Tate's Top 20

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Bob Zuppke checks in as Loren Tate's greatest Illini coach of all time. Read on for the rest — and his explanation as to why he picked the way he did.

1. Bob Zuppke

Hall of Fame football innovator, four mythical national and seven Big Ten titles from 1914 through the '20s.

2. Leo Johnson

Produced three NCAA track championships and three runners-up, won 17 Big Ten indoor-outdoor titles.

3. Craig Tiley

Took Illinois tennis from bottom to nine straight Big Ten titles and 2003 national championship.

4. George Huff

Father of UI sports posted 11 Big Ten baseball championships and nine runners-up between 1899 and 1919.

5. Hartley Price and Charles Pond

These innovative gymnastics coaches won eight NCAA titles between 1938 and 1958.

6. Lou Henson

His quintets were outstanding in the 1980s when the Big Ten was at its basketball peak, Final Four in 1989.

7. Mike Hebert

Volleyball trail blazer won four conference crowns and reached national semifinals in 1987 and 1988.

8. Harry Combes

UI cagers reached the Final Four in three of his first five years, exceptional in 1950s and in 1963.

9. Ray Eliot

Inspirational Mr. Illini won two Rose Bowls and always represented what the ultimate coach should be.

10. Max Garrett

In more than three decades ending in 1972, his teams captured 17 Big Ten fencing championships.

11. Gary Winckler

Hall of Famer, Big Ten Coach of Year 11 times; his women won 11 indoor-outdoor Big Ten track titles.

12. Mike White

Brought excitement back into UI football with aerial magic, defeated every Big Ten opponent in 1983.

13. Harry Gill

Coached NCAA track titles in 1921 and 1927, led Illini to 11 Big Ten outdoor track championships.

14. Doug Mills

Led Big Ten best in 1937 and basketball's famed Whiz Kids in 1942 and 1943, became athletic director.

15. John Mackovic

Took Illinois to four consecutive bowl games, won Big Ten co-title in 1990, became athletic director.

16. Carl Lundgren

His five league titles in baseball top Wally Roettger and Lee Eilbracht (four each) and Itch Jones (two).

17. Gary Wieneke

Guided 11 Big Ten indoor-outdoor track triumphs, produced international distance ace Craig Virgin.

18. Mark Johnson

Lifted UI wrestling off mat, had seven NCAA individual winners, captured conference crown in 2005.

19. Pete Elliott

Only 31-34-1 overall, he resurrected UI football with Dick Butkus & Co., won Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1964.

20. Yoshi Hayasaki

Men gymnasts won NCAA crown in 1989, were in top five each of the last seven years, won six league titles.

 

What was I thinking

CHAMPAIGN – The goal, in embarking on this enterprise, was to locate an Illini coach with stronger credentials than long-ago football leader Bob Zuppke.

Leo Johnson came close. So did Craig Tiley. But in the end, the greatest coach in UI history is the little Dutchman who made Illinois the scourge – or as he would have said, "scourch" – for two decades between 1914 and 1934. He was, after all, credited with four mythical national championships and produced the premier player of the era, Red Grange, or as he pronounced it, "Granche."

The idea for today's column originated with the Aug. 3 edition of The Sporting News. A large panel of experts chose the "50 greatest coaches" and got little argument from their 1-2-3 picks of UCLA great John Wooden, Green Bay's legendary Vince Lombardi and Alabama's Bear Bryant.

But in scanning The Sporting News list, who didn't ponder how Don Shula could be named ahead of Red Auerbach, how Notre Dame's Knute Rockne could fall all the way to No. 10 or why cage magicians Mike Krzyzewski and Adolph Rupp would tumble to Nos. 19 and 21? And there at No. 41, staring up at doubting Cub fans, was Tony La Russa ... a surprising eighth among baseball managers.

OK, we all have opinions. The next will be mine. First, boundaries must be set. No current coaches. No consideration given for what they might have accomplished elsewhere. And no one would be considered who failed to remain at Illinois at least four years, which is the normal time for an enrolling freshman to graduate. That, of course, eliminates two of the nation's great success stories, basketball's Bill Self and baseball's Augie Garrido. Both left for greener pastures after three seasons.

Too close to call

Personal preference plays a role here.

