'Why Not Illinois?'

Nostalgia is a helluva' drug...

*While waiting for the NCAA basketball tournament next month…reminded…..This fall the 25th anniversary of the last time Illini football won a Big Ten title outright (10-1 7-1 conference record)….that season my first year full-time website biz covering Ron Turner’s program….Athletic director Josh Whitman wasn’t on the 01’ team graduating in 2000 but those were all his boys…am sure something special in store in 2026 remembering last time Illini football won the championship….am sure I missed a few but here it is…..my ‘25 memories’ fall 2001.

-After a disappointing 5-6 2000 season/replacing majority of defensive staff…many local ‘media’ types like Tate, Tupper, Tribune, Sun-Times writing before Camp Rantoul ‘another losing season for Turner’ implied ‘job in jeopardy’.

-Summer of 2001 ‘team unity’….players formed softball squads….weekly games….then S&C coach Jim Zielinski in charge and his families pet pig made appearances running around each week much to the delight of all involved.

-Crazy intense pre-season camp….then freshman punter Steve Weatherford feeling frisky had enough of tackle Tony Pashos’ running his mouth….talked the rest of the freshmen into ‘taking Pashos down’ after a workout….only problem….Weatherford took off jumping on Pashos….only freshman to do so…330-pounder grabbing the frosh…body slamming so hard….Weatherford had trouble moving for several minutes.

-Turner when he asked S&C coach Zielinski about how the team looked after summer workouts….Zielinski replied, ‘I like the look in their eyes’…..where the head coach got that phrase later repeated.

-Team slogan on t-shirts…’Why Not Illinois?’

-Opened season at Cal….44-17 drubbing of the Bears.

-Next 17-12 home opener win over Northern Illinois….Huskies running backs Thomas Hammock/Michael ‘The Burner’ Turner combined for over 200 yards rushing….P.J. Fleck seven catches/six of them for NIU first downs….after team down looked like they had lost…Turner had to turn that frown upside down, ‘guys we won’.

-Few days after the NIU win….9/11….that week’s game vs. Louisville cancelled.

-Consistent critic of the Old German Ron Guenther but….week and a half later after cancellation when Illinois played the Cardinals at home….pre-game salute to America….Star Spangled Banner….one of the greatest moments in Memorial Stadium history.

-Harry Hiestand’s offensive line….Pashos and Sean Bubin at the tackles…Jay Kulaga and Bucky Babcock the guards….Luke Butkus at center….what a season they had….Future NFL’er Dave Diehl swingman playing both tackle and guard….keeping up the family tradition….Luke Butkus one of the nastiest if not nastiest Illini recent history (challenging his cousin Mark)….didn’t want to be a lowly freshman Butkus would pancake in practice…not only would #71 give you a shot on the ground…had a bad habit of spitting ‘stay down’ after the play…toughest Butkus?….family will tell you Luke’s oldest brother Zach….He had a few legendary knockouts of former Illini players when they would ‘party too hard’ in CU/ran their mouth to the wrong guy.

-Brilliance of quarterback Kurt Kittner….perfect fit for the Turner offense.

-How good was cornerback Eugene Wilson in 2001?….play of safeties Bobby Jackson and Muhammad Abdullah.

-Early on media knew how well Illinois should play by Turner’s mood….usually cranky….in 2001 every week….’we are good to go’….confident almost cheerful when asked…could tell he enjoyed coaching this team so much.

-Cept’ vs. NIU/Michigan (L)…..team scored 30 points or more in every other game….almost every ‘W’ in 2001 offense averaged close to 35 minutes of possession time…kept the defense well rested no doubt.

-After running wild against Illinois in 2000…..first year Illini defensive coordinator Mike Cassity employing the ‘Jet’ defense against Hoosiers quarterback Antwaan Randle-El…..basically the ‘Jet’ was defensive ends set a hard edge keeping ARE in the pocket….linebackers spy on the quarterback filling gaps limit scrambles…worked….35-14 road win over Indiana.

-Greg McMahon’s special teams playing ‘special’….reverses, fakes, two-headed place-kicking monster of John Gockman and Peter Christofilakos….can’t think of another season special teams as good as they were in 2001.

-Sat in the Illini parents section when Penn State visited Champaign….33-28 come from behind win…right behind the Nittany Lions bench….lefty QB Mills taking some kind of shot on the sidelines for his injured wrist…went back into the game…down the row 85’ Bear Emery Moorehead…told the former tight end he played on the ‘Greatest team in NFL history’……father of wide receiver Aaron didn’t disagree.

