Walter Offutt

BirdGrad2011 · Mar 9, 2023

RedbirdSoxFan said:
When Walter Offutt did his interview with Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan:

A) Did he inform them during that interview that he and his wife were expecting a baby in the Fall and that he would be taking three months leave of absence and not be available to coach during most (or All) of the 2022-23 basketball season?

B) Did Walter Offutt withhold that information from Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan?

If he did decline to inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of his wife expecting to have a baby in the Fall, and his plans to not be available for most (or all) of the upcoming basketball season, that could possibly have caused a difficult situation between the parties involved. It would not look good for the University to make a stink about a coach wanting to take authorized leave of absence after having a baby. So I’m guessing this would be a reason for not having any comments from the coach or AD.

If Walter Offutt did inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of this during the interview than why did they hire him knowing he would not be available for the 2022-23 season?

It’s a lot deeper than your post alludes to. The baby had little if anything to do with any of it.

SgtHulka · Mar 9, 2023

Popsto4 said:
Yikes no I wasn’t. It doesn’t sound like I wish I was here for that either.

I'd imagine he had what he thought was a good source, and its possible an ISU alum swooped in last second and financially impressed ISU to switch directions but he was hot to beat the vidette to the scoop.

cubird · Mar 9, 2023

Yes...that is closer to what likely happened. And Judson was retained for one year.

Rollbirds5 · Mar 9, 2023

BirdGrad2011 said:
Some rumored names are exciting. Let’s just hope it’s announced quickly and the new guy can hit the ground running.

Who are some of the names being rumored?

CaliRdBrd · Mar 9, 2023

Sladerunningbear said:
We better get on the horn with Jim Boeheim. Pronto! Teach the fellas the 2-3. Tired of it.

Can’t stand Boeheim. To me he represents everything wrong with college basketball.
Pains me to see his name on this message board.

CaliRdBrd · Mar 9, 2023

Rollbirds5 said:
Who are some of the names being rumored?

Muller

Bird Friend · Mar 9, 2023

RedbirdSoxFan said:
When Walter Offutt did his interview with Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan:

A) Did he inform them during that interview that he and his wife were expecting a baby in the Fall and that he would be taking three months leave of absence and not be available to coach during most (or All) of the 2022-23 basketball season?

B) Did Walter Offutt withhold that information from Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan?

If he did decline to inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of his wife expecting to have a baby in the Fall, and his plans to not be available for most (or all) of the upcoming basketball season, that could possibly have caused a difficult situation between the parties involved. It would not look good for the University to make a stink about a coach wanting to take authorized leave of absence after having a baby. So I’m guessing this would be a reason for not having any comments from the coach or AD.

If Walter Offutt did inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of this during the interview than why did they hire him knowing he would not be available for the 2022-23 season?

He was under no obligation to tell them, nor could they ask about it.

BirdGrad2011 · Mar 9, 2023

Bird Friend said:
He was under no obligation to tell them, nor could they ask about it.

It wasn’t exactly a secret. They announced baby boy basically immediately after getting to Normal.

RedbirdSoxFan · Mar 9, 2023

BirdGrad2011 said:
It wasn’t exactly a secret. They announced baby boy basically immediately after getting to Normal.

After he was announced Illinois State new Assistant Coach?

RedbirdSoxFan · Mar 9, 2023

Bird Friend said:
He was under no obligation to tell them, nor could they ask about it.

I never mentioned he was under any obligation to tell them. My comment was basically referring to what could have lead to the lack of any mention of the topic not coming up during the season.

BirdGrad2011 · Mar 9, 2023

It doesn’t matter because the baby had little to nothing to do with him not returning. End of story.

Bdub777 · Mar 9, 2023

RedbirdSoxFan said:
When Walter Offutt did his interview with Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan:

A) Did he inform them during that interview that he and his wife were expecting a baby in the Fall and that he would be taking three months leave of absence and not be available to coach during most (or All) of the 2022-23 basketball season?

B) Did Walter Offutt withhold that information from Ryan Pedon and Kyle Brennan?