For example, John Mackovic posted a better football record (30-16-1) than Mike White, but White took over a downcast program that was 6-24-3 under Gary Moeller, rejuvenated the UI fan base with a long string of sellouts and took the Illini on a thrilling Rose Bowl run in 1983. Then, too, White left Mackovic with quality talent that included quarterback Jeff George in 1988. So White checks in at No. 12 on the Tatelines list, and heady Mackovic is No. 15.

My problem with Zuppke is that he stayed too long and, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he resisted repeated efforts to unseat him in favor of someone who would be a stronger recruiter.

That someone could have been Leo Johnson, who was already lining up extraordinary talent in track and had a mind for strategy on the gridiron. The wily Johnson remains my favorite since 1940, and he would have made an excellent head football coach, but he lost out to the ever-inspirational Ray Eliot when Zuppke stepped down after the 2-6 season in 1941.

Johnson was a whirlwind recruiter when track was a huge spectator sport, when they actually conducted home meets, and throngs turned out at Memorial Stadium to watch. He brought Herb McKenley and George Kerr across the border. He offered the bursting speed of Buddy Young and Willie Williams, the vaulting talent of Olympians Bob Richards and Don Laz, the spine-tingling finishes of miler Bob Rehberg and 440 specialist Cirilo McSween, the eye-popping hurdling of George Walker and the elastic high jumping of Dike Eddleman. Everybody mentioned in this paragraph, with the exception of McSween, won NCAA titles. And there were others. Illinois-Michigan dual showdowns carried the weight of Big Ten meets today. Johnson's athletes won three NCAA team titles and came in second three times.

Net effect

You can tell, if this UI list is limited to post-Pearl Harbor, Johnson is my guy. But it is also true that Illinois had a history of quality track teams before him. That wasn't true in tennis, where Tiley inherited a lagging operation, finished 0-10 in his first Big Ten go-round and ignited a tennis revival that rocked the nation. There have been other Illini turnarounds. White is already mentioned. Mark Johnson did it in wrestling. Lou Henson came in after Illini basketball teams finished 5-18 and 8-18. And don't forget Pete Elliott. Arriving short-handed, his gridders went from 0-9 in 1961 to the Rose Bowl championship two years later.

Prospects for a Northern team to win the NCAA tennis title seemed hopeless. The Illini were the dregs of the Big Ten, and Tiley was 4-23 as interim coach in 1993. Ten years later, Illinois had become so dominant that five stars – Michael Calkins, Amer Delic, Rajeev Ram, Phil Stolt and Brian Wilson – were named all-conference on a team that went on to capture the NCAA championship. It is a turnaround unmatched at the UI and, for that matter, almost anywhere else.

Perhaps the toughest choice, and the one most vulnerable to criticism, is the choice of Henson at No. 6 over Harry Combes at No. 8. For a brief time in the early 1950s, Combes ruled Midwestern basketball. He was ahead of his time as a running, pressing, high-scoring coach. He led three teams into the Final Four and would have had more if conferences weren't restricted to one playoff team. For example, John Kerr and the 1953 Illini finished second to Indiana, and the Hoosiers won the national title. In 1956, Illinois finished second to Iowa, which reached the title game against San Francisco.

However, except for 1963, there was slippage in Combes' later years before the "slush fund" episode ended his career in 1967. Henson, who arrived in 1975, started from scratch and began to produce consistently top-notch teams in the 1980s, just as Indiana, Purdue and Michigan, not to mention Michigan State, Ohio State and Iowa, were fielding strong squads. Hey, Minnesota went 23-6 and won the Big Ten in 1982. The league was jumping. And while Henson's teams shared only one Big Ten title, the consistency was such that in the 10 seasons ending in 1990, Illinois was the only club without at least one losing Big Ten campaign. In those 10 years, the trio of Illinois, Indiana and Purdue finished in a deadlock at 121-59 in conference play.

More in store

Quality of competition must be taken into consideration. This isn't meant to detract from the long-ago accomplishments of Hartley Price and Charlie Pond in gymnastics, or from the legendary Max Garrett in fencing, but not everyone competes in those sports. In fact, fencing was dropped by the Big Ten more than two decades ago.

There are no women on my list of 20. That will change. And only two of the 20, Mike Hebert and Gary Winckler, coached women. Women's competition took hold after many of these coaches were long gone.

Yes, I cheated in putting two gymnastics coaches in the No. 5 slot. And I saw little distinction in the baseball records of four former coaches, all of whom were excellent. Frankly, I doubt that any of the other three topped Itch Jones in baseball expertise.

What do you think ... about any of this?

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.

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