41 Comments - Skeeter - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 9:46 am: Wonder if Weber likes Chicago? Loyola should have a job opening, and it would be nice to have somebody who at one point has won something. - langhorne - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 9:48 am: i feel for anyone whose livelihood and family’s well being depends on the decisions of 18-22 year olds. but 3.9 mil can dry up a lot of tears. - Anonymous - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 9:54 am: Too bad; I liked Weber. Unfortunately, he had a team this year with no apparent heart or leadership, but he picked ‘em. - Rudy - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 9:55 am: I like him as a bench coach, but U of I recruiting needs to improve to compete with the best in the Big Ten. - TCB - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:00 am: Weber is an outstanding guy. He kept the program clean of NCAA scandal & his players usually stay out of trouble (except Jamar Smith & Jereme Richmond), but they just never seemed to develop as players or leaders on the court & that’s why Weber was fired. Goodluck to you, Bruce. - jake - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:00 am: I feel sad. He was a good person in a system that chews up good people and spits them out, if they are not almost superhumanly tough. But–he came away with a great nest egg, and with a lot of self respect. He cared about his players as people, not just meat for the hoops machine, and it showed in the very high graduation rates of his players, compared to many other basketball programs. I hope his successor is an equally good person, as well as successful. - M - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:01 am: It is diffucult not to like Weber, but his early success was with teams built by Bill Self. Once Weber was working with teams he recruited things went downhill. - TCB - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:01 am: @Rudy You are exactly right….Bruce came to Illinois & thought he could get by with Missouri Valley level talent & that just isn’t possible in the BigTen unless your name is Bo Ryan. - Y2D - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:01 am: Penn State won the Big Tens last weekend and knocked Iowa down to 3rd overall in what should have been the Hawkeyes to win. It was the first opportunity for Nebraska to wrestling in the Big Tens. Minnesota looks real strong and Illinois had one champion at 197 lbs - Marion Gaonzalez. He upset a kid who had a major decision over him just 3 weeks prior. That was a big win for the Illini but not enough for the team. Mark Perry (Iowa Nat Champion) is now assist coach for Illinois and may have already made an impact with that upset. I think he deserves some of the credit. The Big Ten will be the dominate conference at the NCAAs in St Louis next weekend for March Madness and will have 80 wrestlers qualified. Everyone likes the Championships in St Louis too its a great location. After seeing them defeat Iowa and the Minnesota, I will predict coach Cael Sanderson and the Penn State wrestling team are at the top of the mountain and win the NCAA championship next weekend. - The Captain - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:02 am: That 2005 team was ridiculously good. And while they may have been Bill Self’s recruits it was Weber’s motion offense that made them what they were. They didn’t miss by much, went cold in the final 2 minutes of a championship game where Augustine was literally prevented from coming within 10 feet of May by some horrible officiating. May also had a monster game, not missing from the floor (tip your cap). I’ll always remember that Arizona game in the Elite 8, for the right to go to the Final Four. The game was played at the Rosemont Horizon (or whatever they call it now). Illini were struggling the whole game, down 15 with 4 minutes to play and still down 9 with a minute to play. They sparked an improbable rally and sent the game to OT and then won it outright to punch their ticket to St. Louis and a spot in the Final Four. I wish things had gone better for Weber after that, I’ll still always wish him the best. That was a magical season, in fact it was a magical year. What a lot of people don’t remember about 2005 is that on January 1 the Illini were the #1 team in the country, a position they wouldn’t relinquish until the day they lost the title game. On that same day the White Sox won their opening day game and would be in first place every day that season until they went on to win the World Series. By the time the White Sox won the World Series the Bears had moved into first and they would still hold that position on 12/31. You don’t get too many calendar years like that. Good luck Bruce Weber. - SIUC - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:02 am: Weber will return to SIUC -they fired coach Lowery a few weeks ago. Go Saluki Dawgs!!!! - wordslinger - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:13 am: Illinois has the best high school basketball in the country. No one else is close. But our best players leave the state, year in and year out. The week Bruce was coaching in the national championship game, Jon Scheyer from Glenbrook North, the best player in the state, blew off the Illini and signed with Duke (Coach K, Weber High). His high school coach was Bruce’s brother. That’s a canary in the coal mine, folks. (Scheyer is now the Jewish Jordan, playing in Israel). The Illini need to make a bold move to put Champaign on the map, make it a place where Illinois players — Chicago, suburbs, Peoria, Springfield — HAVE to play. There’s a coach out there. He played at Mt. Carmel. Got a basketball scholarship to Princeton, where he was Ivy League player of the year. Was an an assistant coach and very good recruiter at Northwestern. Was head coach at Brown. Is now head coach at Oregon State. He’s young, tough and the brother-in-law of the president of the United States (South Side!). Craig Robinson. He has the goods to recruit Illinois like no one else. - Dan Shields, Springfield, IL - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:20 am: Thomas should also revoke all the scholarships and take a page out of Theo’s paybook starting over. The next Coach needs to recruit the entire country and stop relying on over rated thugs from Chicago. - Dan Shields, Springfield, IL - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:21 am: Also, good luck and God speed Bruce. You deserved better. - Stones - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:23 am: Good guy but in over his head. The year Illinois was in the finals he had Bill Self’s recruits. He is not void of talent but his teams seem to underachieve more often than not. I think he is better suited for a mid major program. - zatoichi - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:26 am: Weber seems like a good guy in a brutal business based on players whose playing careers are done by age 23. Financially he is set for life. His graduation rate is terrific and seems to treat people well. He can easily step back to a smaller school, have a great career, help more people get a good education, and watch the meat grinder destroy who ever takes his place while not missing it for a second. - Boone Logan Square - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:27 am: Disappointing season marred by epic mismanagement ending near .500? Sounds like Ozzie Guillen’s 2011 on the South Side. Weber seemed worried about Mike Thomas all through the year, and maybe that led him to the mistakes that cost him his job. He implied that much a couple of weeks ago. Think Michael Hogan is relieved to see a storing about a firing at Illinois that doesn’t mention his name? - Boone Logan Square - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:29 am: “story” - finished battling autocorrect. I think it won. - In the know - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:40 am: Get ready for Shaka Smart from Virginia Commonwealth!! - 47th Ward - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:42 am: So unless I’m missing something, and assuming Nortwestern keeps its streak alive by missing out on a bid, the state of Illinois will not be represented in the NCAA tourney for the first time in a generation. Ouch. - Bemused - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:46 am: I tend to prefer college sports over the pros. I like the Illini and I think Zook and Weber are good people. The problem has been the Illini have become like the Cubs. Love em all you want just don’t bet on em. At their pay scale I would say both were given ample time to move to the top tier and did not. Next Contestant Please. - D.P. Gumby - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 10:57 am: Second the motion for Craig Robinson…great fit for Illini - hisgirlfriday - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:01 am: I will not say good riddance to Bruce Weber. Just good luck. The memories of the amazing 2004-05 season will live in my heart much much longer than the agonizing seasons that followed. Sad that things couldn’t work out, just like I was sad that things with Zook couldn’t work out. - In 630 - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:09 am: Craig Robinson who’s Oregon State team hasn’t finished higher than 8th in his 4 years? That one? Holding Scheyer going to Duke against Weber also makes no sense. It’s Duke. That’s a recruiting battle UI loses 99/100 no matter who’s brother his high school coach is. Shaka Smart would be great choice. It’s a pity Brian Gregory got snagged last year by Georgia Tech. He would have been an ideal fit. - Shore - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:09 am: shaka smart would be a great choice for U of I. In the past the big 10 has been a league that really underachieves in the tournament outside of msu, but this is a year I could see it joined by indiana and osu and maybe michigan in the elite 8. The conference is as good today as its been at anytime since the days of bobby knight, the fab 5, lou henson, lawrence funderburke and jud heathcote. y2d, my compliments on the wrestling comment. wordslinger, here is the record of michelle obama’s brother, it’s not good. http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/craig-robinson-1.html - jimbo2600 - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:18 am: What we pay to entertain the masses while we are cutting funding for education. - WazUP - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:18 am: Anyone who would like to fire me and give me $3.9 million I’m all in! - wordslinger - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:21 am: –wordslinger, here is the record of michelle obama’s brother, it’s not good.