Sic Semper Tyrannis

History tells us that all Tyrants are doomed to failure and thus the fate of our modern Caesar has already been written as we await the conclusion of our contemporary Illini tragedy. Is RZ unwittingly playing the role of Brutus and will his ineptitude be the first dagger to deliver the fatal blow to our Athletic Dictator or “AD”.

The AD has all but admitted failure after cleaning house and establishing a puppet regime with a toothless Head Coach commanding no one while posing as a general without an army in a war he cannot win, Salutations will be given to Coordinators and the AD if 2010 miraculously produces wins and competency. More likely though, we will witness a barren campaign bereft of success and catastrophic in its aftermath. Heads will roll as RZ will be forced to fall on his sword but not before his blade is thrust into the Tyrant in a ignominious ending to a career with more battles won than lost except for the war which come to define his empire. His legacy will be defined by his failure in the one area that will mean the most to him and no buildings or minor victories can overcome the stigma of a losing 18 year war with a sport he places above all else. At least Al Davis, Jerry Jones and Caesar himself have conquered worlds and ruled an Empire of note before succumbing to their worst devices as their Kingdoms fell.

How long has the plan to take back the program without dismissing his General been afoot? How many interviews were granted with candidates and how were they vetted? Were any candidates of color interviewed or considered in the latest purge and is there a nexus between Reggie Mitchell’s departure and the process in question? Clearly the AD had no committee, no transparency and no support from the loyal servants in his Kingdom who buy the tickets and support his blunders. Money was available to saddle this Program with two years of exorbitant assistants salaries that will most likely ensure that no real change will occur until the end of 2011 should things go astray.

Given the mindset of our fearless Dictator, it is clear that “Battle Plan B” consists of firing RZ and hiring Petrino, but what if Petrino is a bust; hire the DC I guess. One element has been lacking throughout this saga and that my friends is accountability. When will the AD step up and proclaim that he has failed and will no longer serve. We teach our children to take responsibility and be accountable for their mistakes, but it’s difficult to reinforce that message when it’s always someone else’s fault. Great leaders have the courage to take risks, fail and stand accountable. Lead and be great or be graceful and noble. In the end it is inevitably, “Sic Semper Tyrannis”, et tu.

PS: Basketball is undergoing growing pains that many of us anticipate from a physically and emotionally immature team with enormous upside and talent. Don’t fret, this team will ultimately find its groove and may surprise us with a deep run in the Tourney if our draw is favorable. I know there are those who are doubting whether this team evens makes the Field of 64, but I have faith in the Coach and his ability to shape the squad into a “dangerous out” come March.

See U at UC and in CU; Go Illini!

Fan Letter to Mr. G

Mr. G,

I listened to your recorded show last night and enjoyed the program. 1-3 p.m. Alaska Time isn’t the best time for me to be sitting around with my feet on the desk listening to the radio, but I’ll try to listen again sometime.

The thing I liked most about the program is that your comments about Illinois football and the coaching have been my sentiments for a long time. Zook just isn’t a very good teacher or coach and his teams tend to be sloppy, undisciplined, prone to mistakes, poor at fundamentals and inconsistent in execution. Other than that, I don’t dislike the guy the way I dislike Charlie Weis or Bob Knight. But you said it best in your comment yesterday to Gould that he wouldn’t be working for long if his grammar sucked. Likewise, Zook has no business coaching D-1 football team. Florida figured that out pretty quickly and Guenther apparently didn’t get the memo.

I met John Hiebert recently on the Illinois Loyalty blog site. The songs and lyrics burst forth in just a few weeks this fall as a frustrated emotional response to the awful football season. Another friend of mine (who is an Illini fan) and I have been writing silly, sophomoric lyrics to famous songs for a long time and exchanging them by email We posted some on the Illinois Loyalty Website in September. John asked if he could mix and record the songs. He did a brilliant job and suddenly we’re famous. Do you think WLS is interested? John and I have never met in person even though only 23 people live in Alaska. We’ve only exchanged emails and music lyrics because it is too cold and dark to go out and see your neighbors. We have vowed to get together to watch a game at a bar, but as the football season progressed, it didn’t sound like much fun. So far, the basketball games have not been on TV here or have been at bad times. We’ll get together before the season is over, I hope.

John sort of fumbled your question about my background because he doesn’t know it. I grew up in Champaign and attended my first year at the U of I. I was a townie. My parents still live there. I am from a long line of Illini alums. My mother and father met at Illinois. My father played basketball on the Final Four Team of 1949. His construction company built a number of buildings on campus, including the Assembly Hall. My grandfather, Paul Bresee and his brother Tiz, were the announcers at the football and basketball games for many, many years. All of my Grandfather’s four brothers and sisters graduated from the U of I. Many of their children and grandchildren have attended the University. One of my mother’s sisters married the son of the then-President of the University, David D. Henry. My mother’s other sister married the son of the head of all of the Illini bands for many years, Mark Hindsley.

