Illinois AD Caught Being a Jerk

The Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther found himself getting a little too riled up by the opening round Illinois-Virginia Tech game last week. He didn't do it in a private box or in his office. No, he did it near the action, specifically right next to the press box. Surprise, it became a story as Greg Doyel of CBS Sportsline.com was one of those seated closest to Guenther and detailed his behavior.

Guenther is a table-pounder, in good times and bad. Since there were very few good times Friday -- even when the Illini had a 10-point lead with less than 4 1/2 minutes to play, they looked awful -- Guenther did most of his pounding in anguish.

If only he left it at pounding. Alas, he did not. Guenther would on occasion rise and stare down an official, or rise and give coach Bruce Weber advice, generally something along the lines of, "Get Randle out of there!" And after one miserable play by Warren Carter -- which isn't nearly specific enough considering his vast array of miserable plays -- Guenther pounded the table, rose from his chair and screamed, "Warren -- you idiot!"

Screamed it, people.

Well, Guenther had to concede in a traditional denial/non-denial/apology what happened.

"Did I slap the table? Yes. But I didn't direct my comments to anyone in particular, and I certainly didn't intend for my words to be picked up. That did not represent the way I feel about our players, and they know it. I feel badly that (Doyel) felt he had to print it.

"I think my frustrations were built up by everything that happened this season. I care. I had a dog in this fight. We played so well for so long against Virginia Tech, and it was heartbreaking to see it get away.

"The Internet has changed everything. Comments can be posted with no responsibility. It's hard to know who you can trust. I guess it's the world we live in," he said.

While AD Guenther has claimed not to have directed the "comments at anyone in particular," he never actually denied making them either.

Later, Guenther phoned and apologized to Warren Carter -- who told him he had nothing to apologize.

It's a bit pathetic that AD Guenther actually tries to blame Doyel for reporting this -- as if Doyel was doing this on the sly. Guenther was seated in press row. He is the AD of a Big Ten school. There's a good possibility that he might be aware of where he was at the sight of a bunch of poorly dressed guys with laptops, tape recorders and notebooks with good seats at a major sporting event.

I'm also puzzling over the "posted with no responsibility" comment. Uh, Doyel put his name on the story. Doyel works for a major media organization -- yes, the online arm -- but part of CBS. You know, the people who pay the huge amounts of money to air the NCAA Tournament.

Doyel tends to piss people off with some (a lot) of what he says. He's definitely a polarizing figure on the internet, and he seems to hate everything. This March, it seems Doyel has made himself part of a lot of stories. That said, I saw nothing wrong with his story. Even if it means agreeing with Jay Mariotti (not the part about Guenther needing to be suspended, but) that Doyel did nothing wrong .