AD Mike Thomas hopes that this whole Groce thing works out...

Actually, this week’s Friday Fail could be focused on the entire University of Illinois as the failure has extended further than just the athletic department.

Not only did Athletic Director Mike Thomas fire the head football coach, women’s basketball coach and men’s basketball coach all in one school year, but Mike Hogan, the President of the University, also resigned last week. In case you’re not familiar with Thomas, he hasn’t even been on the job a year.

Though the FAIL was remedied just yesterday with the official hiring of John Groce from Ohio University, it still stands to reason that the entire process was an epic failure that began the moment Shaka Smart and VCU got knocked out of the Tourney two weekends ago, extending into this week.

Scratch that.  Actually, you could say the FAIL began when Thomas basically indicated to the media in the middle of the conference season that former head coach Bruce Weber was most likely going to be fired. How’s that for a vote of confidence in February as you head into road games against the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc…?

So here is what happened…

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