John Supinie, Kent Brown and Sean Powers listen to new Illinois AD Mike Thomas
“Who gave him that orange and blue tie?” I asked Kent Brown, Illini athletics’ PR honcho.
“He was wearing it when he came from the president’s office,” Kent answered.
So I asked the president. “He had it on when he arrived this morning,” replied Mike Hogan.
“That’s confident,” I suggested.
“It’s smart,” Hogan averred.
Mike Thomas said he was offered Illinois’ Athletics Directorship about two hours prior to his press conference. He must have had a pretty good idea the offer was coming. In addition to the tie, he bore an Illinois lapel pin and a wife.
The press conference took place in The Colonnades, a bit of architectural splendor secreted within Memorial Stadium, normally reserved for wealthy donors watching Illini football.
A 3:01 p.m. email from Virginia Hudak-David announced the press conference. Assistant SID Derek Neal forwarded the email to members of the press at 3:05. The press conference started at 4:00.
How then, I asked myself, did they manage to get an adoring audience on hand?
I didn’t know the guy’s name until Chancellor-designate Phyllis Wise said it. She then called him Tom a moment later, so I still wasn’t quite sure. And I’m guessing she wasn’t quite sure either.
Casual fans and the general population don’t care that Illinois has a new athletic director. The dedicated fan’s first question will concern the tenure of underperforming money-sports coaches Ron Zook and Bruce Weber.
For those seeking to understand the larger picture, how the Illuminati pull the strings, the question is simple. Why Mike Thomas?
We don’t know.
Because Wise arrived on campus at the same time, it’s safe to say the administration deferred to the search committee led by Larry DeBrock. I asked Thomas whether that committee had stressed any concerns, any priorities as first on the agenda. He said, in essence, no.
Interim Chancellor Bob Easter, Chancellor-designate Phyllis Wise, Dean Larry DeBrock, faculty representative Matthew Wheeler
Athletics Director Search Committee members Professor Chris Span, Dean Larry DeBrock
I’m not inclined to disbelieve him. But it’s interesting that Illinois sought an outsider to carry on the smooth sailing of the ship. That’s the nature of the academy, of course. To keep ideas fresh, to avoid favoritism and nepotism; academics hire from without.
Hogan came from Connecticut in May 2010. Wise arrived from Washington about 15 minutes ago, and Thomas just got here. Can the wholly new face of administration imply business as usual? Probably.
Should you infer a conspiracy, simply because university administration waited — until Ron Zook was holed up in Rantoul, and Bruce Weber had left US airspace — to name the new boss of Illini sports? Probably not.
Loren Tate & Mike Hogan