Powercat, oscar Weber was a disaster at Illinois. Everybody knows it but nobody will say it (not in the press at least). He greatly regressed as a coach while at Illinois. I think the problem is that his recruiting initially was just embarrassing. He went after and lost point guards like Austin Jackson, Sherron Collins, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and probably others. He always used excuses like nobody wants to sit behind Dee and Deron and some of those players were bought and paid for but his recruiting was beyond awful the first three years.
At that point we knew he would probably fail. And rather than accept this and try to do the best with what he had, oscar had to make it so it was not his fault. He always made excuses but in his head he was responsible for getting us to the title game. His ego and head grew three sizes. He could not accept that maybe he wasn't the reason we made the title game. He insulted our program, bragging about how he used to beat us when he was at Purdue (as an assistant). He insulted the fans when they would criticize him on really obvious issues. He dug his heels in and refused to eat a slice of humble pie. At the height of his hypocracy he spent years ripping the players claiming if you tell them to do things and they don't do it there is nothing a coach can do. But he still bragged about getting to the title game because it was the furthest we had ever gotten. Which one is it oscar? You can't blame the kids when you lose but brag about your coaching when you win.
The worst part of it all was the lack of discipline for his team. Luther Head allegedly walked into an unlocked apartment with a couple friends and took stuff. Luther got a slap on the wrist. I somewhat understand at least nobody was hurt. But then Jamar Smith gets drunk crashes his car and leaves teammate Brian Carlwell for dead. Carlwell suffered a life threatening concussion and was probably never the same. And yet Jamar stayed on the team. How can a coach justify that? What does it take to get thrown off of oscar Weber's team?
The chemistry issues continued. Shaun Pruitt was a dick and a selfish teammate. He thought he was an NBA lottery pick. Weber kept him on the team despite putrid chemistry. Not coincidentally Pruitt was cut and sent home by his first professional team after graduating for acting like a clown. It's what most coaches would have done (I hope Shaun has gotten it together).
This past season we had another delusional players Brandon Paul act out because of the attention a legit NBA prospect Meyers Leonard was getting. oscar had no way to control it.
For the past 6 years I can say only a couple players have improved on oscar Weber's watch.
His eye for talent is just awful. He passedon Lewis Jackson and even worse Robbie Hummul (a U of I legacy oscar Weber told was not Big Ten caliber.) You know about Jacob Pullen. He also let Pargo and others slip away. He recruited to unathletic and slow guys in Mike Tisdale and Bill Cole to have big roles in our offense because they were tremendous set shooters. But they were awful atmost everything else.
All the while oscar kept throwing his players under the bus. All the while he ran the same predictable offense that tesms knew was coming (but which he claimed was unstoppable). We had games earlier this year when Weber never tried to post his NBA bound 7 footer.
At this point Weber has no credibilty in the recruiting/coaching world right now. Look at the top 100 talent that does not improve. Look at Jerome Richmond's career. Look at how his assistants at Illinois couldn't find head coaching jobs since Chris Lowery years and years ago. Look at how McClain and Price two assistants last year cannot find basketball employment. What coach in his right mind would trust Weber with his career? Look at the comment Weber told the paper about Jay Price needing to figure out if he is staying a basketball coach. That comment killed what little career Jay Price had left.
Just remember that oscar Weber ran a clown show at Illinois. He should have been fired three years ago. And whatever he says ...don't buy it. Meyers Leonard will go first round but oscar had nothing to do with it. Meyers improved leaps and bounds after playing for Coach K last summer. If Weber had fed him the ball enough he would have gone lottery
Remember Weber has friends in coaching but talk is cheap. Is Weber winning games lately? Are his players improving? I hope your sports writers do better calling out the truth than ours did.
Good luck to you guys. Your coach is toxic within the profession. I'll be rooting for you guys in football and for you to get a respectable coach sooner than later. I hope he doesn't last 9 years in Manhattan as he did at Illinois.
