Illini Basketball 2019-2020

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#151      
Soulberries
BMoreIllini said:
Here is a link from the Spokesman about Gentry coming to the Illini. There's a good quote from BU about Gentry:

“I’ve said it often that Stephen has a great basketball mind and he was a crucial piece to what we were able to accomplish at Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State,” Underwood said in an Illinois release. “I am excited to have him return to our bench coming off two incredibly successful years at Gonzaga with Coach (Mark) Few.

“Stephen is gifted with Xs and Os and analytics, and excels with player development. Given his familiarity with our system and our program, he will provide a seamless transition for our players.”

The bolded portion is key for me. Maybe it's coach speak, so to speak, but it's encouraging. Interesting timing for Gentry to come over, maybe he just wasn't happy with his Director of Operations role and wanted to be more directly involved with players again. I hope Whitman isn't micromanaging, but I can't see BU being upset about bringing Gentry over. If it was forcing one of BU's "guys" out, I could see some feathers being ruffled, but Walker isn't one of his guys and hasn't exactly been getting results (at least in recruiting).
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I have no doubt that Gentry can teach Underwood's system, and I was disappointed when he left here after only a hot minute. While I'm pleased to hear he's coming back, do we have any real indication that this hire will help our recruiting issues, particularly in the STL area? My understanding is that only assistant coaches can recruit, and Gentry hasn't been an assistant since SFA.
 
#152      
TCTORNADO
jmilt7 said:
Not to beat a dead horse but didn't he make that decision originally. I mean, he was at Illinois for, like someone said, a hot minute, then left for Gonzaga. Presumably he gave up the Asst. Coach salary ($300,000) for the DOBO salary ($125,000) in the first place. Or was he not going to be an Asst. coach at Illinois? Or, of course, maybe he feels he made a mistake? Or maybe he thought he would be moving up to that Asst. Coach salary at GU by now? In other words, I am just curious. Doesn't really matter as I am happy he is here but, like I said, I am just curious as to why.
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He was not an assistant coach at Illinois but rather a DOBO. His move to Gonzaga (albeit DOBO to DOBO) was because he played there and was from the area.
 
#153      
Soulberries
jmilt7 said:
Not to beat a dead horse but didn't he make that decision originally. I mean, he was at Illinois for, like someone said, a hot minute, then left for Gonzaga. Presumably he gave up the Asst. Coach salary ($300,000) for the DOBO salary ($125,000) in the first place, when he left for GU in 2017. Or was he not going to be an Asst. coach at Illinois? Or, of course, maybe he feels he made a mistake? Or maybe he thought he would be moving up to that Asst. Coach salary at GU by now? In other words, I am just curious. Doesn't really matter as I am happy he is here but, like I said, I am just curious as to why.
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I don't think he was previously offered an Assistant Coach position but an Assistant to the Head Coach position IIRC.
 
#154      
whatahack
Soulberries said:
I don't think he was previously offered an Assistant Coach position but an Assistant to the Head Coach position IIRC.
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#155      
ivwilsoniv
Does anyone have a read on Gentry’s abilities to contribute to recruiting? I’m assuming that if they are moving Walker to a lesser role with fewer recruiting responsibilities, they would expect/need Gentry to participate in that area considerably.
 
#156      
ugottabjoshinme
jmilt7 said:
Not to beat a dead horse but didn't he make that decision originally. I mean, he was at Illinois for, like someone said, a hot minute, then left for Gonzaga. Presumably he gave up the Asst. Coach salary ($300,000) for the DOBO salary ($125,000) in the first place, when he left for GU in 2017. Or was he not going to be an Asst. coach at Illinois? Or, of course, maybe he feels he made a mistake? Or maybe he thought he would be moving up to that Asst. Coach salary at GU by now? In other words, I am just curious. Doesn't really matter as I am happy he is here but, like I said, I am just curious as to why.
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He was not an assistant coach when he was at Illinois previously.
 
#161      
JFGsCoffeeMug
illini0440 said:
It should be BUs call but it wasn't in this case....don't think BU or Walker are happy at all about it even though BU does love Gentry.
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If someone above BU felt pressured to reach out to Gentry to bring him aboard, and did so without going through BU, then it sounds like there are donors that are unhappy with the speed of this rebuild. BU needs to start producing results to take some heat off of himself and Whitman. A tourney appearance this year should help.
 
#163      
illini0440
JFGsCoffeeMug said:
If someone above BU felt pressured to reach out to Gentry to bring him aboard, and did so without going through BU, then it sounds like there are donors that are unhappy with the speed of this rebuild. BU needs to start producing results to take some heat off of himself and Whitman. A tourney appearance this year should help.
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The demotion happened before another assistant coach had been found.
 
#168      
pruman91
I am so excited about the upcoming season and the makeup of the roster..We finally have a balance of depth at all positions and I can't wait to see how Kofi plays in our system...We have a chance for the first time in a long time to get back to the dance and make some noise...We should be exciting to watch and hold our own against anyone on our schedule..The biggest transition to me is have we learned " how to win " and sustain a winning streak to gain momentum to gain the confidence that we are a tourney team and bust through the door to get us back to the tourney and be ranked in the polls...I feel that we are but after years of failure and some losses that are still confounding to me, we have an opportunity to reverse that trend and get back to prominence in college BB ..

Fingers crossed and I am also excited for the football team for the first time in many years also...Feel sorry for Bobby R...such a shame for a great young man to experience what he is going through...best wishes Bobby
 
#171      
RedRocksIllini
illini0440 said:
It should be BUs call but it wasn't in this case....don't think BU or Walker are happy at all about it even though BU does love Gentry.
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How Illinois would it be for the team to have a great season this year and then Underwood leaves because he doesn't want to work for a micromanaging AD?
 
#173      
ChiefIllini
I think there was a sentiment for a long time that Walker was a key piece bridging the Groce-Underwood transition as it stood with recruits.

Not trying to defend Walker, but I think his recruiting failures had a lot more bad luck involved, than just poor recruiting prowess. I have at least some doubts Tilmon would've backed out if Martin wasn't hired at Mizzou, I think Mark Smith had too many voices around him to show his true potential here, and it sounds like the MS fall out probably affected a few other recruits as well. Also, spitballing here, but I'm not sure this demotion is related to recruiting-- but it certainly didn't help.

Personally just hope Walker gets to serve his suspension someday.
 
#174      
Calvin
If Whitman stepped in, I'm ok with that. BU has 2 very bad seasons under his belt, and Whitman's butt is on the line as much as BU. There are too many concerns IMO to give Underwood a blank check at this point. From my very limited POV, Underwood could use recruiting help more than anything, but whatever the secret sauce is, we need to find it. Honestly, I haven't been wowed with Underwood's player development. If we bring in someone who can do that and bolster player relations, that's not a bad thing. Don't know enough about Gentry to know how strong a hire this is, but this is a good time for someone to come into the program. We're set up better than we have been for a while.
 
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