-Badger head coach Barry Alvarez bitching for years about Brandon Lloyd being out of bounds above catch giving Illinois a 42-35 win over Wisconsin…no instant replay reviews then fellas.

-Night before playing Illinois in Columbus….Buckeyes starting quarterback Steve Bellisari arrested for drunk driving…head coach Jim Tressel suspended him….backup Scott McMullen started/made key mistakes as Turner’s team upset Ohio State 34-22.

-Illini finished season playing Northwestern on Thanksgiving day for some reason…game was not televised….shaky performance……Kittner and company come thru late 34-28 earning at least a share of the league championship….yeah I was eating dinner listening to game on radio/following on game tracker….joy in radio color guy/former Illini Jim Grabowski winning a piece of B1G title ‘come so far from the 0-11’ 1997 season…..happiness for his old teammate/buddy athletic director Guenther.

-To win the Big Ten title outright….Illini had to have Ohio State beat Michigan on Saturday….as team sat in watching….3rd string Buckeye QB/future Bear Krenzel led Tressel’s team to 26-20 win….ILLINI BIG TEN CHAMPS.

-2001….hard to find a better year for Guenther…both the men’s basketball and football teams won Big Ten championships.

-Been told by several people in Champaign….Guenther still has a house in town…not in the best shape physically….hopefully former AD can make it/spend time with the team if/when they have a celebration in the fall…..know how proud he was of what was accomplished.

-DIA put out a poster saluting both the basketball/football championship teams together….had Turner/Bill Self sign mine…framed it…gave it to my dad cause as I have wrote…he was the reason I became an Illini fan….he put it up in his man cave right away…when my parents moved…that poster for some reason disappeared….one of the movers was an Illini fan….dad called the moving company when he realized it was gone….too late…so some fuckin’ mover has a great ILL. poster….framed no less💩

-2000 season…..athletic department should have sold t-shirts with the Chief shaking his fist at the heavens captioned….. ‘refs screwed us again’….no breaks…2001 season ILL. several breaks making up for the previous year…will always remember all the ‘characters’ first met 2001 run….Men’s hoops and football winning Big Ten title same season?…hard to think that happens again anytime soon.

*This and that…

-23-to-26 NFL coaching staffs just killing college football…twenty years ago NFL teams had half that number of assistants….still good assistants to hire in college but the talent pool getting more and more shallow as NFL staffs get bigger and bigger…why you see so many college staffs now old campaigners and younger assistants that have to be developed….nobody needs 26 assistant football coaches.

-Speaking of the NFL…former Illini quarterback(s) getting promoted…..after five head coaching interviews….Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase promoted to offensive coordinator….Co-offensive coordinator Chandler Whitmer leaves Indiana to become quarterback coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

-”I don’t worry about the trips, we’re spoiled, we charter. We have great food, we stay in nice places. It’s really not that hard. We just gotta show up and play”-Illinois head basketball coach Brad Underwood when asked about traveling to the west coast for games….response to certain head coaches complaining about traveling to the Midwest/East coast….yeah it’s stupid west coast schools are in the Big Ten…ridiculous travel schedules but…your school made the deal…make the best of the situation….vs. bitch and moaning.

Old days…60’s&70’s into the early 80’s….Big Ten teams would play a Thursday-Saturday schedule….back when we had real winters….Illinois as an example….would fly commercial to Iowa City sometimes day of game….stay in some shitty hotel/motel on edge of town…eat fast food or at some greasy spoon…play game that night…fly commercial to Minneapolis play the Goofs Saturday…in and out of the cold…bad food…shady places to stay….teams now fly in luxury….stay in the best hotels….trainers/S&C coaches/nutritionists making sure they eat correct/stay healthy….best performance by an Illini in a West Coast game? Always be hard to beat Kevin Turner’s 32 at Pauley Pavilion December 30th 1997…UCLA 74-69 win….Turner 8-of-13 shooting 3’s.

-Word to the wise…after the big win against Michigan this Friday night…would love to see Underwood rest Keaton Wagler a bunch vs. crappy Oregon and Maryland…keen grasp of the obvious freshman been getting beat up….need him fresh and healthy for the NCAA run.

-Speaking of Iowa City….former player told me funny story about playing the Hawkeyes back in the day…course we know Hayden Fry had visitor’s locker room painted pink…color to ‘calm’ opposition/Mackovic had the walls papered over one year…other thing…three toilets and a couple of urinals……no stalls….just sitting there out in the open…older players would tell the younger guys….’do your business at the hotel before we leave unless you want everyone on the team watching you take a dump’….😳