It's all about the head coach in college athletics. Volleyball has taken a back seat to women's basketball on campus right now, and rightfully so. [/ quote] To me the only real beef in the Tamas era is the lack of landing the very top players inside Illinois from an offensive standpoint. Illinois is one of the best prep producing states and should be a resource to landing a few of those girls. But that is not the case. But he can coach really well but his roster could be more talented if he recruited his fair share of the top Illinois girls. He gets a failing grade in that regard. But Huff might be a negative in other areas except atmosphere.
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Post by ilalum92 on Aug 17, 2023 15:31:52 GMT -5
I’m as optimistic an ILLINI fan as it goes but it’s getting a little tiresome to constantly be underwhelmed by the teams lack of success. Yes, we seem to get hit with the injury bug more than others, but a real lack of BIG 10 level personnel lays squarely on the shoulders of the coach.
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Post by pointillinois on Aug 17, 2023 15:34:25 GMT -5
I don't have any strong opinions on the hire. Seems a lot of these extra positions went to people already associated with the program. And Illinois coaches love hiring family members.
My bigger issue is: this is the 2nd consecutive year we've laid a stinker against a much lesser opponent. This was only an exhibition, so I'll hold out hope through the non-conference.
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Post by bops68 on Aug 17, 2023 16:06:33 GMT -5
The thing about hiring his wife - nobody seemed to have a problem with Jen being on the staff when they were a perennially ranked team. One ugly loss in a game that doesn't count and suddenly this is a bad hire? Five years later? Seems more reactionary than realistic critique. I think time will tell with the hire but it is an interesting choice to say the least. The obvious struggles have been recruiting and as someone else said you had a chance to bring someone else in with a good recruiting background or ties and you hire someone that has never officially recruited let alone your wife. She may end up being a great coach and recruiter and it could be a home run hire but if not well people will get restless. And as for nobody having a problem before. She was free! lol. She was a volunteer who is going to care about that!! But she never had to recruit....
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Post by exit237a on Aug 17, 2023 16:35:24 GMT -5
If interested, below are conference pre-season forecasts for the Illini opponents. EIU 4th in Ohio Valley NIU 4th in Mid-American West Division (so 7th/8th of 12 team MAC) Valparaiso 6th in Missouri Valley Wichita State 3rd in American Athletic Illinois State 7th in Missouri Valley UIC 3rd in Missouri Valley Notre Dame 10th in Atlantic Coast Oklahoma 10th in BIG 12 Bradley 8th in Missouri Valley USC 4th in Pacific Athletic (AVCA pre-season rank #22) UCF 9th in BIG 12
Thanks for always hooking us up with the game notes and numbers!
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Post by oldmanvb on Aug 17, 2023 18:06:10 GMT -5
Before we canonize Hambly and assert he was able to recruit despite Huff we should recall his record.
2009 Illinois 26–6 16–4 2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2010 Illinois 24–9 14–6 2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2011 Illinois 32–5 16–4 2nd NCAA Runner-up 2012 Illinois 14–16 8–12 8th 2013 Illinois 18–15 12–8 4th NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2014 Illinois 26–8 16–4 3rd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2015 Illinois 21–13 10–10 7th NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2016 Illinois 17–14 10–10 8th
Hambly's first three years he played players recruited under his predecessor's watch. After his runner-up year his record is not that different from Tamas's. When you criticize Tamas for recruiting you need to recognize there are complex reasons for the lack of top level recruits. I understand Hambly was the assistant and participated in recruiting the players for his first three years. That also means there was a continuation of recruitments as he was recruiting the same players as before he became head coach. Tamas bears some responsibility but it is not solely on the head coach. Krista was hired as a recruiter, hopefully her recruiting will begin to improve. Indications are the next two classes are a step up, we will see. At least they have appeared to have learned one lesson by recruiting a scholarship DS three years in a row, starting with Barry.
Regardless, hiring a new coach would set the program back. There is a good chance the recruits we have would de-commit. There is a several year lag time in recruiting freshmen.
I am puzzled by the inability to do better in the portal, although Fleming was terrific and I would love to have Nunge for another year. I agree hiring his wife as the third coach is bad optics. Given her credentials we would all agree she is a great hire if she wasn't his wife.
On balance I believe it would be a big mistake to replace Tamas.
Should we hire a new coach let's make certain we hire someone who recruits players who won't medically retire or contract some rare auto-immune disease.
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Post by ilalum92 on Aug 17, 2023 18:10:59 GMT -5
On a more positive note - 2 of our 2025’s, Randall & Kirtsch from Kairos Elite have been invited to the NTDP taking place in Colorado in late September/early October.
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Post by ilalum92 on Aug 17, 2023 18:15:47 GMT -5
Before we canonize Hambly and assert he was able to recruit despite Huff we should recall his record. 2009 Illinois 26–6 16–4 2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2010 Illinois 24–9 14–6 2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2011 Illinois 32–5 16–4 2nd NCAA Runner-up 2012 Illinois 14–16 8–12 8th 2013 Illinois 18–15 12–8 4th NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2014 Illinois 26–8 16–4 3rd NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2015 Illinois 21–13 10–10 7th NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2016 Illinois 17–14 10–10 8th Hambly's first three years he played players recruited under his predecessor's watch. After his runner-up year his record is not that different from Tamas's. When you criticize Tamas for recruiting you need to recognize there are complex reasons for the lack of top level recruits. I understand Hambly was the assistant and participated in recruiting the players for his first three years. That also means there was a continuation of recruitments as he was recruiting the same players as before he became head coach. Tamas bears some responsibility but it is not solely on the head coach. Krista was hired as a recruiter, hopefully her recruiting will begin to improve. Indications are the next two classes are a step up, we will see. At least they have appeared to have learned one lesson by recruiting a scholarship DS three years in a row, starting with Barry. Regardless, hiring a new coach would set the program back. There is a good chance the recruits we have would de-commit. There is a several year lag time in recruiting freshmen. I am puzzled by the inability to do better in the portal, although Fleming was terrific and I would love to have Nunge for another year. I agree hiring his wife as the third coach is bad optics. Given her credentials we would all agree she is a great hire if she wasn't his wife. On balance I believe it would be a big mistake to replace Tamas. Should we hire a new coach let's make certain we hire someone who recruits players who won't medically retire or contract some rare auto-immune disease. Recruiting when Hambly left was a disaster. Many of the top players from the next 3 classes were already committed. Tamas had to pick from the left overs. Thankfully we got Raina. We lost players to transfers and had more than our fair share of injuries & retirements. That was 2016-2017 and we’ve been behind the 8 ball ever since. I don’t think the revolving coaches has helped either. Losing coaches Reed & Reft probably hurt us too. I don’t think we would be this worried if TDB was healthy and ready to play. Losing some players in the portal to much lesser schools both athletically & academically is a bit worrisome though.
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