Let's face facts: Illinois isn't a great place to recruit, no matter who is coaching. It's great academically but as a draw for players there's not much in the community or campus that's exciting.

Shonda Stanton at IU said (paraphrasing), "If we could keep all the talent in Indiana on campus, we'd compete for a national championship," and considering Oregon just put 24 on them, I'm guessing that didn't happen. Same thing in Illinois, if your top talent wanted to stay in Champaign, it would have already happened.

I agree that Tyra had her chance, and something else needs to be tried, but I don't think they'll ever rise above mid-level in the Big Ten.