*’Sleazeball'-Saturday October 24th 1987 East Lansing....Illinois football playing the Michigan State Spartans......Spartans won the Big Ten title that fall....neither team much liked the other so no one was going to take any shit from the other ...both teams come out of the same tunnel same time at Spartan Stadium for the 2nd half…..words exchanged between teams.....brawl ensues helmets off being used as weapons, assistant coaches fighting….Couple of Spartan assistants take a run at then Illini head coach Mike White...cops/security/few level headed assistants finally break the melee up.
Background....George Perles then Michigan State head coach…..Nick Saban then Spartans defensive coordinator….the late Norm Parker Spartans linebacker coach.......Perles like Bo at Michigan didn't care much for White or his staff for that matter.....Perles felt White a 'sleazeball' coach, 'cheater' in recruiting.....The infamous Perles comment about the 'Biting Illini' after White's team beat Michigan State 1983.....Perles and his staff lost 5-star line recruit Ed Smith signing day to Illinois.....Smith an offensive lineman out of Chicago Robeson was all set to sign with Michigan State February 1984 when at the last minute......White's Illini staff came to his school (supposedly) with scholarship papers for Smith to sign after an early morning meeting with the young man’s grandmother in Chicago......Perles/Michigan State waited majority of the day for that Smith letter of intent not knowing the young man had already inked with Illinois (no cell phones/e-mail/Zoom those days and Michigan State's calls to the young man, high school were not returned).......For what it's worth, Smith never got on the field at Illinois, was on the team for a couple of seasons before transferring down south to either Jackson State or Grambling to play.....Perles never forgot shit like that....always had his team fired up for Illinois.
The late Norm Parker's problem with Illinois darker than recruiting/on the field play of White's program that era.....Parker at Michigan State till 1993.....He went on to great success with the Iowa Hawkeyes as Kirk Ferentz's defensive coordinator.....Parker's issues with Illinois had more to do with then Illini AD Neale Stoner.... Parker had been a defensive assistant on Gary Moeller's Illini staff late 70's.....When the Moeller staff was let go, new Illini AD Stoner told those assistants fired athletic department would cover their moving expenses to the next town/job.....'Deal' offered was DIA would fly the assistants family to their new location, pay for the moving expenses......Parker got a job on the East Carolina staff...…..When it came time for Parker's family to move from Champaign to North Carolina that winter........Reportedly Stoner refused to pay the moving cost telling Parker/his wife, 'waited too long' to move offer rescinded.....Reality was Stoner's athletic department paid for a couple of the moves, didn't want to spend anymore money on moving families of fired assistant coaches....Parker had to pay the moving/transportation expenses.....His wife packed up their CU house into moving vans to go to North Carolina.....Wife in one of the moving vans that got into an accident on the way...Parker's wife died in the van accident.....1987 Illinois vs. Michigan State game ended in a 14-14 tie no OT in college football those days...White had his QB Scott Mohr take a knee twice as the clock ran out....after White said he had the QB take a knee, not attempt to score cause, 'we played to well to lose a game on a mistake like that'.
*'Senior Hit'-When John Mackovic became head football coach at Illinois he continued something called the 'Senior Hit'.....'Senior Hit' was last day of regular season football practice all the true freshmen on the team lined up in full pads, helmet, blind folded at the goal line to be 'hit' by a senior Illini player.....All fall upper classmen, support staff, assistant coaches would warn the freshmen about the 'Senior Hit'...told about how that day, senior lines up varying distances/run full speed at his hand picked freshman player standing on the goal line for their final 'hit'......'Senior Hit' such a closely guarded secret frosh never had a clue.
Reality….seniors didn't full speed hit the defenseless freshmen........older players sprint towards the frosh as they went by at the goal line, senior would give a strong tap on the shoulder pads/helmet of the frosh....no one ever was hit, blocked, tackled full speed......after the tap, senior would shake the hand of his designated freshman, 'congratulations you made it' all fall....staff would film the 'Senior hit' play it at dinner.....was a 'bonding' experience Mackovic's staff did....staff, players all got a great laugh watching the film/reaction....some frosh were leaning backwards in anticipation of the 'hit'.... some some barely 'hit' fell over....a few fell over before the senior even got to them....team bonding/building that large majority of the team and staff enjoyed.
