This really should be Point # 19.  Because it’s probably the most important.  It is also my deathbed wish.  You know that scene in Rudy (I know, I feel dirty even making the reference) where his dad is all “this is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen”?  That’s me viewing Illinois Football as a healthy, vibrant program.  Mr. Fredrickson looking out the front window of his house and seeing Paradise Falls?  Me in my seats at Memorial Stadium, 23rd consecutive sellout, watching us destroy Northwestern once again, viewing it as if my life’s work is complete.  Lean over me at the end of my life on my death bed and it will be very easy to decipher what I meant when I whispered “Rosebowl”.

That’s the dream.  And to achieve it, we need to Build A Program.

This is why I am OK with Ron Zook being given 2 more years.  (I just lost 75% of you, didn’t I? Especially BJL. Stay with me.)  My preference would be that Temple’s Al Golden would be settling into his office at Memorial Stadium, putting the finishing touches on his first recruiting class and getting to know Illinois high school coaches.  But I have that feeling every year.  Last year, it was Turner Gill.  The year before that (well, the year before that, we were in Pasadena).  But after the Ohio loss in 2006, I pondered how great Steve Kragthorpe would look on the Illini sideline. Each and every year there’s a coach out there who seems perfect, and will surely arrive and take us to the promised land.

But that’s no more than me in my college years, thinking about that girl in my Econ 105 class, just knowing that life would improve with her by my side.  It didn’t.  It rarely does.  You see, there’s a rose in the fisted glove.  And the eagle flies with the dove.  And if you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love Ron Zook.

So I’m willing to give him 2 more years as long as Point #2 and Point #3 are met. I know this is severely disappointing to those of you who want him gone and want the next girl brought in.  But I want a program.

I want recruiting relationships that stretch 10 years.  When Mackovic left and Tepper started, he had to re-establish connections with high school coaches all over the country.  And when Tepper left and Turner started, he had to re-establish connections with high school coaches all over the country.  And when Turner left and Zook started, he had to establish connections with high school coaches all over the country.  That whole time, Barry Alvarez was sitting on his throne in Madison, calling the same coaches and recruiting the same farm boys to block for the same running game.  I want that.

I want schemes that evolve and grow as coordinators come and go, but I want consistency.  I want this Petrino offense, whatever it is, to last 15 years.  I want (ugh) what Missouri has right now (puke).  Brad Smith leaves, Chase Daniel steps in and runs the same offense.  Daniel leaves, Gabbo steps in and runs the same plays.  Dave Christensen left for Wyoming?  No matter, take an assistant (a floppy-haired freakshow at that) and promote him to OC and keep the train moving.  Practice is run the same.  Terminology is the same.  Play calling feels like Christensen never left.

How many times over the last 25 years did Michigan run the same 18 yard out, with the same tall QB throwing to the same equally-tall WR running the same pattern, crushing Illinois when we finally had them in 3rd and 11?  100 times?  Players come and go, but they all look the same.  They all know exactly what is expected of them, because they’ve watched their predecessors do the same thing, and now they simply need to emulate it.  Sure, when Michigan had a big back they ran it one way, and when they had a scatback they ran it a little different.  But their offense (and defense) didn’t change much at all from year to year.  Plug in new pieces, and keep the train moving.

How many years did we watch the same Wisconsin offensive linemen catch-and-turn a defender to open the same holes for the same bowling ball running back to gain the same 7 yards.? How many times have we seen the same Penn State bulldog middle linebacker force the play outside, opening an opportunity for the same athletic outside linebacker to make the TFL?  By the time they’re seniors, these players know the schemes by heart, and they pass that on to the players replacing them.

And recruiting follows the same path.  Jimmy, you’re the next great linebacker at Penn State – look at how many we’ve put in the NFL.  Joe, you’re the next great offensive lineman at Wisconsin – look at how many we’ve put in the NFL.  Michael, you’re the next star of the Ohio State secondary/receivers/offensive line/linebackers.  CJ, you’re the next great Iowa tight end (ouch).

What I want that I want that I want is a program.  I want consistency.  I want a Mack Brown figurehead at the top, glad-handing boosters and fist-bumping recruits.  You’ve probably heard the stat by now, but Texas offered 30 scholarships, brought 25 players in on official visits, and signed 25 players.  A machine.  I know that I know that I know that we won’t ever reach that level.  But there’s no reason – none at all – that we can’t build a smaller machine.  Figurehead at the top who knows every in-state HS coach and booster by name.  Innovative coordinators adapting their scheme but keeping their theme.  Everything from the academic counselors to the weight program run as consistently as possible so that when the seniors graduate, the next batch takes over and owns it instantly.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “This is what 2008 was supposed to be.”  We had built a program up to the Rose Bowl, and now was the time to keep it there.  And that argument is not without merit (and, likely, the reason I was pining for Al Golden).  But it’s difficult to do in year 4. Gary Pinkel took Missouri to a bowl in year 3, but then fell back to 5-7 in year 4.  Barry Alvarez stumbled in years 5 and 6.  After Ferentz build Iowa to three straight double digit victory seasons, they stumbled to .500 over the next 3 seasons.  Granted, none of these were as precipitous as our fall to 5-7 and 3-9 (and, when combined with the two seasons before the Rose Bowl, well, 2007 looks like the outlier).

But in my Illini football lifetime, we’ve never gotten to Year 9 with a coach.  White and Turner had 8 years, Tepper and Zook 5, and Mackovic 4.  I’ve always wondered what 10 years with the same coach would look like, especially a recruiting coach.  When Zook was hired, the plan, in my head, would be The Barry Alvarez Plan: Three years of crap while building, followed by a breakthrough year 4 and 5, followed by a few years of rebuilding again, and then, the mountaintop: sustained success. I didn’t want Ohio State success or Michigan success (giggle) or Penn State success – I wanted next tier Wisconsin success.

How has that worked out for me?  Not well.  The talent is there, but the coaching is not.  The fans have arrived, but the team hasn’t shown up.  And the athletic director continues to schedule 82-50 opponents.

But I don’t want to start over again.  I want to grit my teeth and fight through it.  The team I’m obsessed with has gone to 3 bowls in 15 years.  Two more years of suck isn’t going to kill me.  And I’m willing to go through that to see what a team with talent looks like in year 7.  I’m running a marathon, I’m at mile 18, my left calf is completely cramped, and my friends are telling me to quit and try again next year.  What they don’t realize is that if I do quit, I’m going to have to run from mile 1 to mile 18 again next year.  I’ve come this far – might as well see if I can finish it off.

Yes, I know.  They’ll find me at mile 22, laying in a ditch, vomiting, with muscle convulsions.  But I need to see how this ends. Each of the last two coaches has taken us up and then back down.  So we hire a new guy who takes us up and back down.  I want to see what comes next.

I want to see a program.