To say he failed at the football hire when it's 3 months into the hire and not a single recruit has played nor a game has been played yet is a clear indication that your expectations are significantly out of whack. They offered good money to their #1 football candidate and he turned it down. If they offer good money to Smart and he turns it down, how is that the AD's fault again? It is his job to sell top tier candidates on Illinois. There's more to this than money. No one wants to work for a boss that hangs them out to dry for a month. He did Weber dirty, and the entire coaching community saw it. Like I said earlier any idiot could have fired Zook, Weber and Law, but it takes a good leader, manager, and recruiter to bring in talent. So did Sumlin turn the job down because he had a feeling he was going to say he'd re-evaluate Bruce Weber at the end of the year a few months after he turned them down?