*1992 Lou Tepper takes over,.....'Senior Hit' last day of regular season fall practice continues.......except....on the 'Senior Hit' day '92 one Illini freshman refuses to participate...that frosh?.....Defensive end Simeon Rice....Rice refused the blind fold...refused to participate......Freshman ended up being chased around the stadium by the older players bound and determined to make him go thru the 'Senior Hit'........Rice at various points in the stadium, on the ground, kicking/screaming, whining about how, 'he didn't have to do it' as he was being chased/caught would get away....in the end Rice didn't have to do the 'Senior Hit'......let's just say a lot of the older Illini players were never big Simeon Rice 'fans' after that day.……'Senior Hit' discontinued under Tepper.
*'Parents man'-Illini coach Bret Bielema says his comments about personnel Monday were ‘completely taken out of context,’” ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg tweeted on Thursday. “Says he wasn’t talking about current Illini roster. Bielema showed the entire transcript of his comments to the team Tuesday.”....One, Bielema behind the scenes when he took the Arkansas job did the same…..had 'media' types write that the talent level former head coach Bobby Petrino/staff had left behind for Bielema’s staff was 'not good' so it's not like the Illini head coach just came up with the idea to talk about the lack of talent in the program his staff had just taken over.... Bielema said what we all knew.....Lovie Smith's staff screwed up quarterback/offensive line recruiting during their time in Champaign....not a big deal....players on the team came out in support of Bielema..……at this point players are either bought in to the new staff or they are not….players know which players/positions are good, which stink....Bielema coming out explaining his comments later wasn't for the team, it was for the parents of the team members to limit the bitching and moaning from that side of the 'program'.....Head coach can limit which boosters he has to interact with on a daily/weekly basis…..Parents of players over and over the group a head coach has to tread lightly with day in, day out.
*2004 Dead man walking/then Illini head coach Ron Turner mild criticism of his offensive line that made it into the News Gazette after a loss upset parents of the some of those that played that position……..’He (Turner) threw my boy under the bus…..with all the other shit going on around here? single out one group? that’s bullshit’ one mother of a starting Illini offensive lineman said…….linemen weren't upset with the comments they were coached by oline coach Harry Hiestand.…….Turner's criticism mild compared to what they went thru daily with Hiestand....But because of it…..Turner had to meet with those parents complaining Friday before a home game....explain his comments/criticism to those 'upset'.........one parent kept asking if Turner would call NFL teams to make sure that 'that quote doesn't hurt my kids NFL chances'....parents.
*2005…..after the opening game upset of Rutgers....Illini head coach Ron Zook leaving the stadium......stops at a tailgate run by parents of a former/then current Illini player/heavily attended by parents of current Illini players, plenty of influential townies (HA HA HA yeah I wrote influential townies but Ron Turner had a lot of support from those types in around Champaign that were upset Turner had been fired/replaced by Zook).…..everyone congratulating Zook who says, 'yeah that was exciting but just wait till we get all our players it's really going to be fun'.....just an off the cuff remark trying to say 'today was fun but just wait once we get rolling, more fun'.….it was taken by the parents/townies not quite sure about Zook as a put down of their kids, the players in the program Zook took over....of course that comment spread like wildfire with the townies that were Turner backers...don't think Zook ever recovered from it with many of those parents/townie types.......years later that Zook comment still being brought up by those still loyal to their kids/Turner. (Turner let townies/certain local boosters around his program much more than Zook ever did).
Great stuff as always, Jeff..Senior Hit was also a Mike White thing..fall 87, whispers of the fake hit get out, so Coach White lines up a couple guys to demonstrate..my roomie Tim Simpson was one of them..only 5-6 yds, not 40+, but solid collisions nonetheless..the rest of us frosh took notice😳