From NCAA title game to pink slip: Illini's Bruce Weber fired

The orange color scheme that blesses Marathon Pundit is honor of my alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When I started my blog in 2005, the Fighting Illini men's basketball team were in the midst of their greatest season--one that took them to the NCAA title game where they were edged by North Carolina.

Bruce Weber was the coach of the Illini that year. But the last few years weren't very successful for him. He was fired this morning--after an embarrassing collapse this winter--losing 12 of 14 after a 10-0 start. In a way he was the flipside of Ron Zook, who was fired as Illinois' football coach last fall. Zook could recruit but couldn't coach on the field. Early on at least, Weber could coach but he was never a great recruiter. The stars of 2005 were brought to Champaign by his predecessor, Bill Self.

The last Illini hoops game I watched was a few Saturdays ago when the lowly Nebraska Cornhuskers routed Weber's team. Some of the Illinois players cried in the locker room afterwards.

That win wasn't enough to save Nebraska coach Doc Sadler's job. He was fired today too.

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