Why the word "fans" is short for "fanatics."

Well Illini faithful, the last week wasn't one that some Illinois faithful were expecting. A loss at Northwestern, followed up  a few nights later by a home defeat at the hands of Purdue.

These were two games many fans had expected to win rather easily. A few friends said to me before the Northwestern game, "We'll be in good shape being 4-1 in the B1G when Michigan St. comes to town."

In the immortal words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friends!"

Something happened on the way to that 4-1 record. Depending on the fan(atic) you listen to, it could have been one of a couple of reasons:

1) The refs. What a suprise, the refs screwed us again. We get called for EVERY LITTLE THING! Yet, the other team can perform muggings and never get called for a foul. Another favorite of mine. "Hey ref, how 'bout a traveling call?" "That guy went from 15' out to right under the basket and the ball never touched the floor!" Priceless.

2) Tight rims. Yep, I heard this about the Northwestern game. Oh the whining..."How can our guys make a shot when the rims are tighter than"..well, you get the idea.

3) My favorite, and most ridiculous..."That damned Groce doesn't know what he's doing!" "He's getting outcoached."

Really? I heard this during, and after the Purdue game. The fan(atic)s were really on a roll with this one. I actually heard that there were post-game calls saying that Illinois AD, Mike Thomas, has no other choice than to fire John Groce.

Folks, I can put up with just so much ignorance before I have to say something. Fire Groce!? You're joking? Fire the guy who took a team that basically quit on Bruce Weber the year before, to the NCAA tournament. Fire the guy who is FINALLY getting recruits that will make this program successfull for years to come?

How can a coach be such a genius one week and such a dummy the next? Fan(atic)s. That's how.

This is the Big Ten boys and girls. Big-boy basketball.

You see, coach Groce was left with a couple of "good players this season. Lets not kid ourselves. Nnanna Egwu, Joe Bertrand, and Tracy Abrams are not the type of players that will take far in the NCAA's...IF they make the NCAA's. The best player on the team, Ravonte Rice, Groce got to transfer in from Drake, after the previous staff failed to even recruit him. Speaking of the previous staff, they did such a fine job of evaluating talent, that this years team only sophomore is a walk-on.

So, to fill out the starting 5, Groce has to bring in a 5th year senior, John Ekey. His depth? The 5 freshman that was his first recruiting class. And we all know that other than a very few exceptions, freshman don't help you that much.

You fanatics out there. Quit calling for Groce's head. Most reasonable fans knew this might be a tough season. Stop blaming the rims. (They didn't seem to bother Northwestern). The refs didn't cost Illinois either game. I can't think of one game when the refs caused a team to shoot 30%.

Hang in there. Things will get better starting next year. You'll see.

What does Illinois football do now?

There's a dilemma going on at Champaign-Urbana these days. And once again, it involves coaching.

What will the university do about the head coaching job? Do you pull the plug on Tim Beckman and go searching once again for a job no coach seems too thrilled to have? Do you keep Bekman for another season, hoping to see improvement?

There's yet another issue. Offensive co-ordinator, Bill Cubit.

Cubit was brought in prior to the start of the 2013 season to breathe life into an offense that averaged just over 16 pts a game in 2012. An offense that to be quite honest, looked completely lost. Cubit came in and made the offense legitimate again. This season the offense average just over 29 pts a game. An increase of almost 14 pts a game.

In my mind, Cubit and his offense may have been the only reason won ANY games in 2013. The defense, a unit that made gaining yardage on the ground as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

Now, how do you keep Cubit?

The easiest way if you're not satisfied with Tim Beckman...fire him and give Cubit the job. If the decision is to keep Beckman, you better be prepared to pony up the dollars to keep Cubit at Illinois. You can bet the farm that other college coaches are going to be knocking at Cubit's door to try and lure him away from Illinois.

There is another possibility. One I hope doesn't happen. Illinois could fire Beckman, hire yet another no-name coach, and still try to keep Cubit on the coaching staff. If they can pull it off, it might not be so bad. Depending on who the new coach is going to be. But it is rare that a new hire will accept a coach staying on from the previous regime.

Illinois AD, Mike Thomas has a mess on his hands. The coach Beckman led illini are not putting people in the seats...never a good thing. Somehow Thomas has to figure a way to get the fans interested again. He also needs to keep stability on the offensive side of the ball by keeping fan favorite, Bill Cubit.

Hey Mike, keep Cubit, give Beckman one more year to turn the defense around, or say adios to Tim and give Cubit the job heading into '15.