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Interview with Bruce Weber

Posted by: Paul Klee

Sunday, March 23, 2008 12:22 PM

On a dreary but mild March morning, Bruce Weber is surrounded by irony.

The Illinois coach sits next to a Dee Brown-sized trophy that reads "AP National Coach of the Year, 2004-05," even while detailing the mistakes he made during a 16-19 season. He's asked whether he took the correct stance with exiled guard Jamar Smith, even while rehashing Luther Head's latest game with the Houston Rockets.

He laments the Illini's poisoned chemistry. At the same time, your eyes wander to a photo of Weber with the 2004-05 Final Four team that was so chemically balanced.

"I just couldn't get them over the hump this year," he says.

Weber cites one of his greatest weaknesses - "And it's also a strength in some cases" - as a central reason Illinois set a program record for losses (19) three seasons after tying the NCAA record for wins (37).

"My patience with people," he says. "Believing in them, believing they will change."

He always believed Eric Gordon would have been better served to play one season in his guard-friendly system than for Kelvin Sampson, and Indiana's spectacular collapse provides ample support. He believes in the concept of team, so much that he wanted to remove players' names from the backs of the Illinois jerseys. He believes in second chances, enough to make you wonder if a player, Brian Carlwell, who left the program but wants to return, will, indeed, be welcomed back.

Most important, Weber believes in people, an optimistic notion in a sports landscape flush with cynics. He believed the Illinois players eventually would come around and buy into the system he sells. But it didn't happen until late February and early March. Ironically, that was when the Illini made an improbable run to the Big Ten tournament championship game.

For at least one more season, Weber must bridge the glory days of yesteryear with a wave of recruits that promise more to come. For The News-Gazette's annual season- ending interview, Weber sat down for an hourlong chat with beat writer Paul Klee on Friday to discuss Smith's status, new recruiting strategies, the NIU shootings, watching NCAA tournament games instead of coaching in them, bad blood with Indiana and an assortment of 31 questions.

***

Q: You got a commitment from a high school freshman (Jereme Richmond) and recently offered a scholarship to another freshman (Donivine Stewart). How young is too young and what dangers are presented with that approach?

I can't talk about specific kids. But I'll be honest, it's hard for me to offer a freshman in high school a scholarship. Unless it's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, that's hard for me. There's so much of their life that changes in those teen years, and not just with basketball but also as a person. It's tough and there's a lot of questions there. But I think what has happened in our experience, if we don't get in on them early and don't offer early, now it hurts us. We've had to make some decisions. You hope it doesn't backfire on you.

When I first watched Glenn Robinson as a freshman in high school, it wasn't hard to see how good he was going to be. Jimmy Jackson, I saw him as a freshman. Greg Oden, that was pretty obvious.

(For the entire interview from Sunday's News-Gazette, go to http://www.news-gazette.com/sportsfacts/mens_basketball/.)

Klee
pklee@news-gazette.com