Top-notch recruiter Howard gives Illini another reason to worry
Jerrance Howard represents why University of Illinois sports fans always have something to worry about.
If it isn't football, it's basketball; if it isn't Ron Zook, it's Bruce Weber; if it isn't that the Fighting Illini will cheat to win, it's that they won't.
Illinois sports is like the stock market, concerned about unrest in Libya one day and radiation in Japan the next day and something else somewhere else in the world the day after.
It's always something for Illinois and for this alum it's currently Howard, even though his status lurks beneath the roar of the NCAA Tournament crowd.
As Illinois' basketball program confronts its past this weekend in the tourney, the Illini have to be worried as much about confronting their future as it relates to Howard.
Friday night Illinois beat former Illini coach Lon Kruger, now at UNLV. Today they'll play against former Illini coach Bill Self, now at Kansas.
Illinois fans will take a painful hit if current head coach Bruce Weber loses to Self, who abandoned Champaign for Lawrence.
But a bigger pain will be another sort of loss if assistant coach/crack recruiter Howard takes a job elsewhere.
Perhaps this potential basketball scare will pass as Illinois keeps giving him big enough pay raises to stay. Heck, give him $1 million if necessary, tax free.
The threat looms because Howard is one hot commodity after being the young man who recruited the younger men who provide Illinois with hope for the next few years.
Over the past four years at Illinois, Howard has earned a reputation as one of college basketball's best recruiters.
Howard's ability to attract some of the bluest chips in the Chicago area tempts other schools to try to hire him away.
But Howard, a Peoria native who played at Illinois, so far has declined the invitations, even calling himself “an Illini for life.”
Still, many grads remain “Illini for life” even after leaving Champaign.
Last year at this time, Howard reportedly was a candidate for the UIC head coaching job. Meanwhile, I thought that DePaul should have hired Howard as head coach to rebuild recruiting in and around Chicago.
Howard is only 30 years old with no head coaching experience. However, in certain situations a head coach who can recruit is more valuable than a head coach who can coach.
Opportunities are opening everywhere this year. Bradley, Northern Illinois and Loyola are all seeking head coaches.
Bradley seems the natural school to recruit the premier recruiter because Howard is a Peoria native.
Loren Tate, the venerable Illini know-it-all at the News-Gazette in Champaign, points out that Peoria fans sometimes resent local players who forsake Bradley for Illinois.
If that's the case, it's their loss because Howard could help rekindle the kind of recruiting that would make Bradley a Missouri Valley Conference force again.
Anyway, all this is merely my own imagination running wild while waiting for Illinois to go from Kruger's frying pan into Self's fire.
The fear is that Howard at some point will decide he's better off proving himself as a head coach somewhere else and returning some day to succeed Weber at Illinois.
As nice as it would be for Illini fans to beat Bill Self today, it's more critical to retain Jerrance Howard later.