If he did decline to inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of his wife expecting to have a baby in the Fall, and his plans to not be available for most (or all) of the upcoming basketball season, that could possibly have caused a difficult situation between the parties involved. It would not look good for the University to make a stink about a coach wanting to take authorized leave of absence after having a baby. So I’m guessing this would be a reason for not having any comments from the coach or AD.

If Walter Offutt did inform Coach Pedon and AD Brennan of this during the interview than why did they hire him knowing he would not be available for the 2022-23 season?

He was under no obligation to say anything about any of that, and if he did, ISU would have been taking a huge legal risk in NOT hiring him. On the flip side, if ISU had asked about any of it and not hired him, Offutt wouldn’t need the job!

ScoreboardDotRace · Mar 9, 2023

What rumored names are getting thrown around? Be a good way to start the off-season for sure with a good hire.

jwa123 · Mar 9, 2023

Popsto4 said:
Yikes no I wasn’t. It doesn’t sound like I wish I was here for that either.

As I recall it wasn’t merely a text or something like that but actually was on the front page of that morning‘s Pantagraph.

SlackBooDom · Mar 9, 2023

BirdGrad2011 said:
It doesn’t matter because the baby had little to nothing to do with him not returning. End of story.

If you know the story and the names, put some credibility to it and actually say it. Otherwise you’re just saying broad statements for attention with no actual backing.

Reggie Redbird · Mar 9, 2023

Popsto4 said:
I do like this post, however I’m sure ILSU have more than just a few bombarding Jim with the same question. I can see any beat writer trying to report on any subject getting frustrated because of simply not knowing. For one it would kind of annoy me. I would’ve did a post about, I will bring the story when I find out or hear information regarding the situation. To me that would’ve kept some questioners at bay I believe. Either way they guy isn’t about fake news apparently which is a good thing and have to be respected for that.

You weren’t here when Benson reported that Judson was going to be named our head coach after Jankovich left. Although I think his inside source at the time fed him information that wasn’t up-to-date.

Edit: sorry, Pop! I didn’t see the other responses first.

Reggie Redbird · Mar 9, 2023

SlackBooDom said:
If you know the story and the names, put some credibility to it and actually say it. Otherwise you’re just saying broad statements for attention with no actual backing.

I have no idea who BG2011 is or who his particular sources are, but he’s right.

We can move on and focus on getting our new assistant, but just for clarity, he is right. Since you’re going to be snarky about it:

With how these leaves work, Offutt was far past any paid or unpaid leave he could take and keep his position. With that being the case, along with the stone wall about the subject by the department, can you provide any actual backing supporting your claim that this was just a standard parental leave? Or are you just making “broad statements with no backing?”

We don’t need to know what the specific issue was. If he truly decided to stop being a coach because he wants to be a stay-at-home Dad, great. That’s an easy, even noble, story to tell, but not the one being told.

redbirds2000 · Mar 10, 2023

jwa123 said:
As I recall it wasn’t merely a text or something like that but actually was on the front page of that morning‘s Pantagraph.

Report: Rob Judson to be hired as next coach at Illinois State - College Basketball | NBC Sports

Illinois State assistant coach Rob Judson will be promoted and become the next head coach of the Redbirds, Jim Benson of The Pantagraph is reporting.Judson has spent the last fives seasons serving under former coach Tom Jankovich, who left Illinois State to be the coach-in-waiting, behind Larry...

collegebasketball.nbcsports.com

BirdGrad2011 · Mar 10, 2023

SlackBooDom said:
If you know the story and the names, put some credibility to it and actually say it. Otherwise you’re just saying broad statements for attention with no actual backing.

There’s no names to put to anything. His last night as a coach was Night With The Redbirds. His office was cleaned out by the next day. He was never planning on returning.

You can speculate whatever you want, but the fact remains if it was just baby leave he wouldn’t have cleaned out his office and he would’ve been back when Pedon said the leave ended.

DWRedbird · Mar 10, 2023

BirdGrad2011 said:
There’s no names to put to anything. His last night as a coach was Night With The Redbirds. His office was cleaned out by the next day. He was never planning on returning.

You can speculate whatever you want, but the fact remains if it was just baby leave he wouldn’t have cleaned out his office and he would’ve been back when Pedon said the leave ended.

I believe he is referring to your post where you were talking about the rumored names for a replacement for Offutt.

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