Illinois fired Bruce Weber Friday, letting go of a fiery coach whose first three years with the Illini included a run to the national championship game before a long, lackluster slide the past six years that concluded with a 17-15 mark this season.
“Bruce is everything you’d want as a coach,” athletic director Mike Thomas said at a news conference that Weber did not attend. “We had great success here but in the last four or five years, I don’t know if you want to say (that) we’re running in place, or maybe even digressed.”
Thomas, who in his first year on the job also has fired football coach Ron Zook and women’s basketball coach Jolette Law, said fans expect the Illini to be “a factor” in the Big Ten and the “national conscience” each season.
Full story: Illinois’ Bruce Weber fired