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Illinois has set yet another mark in futility

In case you needed to be reminded that Illinois has been bad at sports lately.

By Brandon Birkhead
Illinois v Northwestern Photo by David Banks/Getty Images

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons won the Belk Bowl today over the Texas A&M Aggies to finish off a great season for their team. It was a fun year for the Demon Deacons behind a fantastic season from QB John Wolford, and Wake Forest reached eight wins for the first time since 2008.

As a result of Wake Forest’s win in a largely pointless bowl game Illinois is now the only athletic program in a Power 5 conference to not have either of the following since 2009.

  1. An eight-win football season.
  2. A Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearance in men’s basketball

This is quite a feat in futility, and yet another marker of the poor leadership and coaching that infiltrated Illinois’ athletic department over the past decade (prior to the current regime). Illinois has had three athletic directors, four head football coaches, and three head men’s basketball coaches since 2009 — and nothing to show for it.

It’s accurate to say that the Illinois Fighting Illini has been the worst Power 5 program in both major revenue sports over this time.

Signs are pointing up for the Fighting Illini, but let’s remember how bad it has been with men’s basketball and football in the middle of a rebuild, and never forget how bad of a hire Tim Beckman was.

But, we are a #GolfSchool anyways, so none of this really matters.