It's unfortunate another bad season on defense could scar the coaching career's of both Mallory and Scheafer. They have crap to work with. Which would you rather see more: Illini suck, or Mallory and Scheafer succeed? I think I'd take the former, because you'd think eventually, as Illinois keeps losing, the top players in the state would stop going there. and NIU could start getting a few 3 and 4 star recruits.
<a href='http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040811/SPORTS14/408110319/1001/SPORTS' target='_blank'>Illini Article</a>
I always cheer for the Huskies and whoever is playing the Illini.
Field Turf Wrote:It's unfortunate another bad season on defense could scar the coaching career's of both Mallory and Scheafer. They have crap to work with. Which would you rather see more: Illini suck, or Mallory and Scheafer succeed? I think I'd take the former, because you'd think eventually, as Illinois keeps losing, the top players in the state would stop going there. and NIU could start getting a few 3 and 4 star recruits.
<a href='http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040811/SPORTS14/408110319/1001/SPORTS' target='_blank'>Illini Article</a>
I agree with you. Mallory and Schaefer, while wonderful guys and excellent coaches, left NIU to go "big time" and earn more money. Well, there they are! They certainly knew what they were getting into. If the Illini do not win a game this year, I will not be sad in the slightest. As you say, maybe we'll be able to get more blue chip recruits. And maybe - just maybe - we can steal two paragraphs and 1 minute of TV/Radio coverage from the Illini's media coverage.
BINGO !
Up with the Huskies and whatever happens with Illini is their problem and perhaps an indirect gain for NIU.
Coaches know that their jobs are potentially very tenuous. Recently we've lost good coaches - Shafer, Roushar, Canada - to potentially tenuous programs. They understand the risks.
Mallory, Shafer and Roushar are guys I root for (and Canada), but they chose the wrong employer from which to garner my sympathy. I still root for them personally, but I cannot root hard for the orange and blue. All 4 are excellent young coaches that I expect to see a lot of success for in the near future wherever they are. I also wouldn't be surprised to see one of them, particularly Mike, possibly heading up the Huskie program not too far down the line.