Illinois Fans Anticipate Quick Turnaround From New Coach John Groce

Is former Ohio University coach John Groce inheriting a gross situation after two fellow mid-major coaches rejected overtures from Illinois? The Illini boast one of the 10 schools with the most Top 20 appearances, but it seems to be in as much disarray as it was in the 1970s when failing to finish in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll or appear in the NCAA playoffs the entire decade.

After compiling a losing Big Ten Conference record over the last six years, it boils down to in-state recruiting. Among the Illinois natives who earned All-American status during the '70s with other universities were DePaul's Mark Aguirre (from Chicago), Minnesota's Jim Brewer (Maywood), Indiana's Quinn Buckner (Dolton), Penn's Corky Calhoun (Waukegan), Illinois State's Doug Collins (Benton), DePaul's Dave Corzine (Arlington Heights), Marquette's Bo Ellis (Chicago), Michigan's Rickey Green (Chicago), Kentucky's Dan Issel (Batavia), Iowa's Ronnie Lester (Chicago), Colorado's Cliff Meely (Chicago), Bradley's Roger Phegley (East Peoria), Kansas' Dave Robisch (Springfield), Marquette's Lloyd Walton (Chicago) and Jerome Whitehead (Waukegan) plus Georgia Tech's Rich Yunkus (Benton). Four of these standouts were All-Americans in the same season - Buckner, Ellis, Green and Walton in 1975-76.

Just like several decades ago, recruiting Chicago won't be a panacea for Groce. His staff needs to take every back road. After all, Issel and Yunkus were among 22 different major-college All-Americans in less than 30 years to come from Illinois high schools in towns with populations smaller than 20,000.

Until Groce starts delivering some goodies such as switching to an up-tempo offense, he simply joins the following list of 70 different active coaches who had at least three years remaining on their contracts when they departed for greener pastures:

• Steve Alford (3 years remaining on contract) - left Southwest Missouri State (after 1998-99 season)/hired by Iowa
• Steve Alford (4) - Iowa/New Mexico
• Tommy Amaker (3) - Seton Hall/Michigan
• Mike Anderson (4) - UAB/Missouri
• Mike Anderson (5) - Missouri/Arkansas
• Tony Barbee (4) - Texas-El Paso/Auburn
• Rick Barnes (3) - George Mason/Providence
• Rick Barnes (6) - Clemson/Texas
• John Beilien (6) - Richmond/West Virginia
• John Beilien (5) - West Virginia/Michigan
• Tony Bennett (6) - Washington State/Virginia
• Ken Bone (4) - Portland State/Washington State
• Ben Braun (3) - Eastern Michigan/California
• Mike Brey (7) - Delaware/Notre Dame
• Milan Brown (3) - Mount St. Mary's/Holy Cross
• Brad Brownell (4) - Wright State/Clemson
• Jeff Bzdelik (4) - Air Force/Colorado
• John Calipari (10) - Massachusetts/New Jersey Nets
• John Calipari (4) - Memphis/Kentucky
• Patrick Chambers (5) - Boston University/Penn State
• Jim Christian (5) - Kent State/Texas Christian
• Ed Conroy (5) - The Citadel/Tulane
• Ed Cooley (5) - Fairfield/Providence
• Tom Crean (9) - Marquette/Indiana
• Ed DeChellis (3) - Penn State/Navy
• Larry Eustachy (6) - Utah State/Iowa State
• Tim Floyd (6) - New Orleans/Iowa State
• Tim Floyd (8) - Iowa State/Chicago Bulls
• Geno Ford (4) - Kent State/Bradley
• Travis Ford (7) - Massachusetts/Oklahoma State
• Mark Fox (5) - Nevada/Georgia
• Billy Gillispie (3) - Texas-El Paso/Texas A&M
• Billy Gillispie (8) - Texas A&M/Kentucky
• Mark Gottfried (4) - Murray State/Alabama
• Anthony Grant (5) - Virginia Commonwealth/Alabama
• Brian Gregory (7) - Dayton/Georgia Tech
• Leonard Hamilton (7) - Miami (Fla.)/Washington Wizards
• Stan Heath (4) - Kent State/Arkansas
• Paul Hewitt (3) - Siena/Georgia Tech
• Ben Howland (6) - Pittsburgh/UCLA
• Bob Huggins (4) - Kansas State/West Virginia
• Ron Hunter (5) - IUPUI/Georgia State
• Trent Johnson (5) - Nevada/Stanford
• Donnie Jones (4) - Marshall/Central Florida
• Billy Kennedy (4) - Murray State/Texas A&M
• Lon Kruger (4) - Kansas State/Florida
• Lon Kruger (5) - Florida/Illinois
• Lon Kruger (4) - Illinois/Atlanta Hawks
• Jim Larranaga (5) - George Mason/Miami FL
• Jeff Lebo (8) - Chattanooga/Auburn
• Gregg Marshall (8) - Winthrop/Wichita State
• Cuonzo Martin (4) - Missouri State/Tennessee
• Frank Martin (3) - Kansas State/South Carolina
• Thad Matta (9) - Xavier/Ohio State
• Fran McCaffery (7) - Siena/Iowa
• Jim McDermott (5) - Northern Iowa/Iowa State
• Jim McDermott (5) - Iowa State/Creighton
• Tim Miles (4) - Colorado State/Nebraska
• Sean Miller (9) - Xavier/Arizona
• Dan Monson (10) - Gonzaga/Minnesota
• Mike Montgomery (4) - Stanford/Golden State Warriors
• Stew Morrill (3) - Colorado State/Utah State
• Porter Moser (5) - UALR/Illinois State
• Kevin O'Neill (3) - Marquette/Tennessee
• Kevin O'Neill (4) - Tennessee/Northwestern
• Louis Orr (4) - Siena/Seton Hall
• Matt Painter (3) - Southern Illinois/Purdue
• Eddie Payne (3) - East Carolina/Oregon State
• Tom Pecora (4) - Hofstra/Fordham
• Buzz Peterson (9) - Appalachian State/Tulsa
• Buzz Peterson (4) - Tulsa/Tennessee
• Buzz Peterson (4) - Appalachian State/UNC Wilmington
• Rick Pitino (5) - Providence/New York Knicks
• Rick Pitino (3) - Kentucky/Boston Celtics
• Oliver Purnell (6) - Clemson/DePaul
• Mike Rice Jr. (7) - Robert Morris/Rutgers
• Lorenzo Romar (4) - Saint Louis/Washington
• Joe Scott (4) - Air Force/Princeton
• Bill Self (5) - Tulsa/Illinois
• Bill Self (5) - Illinois/Kansas
• Herb Sendek (4) - North Carolina State/Arizona State
• Larry Shyatt (4) - Wyoming/Clemson
• Tubby Smith (3) - Tulsa/Georgia
• Tubby Smith (6) - Georgia/Kentucky
• Tubby Smith (4) - Kentucky/Minnesota
• Mark Turgeon (9) - Wichita State/Texas A&M
• Mark Turgeon (4) - Texas A&M/Maryland
• Gary Waters (5) - Kent State/Rutgers
• Roy Williams (5) - Kansas/North Carolina

NOTE: Amaker (Harvard), Braun (Rice), Eustachy (Southern Mississippi), Montgomery (California), Moser (Loyola Chicago), Payne (USC Upstate), Scott (Denver), Shyatt (returned to Wyoming) and Waters (Cleveland State) subsequently changed jobs and are now coaching other DI schools.