Time for Illinois State to go a different direction

by **Red** » January 17th, 2011, 11:30 am

I like Jank, but he wasted great opportunities to go to the dance with Osiris and Dinma. He schedules the absolute worst teams every year to pad his record and now we're 0-7 and don't have the excuses that Les has at Bradley. I'm officially on board with replacing Jank if this season doesn't turn around dramatically.

**Sponsor**

by **bigdawg** » January 17th, 2011, 12:17 pm

Get in line. Drake and SIU feel the same way. However you make a good point about scheduling and how bad Illinois State's is every year. Do you think Jank was doing that to try and get out of Normal so he could say he had 20 win seasons every year? That's what I wonder at least.

by **TNMSUFAN** » January 17th, 2011, 12:36 pm

bigdawg wrote:Get in line. Drake and SIU feel the same way. However you make a good point about scheduling and how bad Illinois State's is every year. Do you think Jank was doing that to try and get out of Normal so he could say he had 20 win seasons every year? That's what I wonder at least.

Coach Martin has talked about the ISU situation a few times and I thought he had an interesting take. He said something about when Jank got the job the administration told him to put more butts in the seats and winning does that. Zo said there is a fine line at our level on how to schedule. He said Jank has won games and their tickets sales have increased even though they haven't had an NCAA tournament resume type team. He said something about Jank could go schedule tough and lose 1/2 his non-con games then people wouldn't show up to the games. He said it is very tough to balance everything because if you don't win 20 games and people don't show up you won't be coaching long these days. He basically said Jank is doing what he was told by those in charge...win games and increase attendance

by **BirdmanBB** » January 17th, 2011, 4:04 pm

Red wrote:I like Jank, but he wasted great opportunities to go to the dance with Osiris and Dinma. He schedules the absolute worst teams every year to pad his record and now we're 0-7 and don't have the excuses that Les has at Bradley. I'm officially on board with replacing Jank if this season doesn't turn around dramatically.

So you are saying that he scheduled correctly this year then, right? Since we really are that bad this year then I think we did the valley a huge favor by scheduling as soft as we did and winning as many non-con games as we did. As far as the schedule goes, he got us into the cancun challenge next year where we will play Rutgers and if we win, we have a potential matchup against Illinois. So that's taken care of. As far as Osiris/Dinma go, we were a missed layup away from going dancing. Jank can't shoot it for them. 3 trips to the NIT may not have been what you were looking for, but it's not a complete failure. You want to can the guy for having one unsuccessful season out of 4? A season where we have one of the youngest, most inexperienced teams in D1. You are also willing to buyout the last year of his contract to get someone new in here so we will essentially be paying 2 head coaches for one year? I think I would rather them keep Jank until his contract expires and use that money you want pay a buyout/new coach with and build some better stands at Hancock. That's a little bit more of a pressing issue than getting your panties in a bunch over one bad season out of four.

Did you really expect us to compete at the top of the valley this year after losing a bulk of scoring/experience from the previous year? I wish ISU was Kentucky or Kansas, but it ain't. We have to develop 4 year players just like every other school in our conference. It's just our turn to take the valley beating this year. Give it time, these guys will be good. There are a few players, that once potential is realized could make this team scary good. I trust them to do it too after watching them develop a guy like Dinma into one of the best players in the valley.

I thought our fans were better than the yearly BU extreme meltdown mode.

by **45otseoj** » January 17th, 2011, 8:05 pm

Time for Nic Moore to go a different direction if Jank gets axed...

by **Aargh** » January 17th, 2011, 9:53 pm

One bad year out of 4 is bad when iut's year 4.

that's when the coach should have his players on board and have his recruiting working.

If IlSU is exceptionally young this year, that's an indication that recruiting hasn't been consistent or strong. One of those.

Marshall has been at WSU the same amount of time as Jank at IlSU. WSU's recruiting is like walking a tightrope with all the JuCos Marshall had to recruit - first to field a team - and then to replace the JuCOs. As I recall IlSU had a bit more in the cupboard after the coaching change, so Jank doesn't really have many excuses if he has holes in his recruiting.

I'm afraid that Jank's connection to KU gives him "at this level" syndrome, much like Turgeon had. A coach with an attitude about what can be expected at cretain levels of basketball has difficulty being successful at those levels.

If it wasn't for Paul Miller wanting to play both basketball and baseball (and WSU letting hi try that) and for Kyle Wilson having panic attacks at Illinois and grandparents in Wichita, Turgeon would still be here recruiting front court players he thought he could get "at this level".

KU guys have horrible attitudes about the Valley.

by **45otseoj** » January 17th, 2011, 11:01 pm

Jank's first recruiting class featured:
An injury-prone sex offender
A theif
A player who couldn't stay eligible
A player who was ruled ineligible (who resigned and is now out with back spasms)
A player who didn't come back after his 1st Christmas away from home

Those scholarships opened up which is why ISU is so young.
The young talent seems good. The incoming talent seems promising.

I expect a return to the top half next season.
If not, we may see a change.
Also, ISU will be naming a new AD this summer.

by **BirdmanBB** » January 18th, 2011, 9:23 am

I agree.

When Jank took over, he also inherited a pretty good team. His recruits were mainly Juco plug in's because he had an opportunity to go for it right out of the gate. Currently we have no Junior class. That should tell you a ton. I get what the poster above was saying that it shouldn't be in your 4th year, however, there are reasons why this has occurred.

I honestly think we will turn around by the time the valley tourney comes up. I am not saying we will be amazing, but I think it will give us enough to get excited about the next few years. Plus we have an extremely good PG coming in next year that should get a significant amount of playing time. A guy who I think when everything is said and done will be a difference maker.

by **Aargh** » January 18th, 2011, 11:32 am

Also, ISU will be naming a new AD this summer.

There's the elephant hiding in the corner of the room. If the new AD has any of "his guys" available, that can be bad news for a coach who's not winning games.

Jank almost certainly another year. The outgoing AD isn't likely to pull the trigger and hire a coach on lame duck status. A new AD named in summer is unlikely to change basketball coaches in August. Next year better be a good one for IlSU, which is unlikely with no Srs on the squad.

by **bigdawg** » January 18th, 2011, 11:41 am

New AD spells bad things for unsuccessful coaches. I agree that Jank probably isn't going anywhere this year but if a team were to go 0-18 or 1-17 in the MVC in a down year for the conference, what does it say for a school if they don't make changes?