CHAMPAIGN – The sagging performance of Illini football and basketball teams has invited skepticism to be its next door neighbor.
It’s an uneasy relationship.
Hire an exciting head coach and assume they’re short-term solutions whose careers are in a state of decline.
Win a close game and assume injuries and disappointment are just around the corner.
Land a highly rated recruit and assume he’s vastly overrated.
Call it negativity if you wish, but history suggests these dim views are often founded in an certain degree of truth.
Too often the buzz of optimism quickly fades.