John Ekey leaving Illinois State

[ilstu2013]

That can't be right, unless Coach Muller gets a bonus for losing more games next year than he lost this year.

If anyone thinks that every big coming in this season for ISU is better than Ekey then they should get professional help.

I'm not sure what's going on in Normal right now.

Yeah that can be right and furthermore, it is right. Muller wants to get more players that fit his style. Ekey put up worse stats this year mostly because he didn't fit into the system. You clearly haven't been paying much attention to the recruits if you think there's nothing coming this season. ISU signed Bobby Hunter who put up over 25 ppg at his juco and Zach Lofton who had BCS offers from places like Kansas State and Baylor yet picked us and put up about 16 ppg at juco. MiKyle McIntosh is between us and Miami and it seems to me he is likely to pick us over Miami considering all the trouble Miami is dealing with and a potential recruit would not want to get involved with that, it seems. Of course the same people who picked Wichita to be 4th or 5th prior to this past campaign and they finished 2nd and in the Final Four, so then expect big things from the Redbirds as well with a large contingent of talented jucos coming in.

Good thing you have a Coach of the Year to get you there.

Oh, right.

http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030713aaa.html

Illinois State men's basketball coach Dan Muller is one of 10 national finalists for the 2013 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball.

And not taken away for no reason but rather he didn't fit the system. The coach has that prerogative to keep the players he wants and get rid of the players he wants to bring in new players he wants that fit in the system that want to be there and better the program.

[rlh04d]

Illinois State men's basketball coach Dan Muller is one of 10 national finalists for the 2013 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball.

And not taken away for no reason but rather he didn't fit the system. The coach has that prerogative to keep the players he wants and get rid of the players he wants to bring in new players he wants that fit in the system that want to be there and better the program.

In his first year as ISU's head coach, Muller has guided the Redbirds to 17 victories and a sixth-place regular-season finish in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Now if that doesn't say "Coach of the Year," I don't know what does.

Along with Muller, the other nine finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award include Kevin Baggett (Rider), Jamion Christian (Mount St. Mary's), Mike Martin (Brown), Bashir Mason (Wagner), Kevin Ollie (Connecticut), Jack Perri (LIU-Brooklyn), Richard Pitino (FIU), Nick Robinson (Southern Utah), Travis Williams (Tennessee State).

Great competition.

I find it very interesting no IlSt fans have any problem with a 5th year senior and key contributor being run out of the program and having his scholarship taken away for no reason. Seems like that doesn't happen very often.

*Edit: Also, that award goes to the best first-year coach ... it is not a "Coach of the Year" award. And LIU-Brooklyn's coach won it.

[ilstu2013]

In his first year as ISU's head coach, Muller has guided the Redbirds to 17 victories and a sixth-place regular-season finish in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Now if that doesn't say "Coach of the Year," I don't know what does.

Along with Muller, the other nine finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award include Kevin Baggett (Rider), Jamion Christian (Mount St. Mary's), Mike Martin (Brown), Bashir Mason (Wagner), Kevin Ollie (Connecticut), Jack Perri (LIU-Brooklyn), Richard Pitino (FIU), Nick Robinson (Southern Utah), Travis Williams (Tennessee State).

Great competition.

I find it very interesting no IlSt fans have any problem with a 5th year senior and key contributor being run out of the program and having his scholarship taken away for no reason. Seems like that doesn't happen very often.

Muller's lack of success record-wise this year falls on Jankovich. It was Jank's smaller, fatter, slower, less aggressive player blueprint that killed us. Dan Muller is here now, and the new model appears to be bigger, leaner, faster, more aggressive. So Dan Muller simply rid himself of a Jank recruit and is bringing in one of his own to allow the team to have more success. Why keep players who Jankovich brought in that are going to make you less successful when you can bring in your own? It's simply a decision of keeping Jank's players and being less successful or bringing in your own and being more successful. I think any logical person would choose the latter. Pretty simple decision. Rid the program of the players that aren't what you want and bring in the ones that are what you want and find more success.

