the hot seat...

[sweetsweep22]

on themat.com they are talking about coaches who are going to be on the "hot seat" this year and johnson and grant's names both came up. thoughts on this? if johnson's program flops at ncaas for the third year in a row, especially w/ all the talent he has had those three years, i could maybe see a change as being necessary. don't know much about grant. there always seems to be a lot of drama going on in that program, but he seems to do fairly well with the talent he gets. are people putting him in the hot seat because he didn't get a midlands champ (grimes) to the ncaas?

[niufan]

Would love to see NIU replace the head coach they have now with Joe Williams and who knows maybe Joe will offer Grant a volunteer position for one year.

[Amanda Donovan]

Originally Posted by niufan

Would love to see NIU replace the head coach they have now with Joe Williams and who knows maybe Joe will offer Grant a volunteer position for one year.

I think you are Joe Williams. Either that or you have a strange obsession with mentioning him 90% of the time that you post. Are you starting a fan club?

[TwistNasty]

Def. not Joe. If you knew him, he would never back talk someone on a public forum let alone to anybody else. He is a great guy...

[greenlantern]

Joe has his own club now like overtime hes done coaching there for now

[greenlantern]

mark johnsons on hot seat. kindve hard when iowa, minnesota,osu, michiagain, northwestern who are producing all americans like no others its hard to be atop big ten

[Smotez]

Originally Posted by Amanda Donovan

I didn't say he wasn't a great guy. Just seems strange to me that niufan mentions him sooo much. I hope he is doing very well with his club. Check niufan's posts and you will see what I mean. (I am still not convinced it is NOT him)

Amanda you should be convinced it is not Joe. I have enjoyed your posts and have agreed with almost all of them. I don't know what the reasons were that Joe did not return, but having a volunteer assistant leave after a year is problably the norm. I do know that Joe did a good job for NIU and I would be happy to see him back there in the future (at whatever position). When you say you think 'NIUFAN' is/might be Joe you are lowering yourself to the level of some of the 'bashers'. You are much better than that.

Based on your posts you have good reasons to like Grant and his program. There has been a fair amount of NIU/Grant bashing posts lately. These posts seem to be a vendetta (like the so called NIUFAN) and/or based on half truths, misconceptions, and a lack of understanding of the attrition rate at college level wrestling (especially D1). Although NIU has had some good teams/programs over the years, it was not in good shape when Grant took over. His program is the best NIU has had and should continue to improve.
In raising the level, he has also raised expectations. Some people expect each year to be better than the last. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen, but hopefully the overall trend will continue upwards. Don't let your views on Grant warp your perspective on Joe.

[silverfox]

There seems to be alot of negative posts regarding Grant. Why is that???? NIU has a good program, we all know that. But his name keeps coming up, not just in this post, but others.

[Danny Burk]

It is definately not Joe.....he has better things to do with his time than to come on here and talk about himself. His credentials and the type of person he is speak for themselves. He does not need to to use a forum to toot his own horn, nor would he do so in any environment. Any school or program would be lucky to have a guy like Joe on his staff.
Now, it might be someone who knows Joe, or who is a big fan of his....I am not sure. But I have very, very hard time believing it would be Joe.

I don't know if Coach Grant's position would be on a "hot seat" really, nor would Mark Johnson's. I think both have done good things for their respective programs, and I think the administration realizes that. Both coaches have surrounded themselves with good assistants, as well. Yeah, they do take some criticism at times, but I think that is about normal for head coaches. Not everyone is going to like you all the time.

[niufan]

Amanda, please don't accuse a great guy like Joe Williams to be an old fat hide behind a screen poster like me. I just posted what I felt and thats that. Don't get to sensitive on us now,

As for Mark Johnson, sure he is on the hot seat from an Illini fans view however he has brought a lot of success to the program from national champs to all americans to college graduates. The guy is expected to win and most of the time he lives up to it (BIG TEN CHAMPS in one of the toughest and richest wrestling conferences!). Sure his teams did not place in the top 4 at NCAA's and did not live up to their expectations but I am sure eventually they will get there or at least I hope. The guy is a class act with a great staff. With injuries and a few bad lucks is the difference from him not being mentioned.

If Johnson were to leave who do you all think would replace Mark or some canidates?