Illinois is facing quite the predicament.
The Illlini currently have no athletic director in place, and to complicate things their clear top choice (Colorado AD - and an Illinois alum - Rick George) decided he wasn't interested. Yet somehow officials need to band together and get on the same page to formulate a plan for an organized search.
That last part is where things are getting sticky according to reports out of Illinois. Local reports note that the situation in Champaign is in "considerable turmoil".
According to 670 The Score:
"Sources tell 670 The Score that as overwhelmed university officials are dithering and providing little guidance, the group of trustees, boosters and alums left to run things can’t yet agree on much. Some want to hire a search firm with a spotty recent track record, others want to form their own search committee, while another faction thinks they need to act faster by using their own contacts to target specific AD and coaching candidates right now and just get moving.
Any support for retaining Bill Cubit is getting strong push-back from those who don’t believe he wasn’t aware of Tim Beckman’s aberrant behavior, and from some who feel strongly about making a more dynamic hire."
Seems that officials are having some major issues getting on the same page of what direction they want to head in this one.
Here's what we're hearing:
As far as the athletic director position goes, There have always been two other candidates for the athletic director position to go along with Rick George, but both were seen as far, far below George. If it tells you anything, Illinois sources consistently refer to these other two candidates as "the tennis guy" and the "golf coach". We don't know these two people; but simply due to the fact that locals refer to them as the tennis guy and the golf coach...yeesh. George turning Illinois down was a crushing blow for the Illini and based on the reports like the one above, as well as additional reports out of Illinois, the University doesn't seem to have a great path forward. In fact, as recently as yesterday a source in Illinois wondered if the Illini were preparing "one more offer" to George. People can always change their minds; but it sure didn't sound like Rick George was leaving Boulder for Champaign.
In regards to the vacant head coaching job, yesterday word began to trickle out that longtime Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster was going to interview for the head coaching position. When we at The Scoop asked some folks, "Who would Bud be interviewing with?" there were a lot of, "Hmm, um, well, yeah...hmm" type responses. So, how does this one play out? We really haven't gotten any clarity on that from the Illinois sources we've spoken with.
Sources at Illinois tell FootballScoop that they don't expect interim head coach Bill Cubit to get the full-time position. Our understanding is that decision is by no means final, because - again - no one really knows who it is that's going to making that call.
Illinois is currently 5-6 and needs to beat a top 25 ranked Northwestern squad this weekend at home to reach bowl eligibility.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest developments.