Sad-sack Illinois article is a disgrace

Kiyoat Husker

All-Conference
Found this article from "The News-Gazette" that whines about how the cards are stacked against Illinois in recruiting, and things are never going to change.

Boo-hoo. Do Ilini fans really think this way? Are they blind to what is going on in college football?

the article:

http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/illini-sports/football/2015-09-28/tate-lack-balance-still-here-stay.html

I thought this post was relevant to Husker Football due to its having been written in the NU-Ill game week, and they mention the Huskers:

And Illinois has a particularly tall mountain to climb, being ranked No. 58 in a sport dominated by the 64-team Power 5 conferences. Saturday foe Nebraska is ranked No. 25 in terms of available talent.
but if you mods think it should go in the B1G ten forum, feel free.

 
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from the article:

That’s the difference between the NFL and college football. For decades past and decades to come, the best prep athletes tend to congregate at a select few universities.

Swings in performance happen, and upsets occur. But these are minor as college football’s big picture seems etched in stone.
this may have been an appropriate commentary 20 years ago, but things have been trending the other way. Illinois just hasn't taken full advantage for whatever reason. IMO

 
There is no reason why Illinois is as bad as they are. If they could get half the good players in the state to come to the University of Illinois they would be fine talent wise.

 
Univ of IL is a microcosm of the state government as a whole. Corruption, favoritism, bad management, poor decisions, etc. all go on at the state level and those problems extend to Illinois' flagship university. That's really the starting point for all their problems.

 
Univ of IL is a microcosm of the state government as a whole. Corruption, favoritism, bad management, poor decisions, etc. all go on at the state level and those problems extend to Illinois' flagship university. That's really the starting point for all their problems.
Well then LSU shouldn't be as good as they are.

 
Univ of IL is a microcosm of the state government as a whole.
Correct. Our family moved out to Illinois in 1963, and one by one all seven kids and (thankfully) my parents moved back to Nebraska.

The education system there was so bad that the year after I graduated high school, all potential graduates could also take a literacy test and tack that on to their high school diploma if they passed it...really.

For what it is worth, Illinois does have to compete in state with NIU and Northwestern. Nebraska is the only big fish in this little pond, but Illinois still has almost 13 million people to less than 2 million for Nebraska.

If this author REALLY thinks recruiting is tough for Illinois, I wonder what he thinks of recruiting for Boise State?
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I get what the writer is saying. What she fails to realize though, is that those schools climb out of the muck every now and then. Look at Baylor. It has everything to do with the head coach. If Illinois wants to play with the big dogs, find a good head coach and pay for it like everybody else. If that coach doesn't work out, fire him and find another, and pay for him. Rinse, lather, repeat, until you find the coach that is successful.

 
Univ of IL is a microcosm of the state government as a whole. Corruption, favoritism, bad management, poor decisions, etc. all go on at the state level and those problems extend to Illinois' flagship university. That's really the starting point for all their problems.
Well then LSU shouldn't be as good as they are.
I know they've had issues within their system too but clearly with different effects.

 
I've often wondered about Illinois. Some years in the past they haven't been too bad, many times not that good. I agree with the poster above about lather rinse repeat. One of the most intelligent (but not perfect... sorry bud) friends I have had was schooling me on a video football game. He said when something isn't working, keep trying something different.

 
from the article:

That’s the difference between the NFL and college football. For decades past and decades to come, the best prep athletes tend to congregate at a select few universities.

Swings in performance happen, and upsets occur. But these are minor as college football’s big picture seems etched in stone.
this may have been an appropriate commentary 20 years ago, but things have been trending the other way. Illinois just hasn't taken full advantage for whatever reason. IMO
yeah I mean Baylor? I know they are in Texas but nobody expected to ever see Baylor in the top ten
 
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