Wisch: Illinois Could Go 'Down Under' For Its Next AD
By Dave Wischnowsky –
(CBS) Question: Who was the Iast University of Illinois coach to lead his team to a national championship?
Answer: Keep thinking …
Fourteen years ago this fall, I was in my senior year at the University of Illinois and my second year covering sports part-time for the Champaign News-Gazette when I was given an assignment by my editor to cover a pro tennis tourney on campus.
That weekend, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Challenger was back for its second year at the University of Illinois' spacious Atkins Tennis Center. And while reporting on the event, I found myself on a balcony chatting with fifth-year Illini tennis coach Craig Tiley as we surveyed the action unfolding on the courts below.
After a few minutes of me asking questions and Tiley answering them in his South African accent, I wrapped up my interview about the Challenger – part of the grand vision that Tiley had for bringing elite-level tennis to the prairies of central Illinois.
But once I had closed my notebook, Tiley – completely unprompted – kept on talking. And that day he shared with me how he was interested in one day following Ron Guenther as Illinois athletic director if and when the current AD retired.
At the time of our talk back in 1997, I was just a 21-year-old college kid with a pen, a pad of paper and little else, but I found it interesting that Tiley still felt compelled to tell me about his dream job.
He apparently wanted it that much.
In the decade-and-a-half since, much has changed for Tiley. Most significantly, he went on to transform the moribund Illinois tennis program from a 4-23 outfit in 1992-93, his first season as the school's interim coach, to national champions just 11 years later.
(There's your quiz answer, by the way.)
In May 2003, Illinois' tennis team went 32-0 and posted 17 shutouts on its way to the program's first-ever National Indoor and NCAA championships. To top things off, Illini Amer Delic also delivered the first NCAA singles crown in Illinois history while Brian Wilson and Rajeev Ram captured the school's second NCAA doubles title.
For his team's accomplishments – a truly stunning feat for a tennis school in a cold-weather state – Tiley was named NCAA Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
The next year he kept things rolling as Illinois went 32-1 and enjoyed a No. 1 ranking all season long before losing to UCLA in the national semifinals. By building Illinois into a national power, Tiley also played a key role in helping the school land the 2013 NCAA Tennis Tournament.
In 2005, Tiley packed up his rackets (and rings) and left Champaign-Urbana to take the job of director of Tennis Australia, a gig that today has him overseeing all tennis activities in the sprawling nation, which includes the development of young players and working as tournament director for the Australian Open, one of the sport's four annual Grand Slam events. That's no small job.
On Sunday, the Chicago Tribune reported that a number of names have emerged as candidates for the Illinois AD position left vacated when Guenther retired last month after 19 years on the job.
According to the Trib, potential candidates include Miami (Ohio) AD Brad Bates, Texas Rangers chief operating officer Rick George (an Illinois alum), Illinois associate AD Tom Michael, South Florida AD Doug Woolard, Xavier AD Mike Bobinski, Buffalo AD Warde Manuel and, yes, Craig Tiley.
According to my sources, there was a good chance that Tiley would have jumped at the opportunity to become Illinois' AD just a couple of years ago. Recently, the Australian national program has struggled in the Davis Cup and with low world rankings among its singles players. However, Australia tennis is now considered by many to be on the uptick and I've heard Tiley is pleased with its current direction.
Now, I have no idea what direction the Illinois AD search committee is leaning as it closes in on hiring a replacement for Guenther this summer (the school still needs to name a new chancellor first, which reportedly is imminent). But, whatever the committee's criteria, I do hope that its members have at least gauged Tiley's interest in the job and given him full consideration.
Because, while many basketball- and football-leaning Illini fans might find the choice of a "tennis guy" as a college AD to be curious, they really shouldn't. After all, Tiley's sports savvy, drive and management ability is on par with the best in the world, and I couldn't have been more impressed with him years ago or what he accomplished in Champaign after our brief chat.
When you factor Tiley's affinity for U. of I. and that his wife is a Naperville native and Illinois alum, one would have to imagine that returning home from "Down Under" would still be something he'd seriously consider – no matter how lovely it is living in Melbourne.
Back in May, after Guenther announced his retirement, Daily Illini columnist Greg Zeck wrote about Tiley: "If he can do to Illini athletics what he did with its tennis program nearly two decades ago, the athletic program as a whole will do much better.
"Renovations for Memorial Stadium and various other facility upgrades under Guenther were nice, but one team championship under his 19-year watch is simply unacceptable. So why not bring in the guy who brought that championship into the mix?
"That is, if he's willing."
If Tiley is, don't be stunned if he ends up as Illinois' new AD.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com. Read more of his CBS Chicago blog entries here.
