Will the Hammer Finally Fall on the Illini?
Remember when Ron Zook was bringing in 5* talent from across the country and everyone, even those that don’t follow recruiting, were getting suspicious and asking questions?
The IRT asked on Dec 16, 2006:
Illinois has no fan base, and they are 11-47 in the last 5 years(that’s a .190 winning percentage.) What are these recruits thinking?
We were thinking it was about the money.
But we heard that it wasn’t about the money.
Well, turns out it may have been about the money.
Sources close to the IRT are claiming that the NCAA will be bringing the hammer down on the Zookie Monster as early as next week for recruiting improprieties. I don’t think anyone will be surprised. The most surprising aspect of it all may be the NCAA actually getting off its ass and doing something.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
[...] Recruiting Violations Looks like Zookie isn’t playing by the rules. Irish Round Table » Blog Archive » Will the Hammer Finally Fall on the Illini? __________________ If you’re mad at your kid, you can either raise him to be a nose tackle or [...]
May 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Once a ‘crook’ always a crook!! Win at all cost!! If this is true, I just want to PUKE!! I am so SICK of scums losing sight of what a student athlete is suppose to be!! A FREE Education is not enough I guess!!! It is NOT just the Head Coach but this festation starts at the top with ’sketchy’ Administration and Alumni!! Unless this ‘Zook like mindset’ changes, we will continue to hear more stories like this along with companies like Enron and Bear Sterns!! What happened to ethics NOT only in sports but the business world!! Zook is simply ‘bankrupting’ these kids for himself without any concern for the future of his players PERIOD!! These guys HAVE to be BANNED permanently from coaching!! Of course the NCAA is simply a spineless association if it wasnt than the Sampson’s and Zooks of the College sports world would be BANNED from coaching!!
May 13th, 2008 at 7:57 am
waiting…………………or is this another BS rumor? I don’t doubt that Zook and/or somebody connected to Illinois in some way did something illegal and/or unethical to get the type of talent there that he has brought in the last few years. It isn’t all about playing time, Illinois does have a good academic program, but come on. It takes more than playing time to get some of the elite talent in there that he was brining in there to a team that didn’t have any resemblence to a winning program.
saying that, I still wouldn’t mind seeing Illinois compete in the Big 11, I mean Big 10. Till something is proven that they were doing something illegal, I will continue to root for Illinois to keep knocking off teams like Wisconsin, Ohio state and Michigan. Rather see a kid go to Illinois or Northwestern than Michigan or Ohio State
May 13th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Those kids are going to Illinois instead of ND, not Michigan and OSU. See Martez Wilson and Arelious Benn.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:41 am
i don’t mind “losing” those two. Who cares? Tez was never considering ND, so ND didn’t lose him. Benn was one that hurt, but I’m not going to complain about it. ND “stole” some pretty good recruits from Illinois last year with Fleming, Filer, and Cwynar and Hughes the year before.
Till I see proof that Zook and Illinois are breaking the rules, I will just assume that Zook and his staff are out there working their ass off just like Weis and his staff are. Zook has always been a good recruiter, and Locksley has always recruited the DC area well, so them getting Benn shouldn’t have been that big of a shock, especially when there were already a couple old teammates of his on the Illinois team already.
I’ll gladly take all of this back about Zook if/when proof comes out.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
One thing is for sure. I sure was happy to see the Illini beat OSU last year.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Heard this may be bigger than the NCAA.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Any updates, or is this over?
October 8th, 2008 at 11:36 am
It’s not only over, there was nothing ever there. Get over it everyone: there was no cheating.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
There was a cover up.