Just because we are paranoid doesnt mean they arent out to get Jerrance Howard
by Joe Kutsunis on Apr 18, 2009 12:53 AM CDT
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PrintIllinois has had trouble holding onto coaches over the years, Lon Kruger, Bill Self, hell even Webster a couple years ago. This has of course led our fanbase to become incredibly paranoid about our coaches being poached by other shinier programs (with heaping piles of cash.) But hey, just because we're paranoid doesn't mean we're wrong.
It is of course no surprise to many Illini basketball fans that with the recent coaching changes at Kentucky and Memphis that the rumors of poaching would start to fly. The subject of these rumors is the assistant who is most responsible for the recruiting turnaround last year. It has been widely reported that both Memphis and Kentucky have contacted Howard in an effort to lure him and his Chicago area recruiting connections away.
The mere mention of this can send an Illini fan into a fit of internet rage, where everything from Nike to World Wide Wes to crooked Kentucky boosters would be implicated in the vast anti-Illini conspiracy. But like I said, just because we are paranoid, doesn't mean we are wrong.
We have had assistants poached before, and we all know that until that LOI is signed Jereme and Crandall are not Illini. And if the vast migration of Memphis recruits to Kentucky shows us, players will follow the coaches that recruited them. So, who wouldn't want a couple 5 star kids from one of the most important recruiting areas in the nation, especially when all you have to do is dangle a bag of money in front of the 28 year old coach who recruited them.
As of yesterday, Jerrance is still staying keeping the future of this team intact (for now) But if the football team has taught us anything about high recruiting assistant, its only a matter of time before someone offers him a job he just cant pass up, namely as a head coach.
Not that any of this will stem the flow of Illini related conspiracy theories.
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I am just paranoid,
or was this posted on this very website a couple of weeks ago:
“Never, never (am I leaving). There was some interest. That’s how the business is. I can’t leave Illinois. Illinois has been good and loyal to my family since Day 1. I’m not going anywhere. I really do bleed Orange and Blue.”
What’s changed? It seems pretty clear to me that he has no inclination to leave. Unless there’s some major behind-the-scenes kind of stuff going on (which there very well could be), I don’t see him leaving.
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them."
Thats pretty much the point
coaches “change their mind” all the time, including Bill Self and John Calipari, and as a result no matter how clearly a coach commits to a program there will always be a fear of defection to the next arizona or kentucky job or whatever.
I don’t think he is going anywhere, but since so much of the teams recruiting is tied up in this one coach, we have got a lot to lose.
Point is he is going to be in high demand, and I doubt this will be the only offseason that job offers will come Jerrance’s way.
Hailtotheorange.com
Not to sound like Bo Schembechler or anything . . .
but he’s an Illinois man.
It’s gonna have to take either a MAJOR falling-out or a huge boatload of cash to get Howard to leave the program. I’ll take a wait-and-see approach.
"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields
If he does leave
I’ll pretty much have to tear out my heart with a rusty corkscrew. We finally have a good team in the Bruce Weber era, and it would really suck to have no recruits. Again.
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them."
Associate HC
I think if Illinois is serious about keeping Jerrance (which they should be) he should get a big raise and a new title like associate head coach. He is young but if he is as valuable as he appears to be Illinois needs to do everything they can to keep him. BW won’t be here forever and it would be nice to have a coach in waiting when that day comes.
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