http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/07/us/illinoi...index.html

I'm slowly losing faith in college athletics. Why do we all care anymore?

They just need to cull, these type of coaches with the type mentality exhibited in this news story, out of the system, they have no business influencing or being near anyone kid, kick these types to the curb.

I grew up an Illini fan. My graduate experience there included stuff like letting a guy spend 3 1/2 years working toward a degree (he was very productive in the lab and generated a lot of published work for his superiors but neglected everything else) when they knew they would never grant him a degree. They then maliciously failed him and shamed him for stuff that they never made one attempt to correct in the prior 3 1/2 years (he was clearly very far along the autism spectrum and that should have been evident in any pre-admission interview).

My one regret was not transferring out after my first year when they wouldn't allow me to do an invited year at Iowa (so much for CIC) or Utah and then sort of punished me for trying. It was clear they really didn't have the students' best interests in mind at an administrative level. Not racist, but it seems like a similar mentality. I'm sure that's extracting way too much from a singular personal experience, but it was a bad surprise for someone who had basically grown up loving the institution.

This is unfortunate, and doesn't speak for the institution itself. While I can't find it in me to cheer Illini sports. I really value my time there as a grad student. That AD and football headcoach need to go, this is unacceptable. Donors are pulling money away from the school, some are giving it to Northwestern just for spite until these two are fired.

Could Illinois lose research dollars and all that because of what is going down there? Could the NCAA give Illinois the Death Penalty? I think that is why the lawmakers in Illinois trying to get another public school into the Big 10.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...ten-school

There is more than losing students to out of state schools. If the lawmakers got word of what is going down in Illinois? With this? The kids would not commit to either Illinois or Northwestern. If things go down really ugly for Illinois? It could hurt the school, the state and the Big 10.

But, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville only have a club team.

Thomas wasn't a great AD when he was at UC, but he was pretty good at making hiring decisions. He certainly didn't hire anyone close to this bad at UC. Even without the race angle, it's pretty low-life to make life so miserable for kids that they leave your school, and it's twice as bad when they're playing a non-revenue sport.

Overall this is just a messed up story. I'd be interested to hear the other side.