Nov. 10--At Monday's news conference announcing the firing of athletic director Mike Thomas, interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson referenced Illinois' football victory Saturday at Purdue.
"We're very excited about last week's win," Wilson said.
Will that be good news for interim coach Bill Cubit?
"We're not going to make any decisions until the end of the season," interim AD Paul Kowalczyk said. "I don't know what you can get accomplished right now. You can get a football coach at the end of the season, if in fact that's the step we choose to take.
"It's a big decision. Bill Cubit and staff have done a fantastic job under difficult circumstances. I give them a lot of credit for what they've been able to accomplish."
With three games remaining, the Illini (5-4, 2-3 Big Ten) are one game shy of becoming bowl-eligible for the second straight season.
At the same time, Kowalczyk referred to lists of potential coaches and said: "There are people out there. There aren't a lot of secrets right now."
The timing and instability among university leadership makes this an unusual hiring process and opens questions about the next step for the athletic department.
Will Illinois look for a permanent AD first while retaining Cubit? Will it hire a football coach with an interim AD? Will it try to make two hires in a short window?
Cubit, who was promoted from offensive coordinator when Tim Beckman was fired a week before the season opener, hopes to perform well enough to make the decision easy.
"Till they tell me no, I'm going to fight just like those kids are fighting," he said of his players. "If I did it any other way, I'd be wrong. I'm not going to sit around and wait for something to happen. Go make this happen."
Cubit said he was unaware of any wrongdoing by Beckman. The final report released Monday of an external investigation detailed Beckman rushing players back from injuries and putting players at medical risk. Cubit said typically in college coaching, injury information stays between the head coach and athletic trainers.
There was little mention of Cubit in the report from university-hired law firm Franczek Radelet, except to clear him of wrongdoing after a former player had accused him of encouraging the player to stop taking medication.
Since taking over the program, Cubit said he has received positive feedback from fans, alumni, recruits and coaching colleagues.
"How good can Illinois be?" he said. "I'm going out there saying: 'You know what? Pretty good.' You've got to be positive."