[Aargh]

Are IlSU fans seriously trying to tell us that Muller cut Ekey? Because Muller thought he could be more successful with JuCo players than with a 4-year D1 player? Because Muller would rather cut a reasonably successful 4-year player in favor of JuCos because he can only run "his system" instead of adjusting his system to the players he has?

If Muller is so unable to adjust his system to the players he has, it's going to be a really bad run for IlSU until they can fire Muller. I find that to be pretty illoogical. Anybody with the background to get hred as a D1 coach has seen enough different schemes that they can accommodate about any player.

Ekey didn't get cut. He didn't want to play for Muller. I'm surprised he got a schollie at Illinois. I can't see him getting many minutes there.

[ilstu2013]

If Muller is so unable to adjust his system to the players he has, it's going to be a really bad run for IlSU until they can fire Muller. I find that to be pretty illoogical.

He doesn't have to adjust to the players he has anymore now that he is getting his players in. The worst of it came this past season when he had all of Jank's players, so the worst time of his tenure has now come and gone. Now as he is getting more and more of his own, there is less adjusting to be done to other people's players and more of doing what he wants with his own peeps. Because these are the players he wants, not just being thrust into a situation with Jank's players some of whom quite frankly didn't seem to help his cause.

Oh and "Greetings from Cow Pie Land"

[rlh04d]

There's some impressive self delusion going on here.

I have never seen a senior have his scholarship taken away before without cause. Never. Not in any sport, not at any college. If it happened, real fans would be angry about it.

But it's okay, because apparently Ekey was small, fat, slow, and unaggressive. In fact, he is so vastly inferior to the quality that Muller is bringing in that he couldn't get a scholarship with a real program and had to go to Illinois.

Oh, right. I almost forgot we're responding to a troll.

He graduated and is using the masters degree loophole to get off a sinking ship. Good for him.

[AndShock]

First of all, I find it ridiculously hard to believe a 5th year senior would get cut at a terrible ISUr only to be offered a scholarship at an up-and-coming Illinois. Second, I hope none of the ISUr fans who are telling this story are the same people who call Marshall classless for "over-recruiting."

[ilstu2013]

First of all, I find it ridiculously hard to believe a 5th year senior would get cut at a terrible ISUr only to be offered a scholarship at an up-and-coming Illinois. Second, I hope none of the ISUr fans who are telling this story are the same people who call Marshall classless for "over-recruiting."

No, get it right. Marshall was called classless for barging into a post-game conference ahead of his turn and that "strange things" happened and that it was a "conspiracy." Not for "over-recruiting." What you guys believe or don't believe isn't our problem, that is something you guys will have to deal with on your own. Also just a word to the wise starting to overlook programs in the MVC and that you're going to beat them by so much may not be the best idea. Take for instance a team like Loyola that Shocker fans feel like they are going to beat senselessly, but the minute you overlook them is the minute you're in trouble and you take a loss with that mindset.

[Bmarq04]

Ekey wasn't "cut". I don't know what some of my fellow ISUr guys are talking about. Even on our own fan page, there is a link to a radio clip with Muller saying Ekey had a spot if he wanted it. He wasn't going to run him off. Even with our new recruits, an experienced player like Ekey would have seen key role minutes.

Does he fit Mullers system, no. Was he "cut", no.

[moshock]

First of all, I find it ridiculously hard to believe a 5th year senior would get cut at a terrible ISUr only to be offered a scholarship at an up-and-coming Illinois. Second, I hope none of the ISUr fans who are telling this story are the same people who call Marshall classless for "over-recruiting."

No, get it right. Marshall was called classless for barging into a post-game conference ahead of his turn and that "strange things" happened and that it was a "conspiracy." Not for "over-recruiting." What you guys believe or don't believe isn't our problem, that is something you guys will have to deal with on your own. Also just a word to the wise starting to overlook programs in the MVC and that you're going to beat them by so much may not be the best idea. Take for instance a team like Loyola that Shocker fans feel like they are going to beat senselessly, but the minute you overlook them is the minute you're in trouble and you take a loss with that mindset.

Thanks for the "word to the wise"