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As a player at Illinois, he was a straight shooter and smart cookie. As an assistant coach at Illinois, he was a top notch recruiter. Now Judson (Class of '80) is making news as a head coach. His injury riddled Northern Illinois Huskies clinched a share of the Mid American Conference West title Wednesday and can win it outright by beating Western Michigan today. Before heading to Kalamazoo, Mich., Judson took time to discuss family life, the NCAA tournament and retiring jerseys with sports editor Jim Rossow:
N G: What's a better feeling, beating Magic Johnson and No. 1 Michigan State as a player or clinching a share of the Mid American West title as a coach?
RJ: That's a hard one. wholesale nfl jerseys from china I would say that like fine wine the victories mean more over time. You can take that either way. (The upset in 1979) was great in its day and this one is rewarding in its time. We'll use Ecclesiastes on that one: to every thing there is a season.
N G: All four members of the Illinois staff in 2001 Bill Self (Kansas), Billy Gillispie (Texas A Normal Roberts (St. John's) and yourself are head coaches today, doing rather well. Did you think it'd turn out that way?
RJ: Norm and Billy and Bill were all extremely talented, so it doesn't surprise me that they're doing well. They had a great feel for college basketball and were real hard workers.
N G: You're the best free throw shooter in Illinois history. Sean Harrington, your director of basketball operations, was one of the school's best three point shooters. Who wins in H O R S E?
RJ: Sean's engaged so he's slowed down a step, but in H O R S E it doesn't matter. When Sean had eligibility I never challenged him. Now that he has no eligibility left, I would call it a draw.
N G: You're 16 10 with two starters injured and have played a demanding nonconference schedule. Yet you need to win next week's MAC tournament to make the NCAA tournament.
RJ: In any mid major league, to be an at large team is really difficult. The formula is you need to win at least 20 games, need to have significant victories over major conference teams, you need to win the regular season and you need to get to the championship of the league tournament. That's a fine margin when you're not in a power league.
N G: What would an NCAA tournament berth mean to your program?
RJ: It'd be one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. It would be a giant step, Apollo 11 all over again.
N G: What's been the biggest challenge as a head coach?
RJ: For any coach it's just balance. Balance with your family life and you're competitive drive, balance in your work in terms of coaching your team, recruiting, administrating, marketing. Because it's an all consuming profession. I think coaching is inspired and intense teaching. As a teacher, you're always trying to grow and learn so you can pass it on to your student athletes.
N G: You talked to Lou Henson (Thursday). Ever find yourself doing some of the things Lou used to?
RJ: Yeah, taking guys out when they don't play defense. I talk about Coach Henson a lot with our players and try to share what I learned over the course of my experience. He certainly is somebody I learned a lot from.
N G: When's Northern Illinois going to play Illinois?
RJ: Whenever the Illini would come to DeKalb. It's probably not on the long range scheduling plans of a Big Ten team. I've been on both sides. The money that a sellout crowd in a 16,000 seat arena makes . it's hard to pass that up and go on the road.
N G: Illinois is talking about retiring jerseys? How about your No. 30?
RJ: They have to ask my dad and my uncle (Phil and Howie also wore No. 30) first. Your career gets better with age, that's for sure, but I certainly didn't warrant anything like that. I think retiring numbers is a good tradition but at Illinois, you might not have many left if you do.http://www.mantiquette.com