Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular and Big Sports Radio

January 28, 2025

Another jam-packed week:

• Illinois basketball faces another star missing time. In the past few seasons, we’ve had Terrence Shannon Jr. miss time for a legal situation where he was declared not guilty, Kofi Cockburn got into a clothing suspension, Andre Curbelo had concussion issues, and Ayo Dosunmu dealt with a broken nose. Add Tomislav Ivisic to the list. He’s dealing with mono.
• The Chicago Bears landed the hottest up and coming name on the head coaching market by hiring Ben Johnson. Losing their offensive coordinator will be tough on the Lions. The NFC North is a challenging division, but the Lions will have to deal with losing their defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as well.
• Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, hired Brian Schottenheimer, their offensive coordinator who worked in that role for the Cowboys under previous coach Mike McCartney as their new head coach. The Cowboys continue forward with a coach who has been in the NFL since 1997 and has never been a head coach. Jerry is oh, so predictable.
• Efrem Winters, an Illini legend has suddenly passed.

Let’s take a deeper dive into a few subjects…

Heat Check #1 – The Illini’s Dealing with an Ailing Center

The Illini are dealing with Tomislav Ivišić coming down with mono. This is an issue that has almost become unpredictably predictable. We don’t know what exactly will happen to an Illini player, but we do know that something will happen to an Illini player.

• Will it be a hatchet job like Michigan State unleashed on Ayo in East Lansing?
• Will it be an NCAA related suspension like Kofi Cockburn’s UniformGate?
• Will it be a concussion as Andre Curbelo and Kofi Cockburn dealt with?
• Will it be a baseless accusation like the one that forced Terrence Shannon, Jr out of the lineup?

The Illini must construct a roster to face the unexpected. I didn’t even get to possible “overdose” of Monster energy drink suffered by former Illini Matt Mayer.

Coaches have a crazy balancing act to deal with today:

Players want playing time and don’t want to wait their turn – regardless of whether it is best for the team or even their own long-term interests. Play me today rules the modern day play motivations.

Players today want to maximize their NIL earnings. They can be contacted through third parties with no consequences to those who would be looked upon as “tampering” with the player’s relationship with their current team. Finding the highest bidder is easier than it ever was. Way easier.

Collective donors want their NIL donations to go to a winning team and a successful player. No one wants to pay a player for tomorrow’s contributions when only today matters. Depth beyond the guys who will play is largely a dream that will never be accomplished.

The transfer portal makes it easy to move to the next school and like it or not, it won’t be long before a player challenges the portal, and the NCAA is forced to eliminate its very few regulations around the portal. It’s only going to get crazier.

There’s a reason why older coaches or coaches who abhor change are exiting the stage. It’s easy to attack a coach for their roster building, but it is also not easy to get the funding one needs from donors, keep players and their families happy, and manage to win games.

Brad Underwood has done a pretty good job in the NIL/Transfer Portal Era. But he needs a contingency player for each season. Cause you never know what’s going to happen.

Hail Mary #1 – Jerry Jones Continues to Shoot the Cowboys in the Face

Jerry Jones proved in 1993 that his ego was more important than the success of his pride and joy, the Dallas Cowboys. When he fired Jimmy Johnson for not wanting to give the amateur GM more control over the team, any wise Cowboy fan knew the future would indeed be bleak. And since the Cowboys won the 1995 Super Bowl (with a team with Jimmy Johnson’s finger prints all over it), the Dallas Cowboys have not returned to the NFC Championship Game.

Ex-players and broadcasters who are harping on this fact about the behavior of Jerry Jones in 2025 are literally 28 years late to the party.

The Cowboys have now decided to hire a lifelong assistant coach to run the team. What better choice could Jerry Jones make? Jerry doesn’t want a type A driver, a dynamic leader of men, a person with the force of will which he uses to inspire a team to overcome any obstacle.

Jerry has chased two legendary coaches with that profile out of Dallas. Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells could’ve led the Cowboys to the promised land. But Jerry would rather claim to “own” 100% of the credit for a mediocre team as opposed to sharing the credit for a Super Bowl champion.

Stephen Jones can use air quotes to describe the word “drought” when it comes to the Cowboys. Things won’t change until his dad is no longer in control of the Cowboys.

And with stupid statements like that, Stephen might be just as crippled as an owner when his turn comes.

Sad times for what was once the world’s greatest sports franchise.

Heat Check #2 – The Passing of Efrem Winters

Today, Illini Nation learned that Efrem Winters passed away at 61. For those younger fans you missed a player who turned the lob dunk into a work of art. If he had come along during the days of social media, Efrem would be a giant among basketball players.

At 6’8” and 255 pounds, Efrem was a beast of a power forward. He had a soft touch on a 15-foot jumper, a great turnaround jumper along the baseline and a great eye for the ball when it’s time to go for the rebound.

I couldn’t dunk, but in practice if I’d shoot a turnaround jumper from the baseline, when it went in, I’d shout, “Efrem Winters!”

I never formally met Efrem, but we did have one interaction. After one of the games in 1983 when fans rushed the field, I got pushed from behind by what appeared to be an ecstatic Bruce Douglas. A second later, I was helped up by Efrem Winters, who said, “you’re alright, it’s cool.”

I really wished I’d have had a follow up conversation with Efrem. I was hoping to interview him on our “I on the Illini” podcast. But, listening to other Illini players over the years such as Bruce Douglas, they all said Efrem was a gentle giant who was a soft-spoken but tough competitor.

He will be missed.

I hope someone puts together a collection of his best dunks from that Illini team in the early 80s. He had a ton of them. I’d hate for those highlights to fade from memory. Back in the day, they excited a lot of basketball fans and had the Assembly Hall rocking on many cold winter nights.

RIP Efrem Winters.

Podcast:

https://illiniguys.com/heat-checks-hail-marys-illini-star-c-out-jerry-jones-strikes-again-rip-efrem-winters/

YouTube:

https://illiniguys.com/heat-checks-hail-marys-illini-star-c-out-jerry-jones-strikes-again-rip-efrem-winters-youtube-edition/