Bruce Weber fired

[Deleted]

I posted this at the end of the Illini thread as well. According to ESPN this morning at 9:30, Illinois head basketball coach Bruce Weber tells ESPN that he has been fired by Illinois.

[huisrealgood]

It's sad because I really do like him as a human being, and he took Illini basketball to the best season its ever had. He's highly respected in the coaching community, but his time has come. Here's a nice post from a national writer who is an Illinois alum and has spent a lot of time w/ Weber:


Thought I would share...

---2005 Elite Eight - "Look into my eyes!" -- Perhaps the greatest one-liner in Illini history. Down 15 to Arizona, Weber urges the Illini to dig deep and they respond. The steal and D-Will's 3-pointer to tie. A gimpy Luther Head's steal and layup in OT and the Final Four destiny is sealed. I was working while deathly sick and actually watched the 2nd half and OT half-lying on my desk. The amazing win did help me smile for the camera later that night though. LOL! For the 2nd time in my lifetime, the Illini were headed to the Final Four!

---2005 Final Four win over Louisville. Having spoken to Bruce's wife Megan on the phone several times, I walked up after the game and introduced myself. She asked why I wasn't wearing an orange tie. I winked and told her to check me out Monday night. I found her before the UNC game and got her approval.

---2005 NCAA championship game. The first and only in Illini history. It was my first time covering one of "my" teams in a major championship and I can recall everything about the evening. Bruce looked crisp in his orange blazer and I remember thinking about all that he had worked through to get to this moment. The forever apprenticeship at Purdue, the years at SIU, the battle for acceptance in C-U, his mom's death at the Big Ten Tournament, and the moment of silence before the game the next day as he fought back tears. I'll always remember the amazing sea of orange engulfing the Edward James Dome, the butterflies just before tipoff as I shared an understated fist bump with longtime friend Ryan Baker - my only display of emotion the entire night, seeing a demoralized Tar Heels team trudge to the bench after Illinois completed the comeback and tied it up with about 2:30 to go, and maybe the worst title game shot ever in the clutch by Rashad McCants, so bad that it allowed Marvin Williams to tip in the 1-foot airball for the game winner. I was in the locker room at least 20 minutes after the game and everyone still sat in shocked silence - the players still in uniform quietly doing interviews; the coaches with folded arms locked in vacant stares at the blue carpet. This group had taken the university, its alumni and fans to unprecedented, record-setting heights and yet...they left feeling empty.

---2002 Final Four, Atlanta -- Bruce had led SIU to the upset over Indiana and to the Sweet 16 and as a result was one of the biggest stories of the tournament. I called and asked him to be my guest on a Final Four special I hosted and produced for the old Headline News. He obliged, but asked if he could go first, so that he could watch one of his seniors play in an all-star game down the street at Georgia Tech. I agreed, but then Stan Heath - another guest I had booked - had just signed to coach Arkansas after just missing taking Kent State to the Final Four. Stan needed to go first too. I apologized to Bruce and explained the deal; he was gracious in agreeing to stay. 10 years later, I still feel bad for reneging on my end of the deal and still apologize...and he still laughs at me when I do. He appreciated - and still does - the opportunity to promote his program and his players on national cable TV.

--2004 Final Four, San Antonio -- I bumped into Bruce at the annual coaches party. It was my first time seeing him since he'd taken the Illinois job and I teased him about the fans hating his ties and congratulated him on leading the 1st Illinois team to beat a higher seed in the NCAA tournament. My agent was with me and she had left us to talk with someone else, so the two of us talked with little interruption. Little did we know that one year later he would be a rock star and that conversation never could have taken place...

---2008 Final Four, San Antonio -- I went to watch the slam dunk contest and sat with the Illinois coaches, who were there to see Brian Randle. I bummed a ride back to the city and sat in the back as Bruce fired off a series of one-liners. Rarely have I laughed so hard! He has a great sense of humor and I thought that it's too bad that more people don't get a chance to see this side of him. We all went to the coaches' party, where I explained my white jersey theory to him and why you should always wear white in the final two weekends of the NCAA. Bruce knows everybody and I bet he held court with a dozen different coaches that night.

---December 2009 - Illinois at Clemson. The Illini rally from 22 down to beat the Tigers. I was in the midst of growing a beard to celebrate not having to be on camera for the 1st time in 22 years. I told Bruce after the game that it was an Illini rally beard. He replied, "ummm....no."

---February, 2012 - Ubben Practice Facility. I'm in town to do interviews for the Meyers Leonard feature and the UI staff really worked with us to make sure we got Bruce in front of the camera for a few questions. He was his usual self, to me anyway; no hint of the turmoil surrounding the team nor of the issues within the program that kept it from turning the corner. As our crew packed up its gear and we prepared to hit the road, I stopped and just took in practice for an extra moment. The vultures were circling; it was a desperate time for this staff. I wanted to watch the drills and remember this era, just in case in ended before I returned.

The Bill Self funeral...
The Wake Forest game...
Dee's braids...
The Orange Krush "Grilling with Weber"...
Eric Gordon...
The trio of commitments on the same day in October 2007...
The 1st NCAA win in 5 years last spring...
Wins over Gonzaga and Ohio State this season...


Bruce, you'll never read this, but I just wanted to say 'thanks'. Just as some children draw on walls with crayons and some teens paint graffiti on buildings and some dogs stop at every fire hydrant to mark their territory, this too is subject to be defaced. Nothing will change the contributions you made and the time, heart, and soul you invested in this program. I look forward to the next interview...and even the next beer.

All the best to you and your family.