…to bring you this: the plan might indeed be futile. Because there’s lots of anti-Zook smoke.

First there was the Tupper article I pooh-poohed when ALE commenter BWilhelm brought it up. Then, this morning, Rivals writer Tom Dienhart started Tweeting things like this and like this.  After rumors spread like wildfire on various message boards, this article arrived from John Supine, saying this:

Sources close to the athletic program said that Guenther met Thursday with interim university president Stanley Ikenberry about Guenther’s future and the direction of the football program, but there was no decision made on Zook’s future. Guenther said six weeks ago that Zook would return next year.

But for some boosters, time is running out.

“There are guys like me,’’ said one booster, who said he donates $30,000 per year to the university. “I’m just the tip of the iceberg. What I’m hearing is half aren’t going to renew on season tickets and half won’t donate to the (scholarship) fund.

“The athletic department tells me, ‘Don’t give up the ship. Something is going to happen. Give us until next week.’ I said something has to be done. If we ran our business the way they ran that football program, we’d be bankrupt. It’s not going in a positive direction.

“You don’t reward mediocrity in business. You don’t reward mediocrity in coaching.’’

Whoa.

So now, it’s that old familiar feeling as an Illini fan: trying not to get my hopes up that a man on a white horse is about to ride into Champaign and rescue us all.  It usually doesn’t matter if I’m happy or unhappy with our current coach – I’m always looking at the horizon for that white horse.  And this evening, once nestled all snug in my bed, I’ll have visions of Kevin Sumlin dancing in my head.

Because a prospective coach is like a prospective girlfriend.  Perfect.  No flaws.  Impulsive, in a good way. No baggage. Great teeth.  With one wave of their magic wand, all of our problems go away.  No depth at safety?  Who cares?  Al Golden will fix it!  It will be difficult to replace a high-NFL draft pick like Jon Asamoah on the right side?  Pshaw!  That’s not a problem when you have Tommy Tuberville on your sideline!

And then the season starts, and the new right guard gets bulldozed, and you wonder why Bud Foster didn’t do anything to fix it.  At least that’s the way it’s always been for me.

So for now, the 19 points are on hold.  I need to know which man will be in charge before I start telling him how to do his job.  Or to go stand over there and Twitter, as it were.