When I was young, I didn’t know the difference between college and professional sports. I thought that the Illini belonged to Champaign-Urbana, the way that the Bulls, Bears and Cubs belong to Chicago. I just assumed they played in the same leagues. My grandmother taught me what the line of scrimmage was. When I was in second grade, my sister and I used to play hoops on the neighbor’s driveway and pretend we were Illinois players. I could hardly get the ball to the rim shooting underhanded. My sister was always Dave Downy and I was Bill Burwell. It never dawned on me than that Burwell was a 6’9 black man and I was a 4’2 tow-headed white kid from a white bread neighborhood. Illinois sports transcended race and all other considerations when I was a kid. The slush fund scandal broke on my 13th birthday—December 23, 1966. Most of my generation remembers when John Kennedy was killed as the end of the age of innocence. For me it was the slush fund scandal and my 13th birthday.

Despite my Illinois pedigree, I was a prodigal. After my freshman year I hitchhiked to Fairbanks, Alaska and decided to attend the University of Alaska. This was the Hippie era. I’ve been an Alaskan ever since, other than my three years of law school at Rutgers University, Camden. I still get back to Chicago and Champaign on a regular basis. I have a sister who lives in Deerfield. I still wear my Orange and Blue and follow the teams regularly. My wife thinks I’m a glutton for punishment and doesn’t understand my loyalty. You can take the boy out of Illinois but you can’t take the Illini out of the boy.

As a topic of discussion, I’d love to hear your take on Illinois sports budget. I read that Illinois ranks 10th in the Big 10 in its sports budget. Only Northwestern spends less. My question is, does the administration really care about Illinois sports, in general and football in particular. Does Illinois really want to field a national caliber football team? Based upon my 50 years of watching the program, the current spending levels, the decision to discard the Chief, the constant turnover in the head football coaching position, the distrust of the athletic department stemming from the slush fund scandal, and the general “anti-jock” attitude of the faculty, I don’t think that the school cares whether we go 3-9, 6-6, or 8-4 so long as people buy tickets and give donations. So if the administration doesn’t care and isn’t trying to be national caliber team, why should the fans care so much? I’d like to have your perspective on this. You obviously eat, sleep, speak, drink and dream Illini sports. Don’t you feel a little duped by the school? Don’t you wish that the University of Illinois as an institution supported football the same way that it is supported at OSU, Penn State, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, FSU, Alabama, Miami, Boise State, and USC just to name a few?

Regards,

Richard

Piling On

Since the second quarter of the Missouri debacle in early September, Ron Zook has been a “dead man walking” and his team is destined for more misery in the coming days. For all the conjecture regarding player departures, RZ’s mental state and the welfare of the University, one constituency has been ignored; the fans and alumni. Apparently, our loyalty and continued faith in the AD and his beleaguered Coach are expected without question or regard for those of us who buy tickets and contribute to the DIA.

Saturdays events, although shocking in magnitude and scope, are the likely conclusion to a season fraught with missteps by an AD and Coach who remain clueless in the extreme. We have reaped what we have sewn with a schedule destined to produce failure and a defensively oriented Coach, whose teams gave up a collective 102 points to teams without football history or real pedigree in the last two weeks of the season.

Defections, that were dismissed by experts when estimated in the range of six, are now anyone’s guess as it relates to quantity or impact. The sky is not falling, rather, it has already fallen along with all the crap in the atmosphere as we are left navigating a field littered with debris and fallout from the catastrophic failure that was once our football team.

Kudos, salutations and credit goes to the 45,000 fans who stayed away in droves and demonstrated in no uncertain terms that they will not be ignored. The message to the AD was the football equivalent of the “ghost of Christmas’ to come” and it must have sent shivers up the spine of those whose mantra is based on being and staying in black. Do the math and project the expected indifference that awaits the 2010 version of Gilligan’s Island and the metaphor that immediately comes to mind is “the Red Sea’.

As we reflect back on our collective wretchedness otherwise known as the 2009 Football season, I am reminded of the question posed in my very first Blog entry written after the Missouri game and I think it bears revisiting:

“For all Ron Guenther's protestations that he is a football guy, he has never selected or presided over a coaching tenure that produced a winning record. The Zook era which took on so much promise after its unexpected Rose Bowl appearance in 2007, is now a team in turmoil as it teeters on the brink. Guenther for all the facility building he has completed, has presided over one National Championship in Gymnastics and a superb tennis program that now appears to disintegrating before our very eyes.

Guenther's scheduling woes have angered sky box and premium seat holders as well as local merchants and just about anyone else who follows Illinois Football. As Zook and Illinois try to build a brand and create a culture of winning, the AD is defending the toughest schedule in the Conference which includes only six home games.

September 5th 2009, "a date that shall live in infamy" will either be remembered, like its truly serious forerunner, as monument to Zook's pluckiness and perseverance or the first line on his Illinois football obituary. We may not learn much from this weeks matchup with 1AA opponent, Illinois State, but rest assured, by mid-October, the tea leaves will be clearly read and the future of Illinois Football hangs in the balance.

Fans affections are a fickle mistress and Zook has as many detractors as fans; we shall see what he is made of in the coming weeks; stay tuned "as the world turns.""

The questions still remain, but the answers are clear, exercise damage control, bite the bullet or face the wrath of a Nation scorned. We are a forgiving group as the record shows, but we have our limits . RZ’s Obituary is all but written as the Reaper commences his grizzly task. The clock has struck midnight, the bell has rung and woe unto those who walk the night after the sky has fallen.

Video Blog - Z-Out and the Declaration

Check out the second installment of Mr. G's brand new video blog. Let us know what you think!