– I’m aware. But he’s a good coach, from a big conference, he’s from Chicago, he’s a brother and he has a unique recruiting profile that could go a long way to locking down Illinois players. How does Shaka lock down Illinois players? - John A Logan - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:24 am: Hoping that SIUC hires him back. - mokenavince - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:35 am: Craig Robinson would make great coach Illinois. He knows Chicago and would be a great recuiter in both the Public and Catholic leagues. I wouldn’t worry to much about Weber he walks with close to $4 million bucks. - Bluefish - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:37 am: They should try to get Butler’s Brad Stevens. - Y2D - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 11:56 am: Shore- Thanks, Perry is a new assistant for Illinois head coach Jim Hefernan who was also a 4xNational Champion at Iowa and who takes over after coach Johnson (also Nat Champion @Iowa) stepped down. Johnson, Hefernan and Perry all wrestled for coach Dan Gable. His impact in the sport can still be felt; he also serves as our ambassador and host for the Olympic Team Trials in April at Iowa City. - Concerned Observer - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 12:15 pm: Like hisgirlfriday, I have to say, “good riddance” is a bit much. He finished 210-101 at Illinois, and was 25 games over .500 in the Big Ten. He’s a good man, a good coach whose team was largely free of scandal. It didn’t work out on the court. “good riddance” is best served for, oh, Blago. We Saluki alums would love to have Bruce back at SIU, if he’d like to come. - Going nuclear - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 12:32 pm: I think Bruce was a good guy, but he couldn’t recruit consistently. When the recruiting improved, the players Bruce brought in didn’t seem to fit his system, and he couldn’t adjust. I want to wish him the best. Another vote for Shaka Smart. - Ace Matson - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 12:37 pm: Weber is a nice guy - and he leaves Illinois a very wealthy man. Shame on U. of I. for paying its coaches far more than it pays any other U. employees. It is public money, despite the legal fiction of a separate athletic fund. Nowhere is it written that the U. should be a basketball power every year. Champaign, Illinois is not exactly an attractive place to a star recruit. The U. lost me when they recruited several troubled and D-student players recently, none of whom stayed in college. The team deserves to hear the ridiculing chant “NIT! NIT!” next year at road games, as their fans have been doing at Northwestern for years. What goes around, comes around! - TCB - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 1:03 pm: = The U. lost me when they recruited several troubled and D-student players recently, none of whom stayed in college.= Several? If by several you mean Jereme Richmond and Jamar smith. That’s losing 2 players in 7-8 years….that’s really not bad in this day & age. - Wensicia - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 1:11 pm: Recruiting train wreak Jereme Richmond before he entered high school, and not recognizing his mistake after many disciplinary issues popped up during Jereme’s high school years, probably contributed to his inevitable dismissal. - Dirty Red - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 2:05 pm: I think he has a good heart and means to do well but just can’t seem to get the job done. We’re still ragging on the governor, right? - Calhoun Native - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 2:38 pm: “It is public money, despite the legal fiction of a separate athletic fund.” The athletic department’s revenue comes from the boosters, alumni, merchandising and TV and radio revenues. “Get ready for Shaka Smart from Virginia Commonwealth!!” He just signed an eight year extension with VCU. That would be a pretty expensive buyout particularly considering what the athletic department owes to Zook and Weber. College athletics - like politics – is a cutthroat business. Like in politics, there are only so many good players to go around that know how to play the game and have the horsepower to get it done. The Statehouse and the Assembly Hall have their stellar moments and we should be happy for them when they happen. The real fun is in watching the game. - anon sequitor - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 3:47 pm: Why do divorces cost so much? Because they are worth it. Whatever it takes to get Shaka, do it. - Anonymous - Friday, Mar 9, 12 @ 4:24 pm: ==That’s losing 2 players in 7-8 years….that’s really not bad in this day & age.== You’re forgetting Crandall Head this year as well. And his older brother and a couple others weren’t exactly saints or scholars during their time in Champaign either (The Champaign police knew them pretty well I believe) And stop it with the Oregon State coach. The Pac 10/12 has been a horrible conference the last couple years, and his teams have been at the bottom of it. Just because you know the President doesn’t make you a good coach. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.