Grading Whitman

'Hope' the Illini fan's best friend

*February 17th 2016 the University of Illinois hires Washington University (St. Louis) athletic director Josh Whitman as their new AD replacing the beleaguered incompetence of Mike Thomas....Fighting Illini brought ‘one of their own’ home hiring a former four-year football letterman (tight end/team captain 1997-2000)....below we grade his hires//job performance since Whitman took over the Bielfeldt Athletic Building.

Whitman hires/grades for full scholarship University of Illinois sports teams since he was h 2016.

*Lovie Smith football coach (2016-2020)-hey on paper I thought it a good hire too....'brand' name with 'ties' to the state....Smith given all the resources to succeed just never fit, thought he had the 'passion' for running a college football program he didn't....two upsets in 2019 (Wisconsin/Michigan State) kept him around for 2020...Whitman fired Smith late fall 2020 putting the old coach out of his misery of the college game.....Grade of hire: D....got to a bowl game after 2019 and no major issues within the program when Smith was in charge....why gave a D instead of an F.....Whitman found his 'hire' fall 2020 in Bret Bielema....made the switch once Bielema committed........so far so good with Bielema in charge on and off the field in Champaign.

*Chris Tamas women's volleyball coach (2017-present)-When Kevin Hambly left Illini volleyball for the head coaching job at Stanford Whitman hired Nebraska assistant coach Chris Tamas to replace him....four of the last five seasons Illini volleyball in the NCAA tourney/finish in the top half of the Big Ten consistently....Big Ten best women's volleyball conference by far so it's no easy job to keep Illini volleyball top half of the conference...Tamas took over a program with expectations/engaged/enthusiastic fan base and has kept it on track....Grade of Hire-B+...not quite Hambly level of a consistent sweet sixteen program but close.

*Nancy Fahey women's basketball coach (2017-2022)-'Hall of Fame' D-3 coach at Washington University in St. Louis where she worked for Whitman when he was AD there....Whitman's 'mentor/friend' at Washington U. proved to be in way over her head at Illinois....AD gave Fahey plenty of financial support in assistant coaches salaries/contract extension for the head and.....Fahey 42-99 record at Illinois...women finished either 13th/14th in Big Ten conference play under Fahey....replaced by University of Dayton head coach Shauna Green this spring.....Grade of Hire-F...don't expect championships from women's basketball...with the talent level in-state/Midwest they shouldn't be bottom feeder's either....Illini under Fahey consistent bottom feeders....new hire feels like a logical step up in coaching from Dayton to the Big Ten vs. a D-3 'Hall of Famer' who was tight with the AD who hired her.

*Brad Underwood men's basketball (2017-present)-replaced John Groce.....Underwood post season said it best about what Illinois hoops is since he took over....“I think any time you win a championship, it’s really hard to do. We’re never going to give that back. We’ve won the most Big Ten games the last three years. And, yet, it was a different year for me, for our team and our program. We had 68 total missed games by starters or top reserves. I haven’t had that in my 35 years. It was a tribute to our guys, our togetherness, our connectivity. tried hard, won but in the end, winning in the NCAA isn't how we will judge the program"....Whitman on twitter after the NCAA tourney loss to Houston chimed in support of Underwood/his program....'Single-elimination tournaments can bring heartbreak, but they should never overshadow the full body of work. These guys have persevered through so much — COVID, suspensions, injuries — & played like champions. They have earned our respect, now & forever. I love every one of them."

When Bruce Weber was Illini head coach, in defeat always sounded whiny no matter what he said....Groce in defeat came off as the job at Illinois was too big for him.....not Underwood….in defeat he defends the colors, 'his guys' 'his fans', aggressive in pointing the good not letting the media get him down about the 'bad'....fan base very happy with the head coach how he handles 'business' in Champaign.....'He is one of us' seems to be majority opinion of said fan base....Grade of Hire: A

*Josh Whitman Illini athletic director Grade of Hire: A

'Old timers' will say you 'judge' an athletic director by fund raising, facilities built and championships won...with all the TV/rights money coming into each Big Ten athletic program fund raising other than the 'golden ticket' big donation types isn't as important.....now all power five level schools have to 'keep up' by upgrading facilities.…..championships? blue bloods in football/hoops priority to win big the rest of that level? not so much...UIUC in my view a little different in what they want out of the majority of their 'sports' teams.

Written it before what the UIUC administration wants from their athletic program.....be competitive, championships are not the 'goal' being competitive is....don't embarrass the university publicly or privately....and don't make the UIUC admin types head to the south end of campus and clean up DIA messes....and win at men's basketball the only sport on campus that really 'counts' (hoops opinion mine thru years of experience).....Whitman since 2016 has done all of the above while adding on to the football indoor facility/process of upgrading Ubben basketball facility.

Thomas as AD public embarrassments (Beckman/Bollart/who can forget the AD’s wife chasing refs off the court after an NCAA loss reportedly etc.).....administration had to go down and clean up his mess...Ron Guenther era as AD behind closed doors embarrassments within the DIA/University politicking ultimately led to his 'retirement'....Whitman administration has stayed away from both....AD represents the University well in his behavior/out in front supporting all the sports in person/ he and his family a part of the University/Champaign-Urbana community....can be critical that Whitman stayed with his buddy Fahey too long, bought in to the Lovie hype ....counter both hires were for programs that for various reasons had hit rock bottom, limited field of candidates who wanted those jobs at that time…..AD seemed to learned his 'lesson' corrected his mistakes with new hires after upgrading both programs financially/facility improvements.

Life for an Illini AD is good when men’s hoops is winning...why Whitman's 'success' is so tied to that basketball head coach he gave a contract extension to last week....Brad Underwood and the AD tied at the hip now for better or worse, for richer for poorer...ah you get the picture.....hoops winning in Champaign is a great deodorant for an AD whose other high profile teams might be 'stinking' on the field...always has been, always will be.