University of Illinois Football Program
Kenneth Callham
(callham@uiuc.edu)
(ready to use)
Coauthors
About the ethnographer
Unit Keywords
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kw football, kw athletics, kw sports, kw teams, kw programs |
INQUIRE
Rationale of the Unit
What subculture have you chosen to research and why? What do you know about this group and what do you want to know? List your intial research questions.
I have chosen to research the U of I's football team. I chose this subculture because I love the game of football. I have always been interested in collegiate football as well and thought it would be good to research a topic that I am interested in. I do not know too much about this group other than they are not too good this season. With Ron Turner's job in jeopardy this year, I want to research coaches of the past. This is going to mainly involve their success both on the field and off the field. This is going to include coaching style and how the coach acts while in action. In addition, I plan to research how the success of the coach effects the university and the towns of Champaign and Urbana. |
Project diary
Research Plan
Discuss your initial research method. How will you begin to seek out answers to your research questions? Where will you begin taking field notes? Who are you considering as a possible informant?
I am going to begin my research by researching Ron Turner. As I said before, I do not know much about the program. Therefore I do not know about the success of Ron Turner. I will also look into past teams and their coaches through magazines, databases, online resources, and possibly books on the team. I will take field notes at practices and at games. I can also take field notes comparing to how the town is when there is a weak competitor in town as apposed to a strong competitor. At these two places I feel that I can get a feel for the head coach's coaching style and how his demeanor effect the team. I will be able to compare this to actual knowledge of these things through a few players that I know on the team. I also know a former Univeristy of Illinois All-American that I am sure will aid me in the style, demeanor, and success of past coaches. In regard to how the success of the team effects the town, I plan to interview various owners of establishments and possibly look into business records through the chamber of commerce. |
Project diary
Readings, Keywords, and Constructs
Discuss what sources, other than your own field notes, that you consult for your project.
I plan to use human resources to aid my research. I plan to interview business owners as well as players on the team. The interivewing of the owners is going to be geared towards how the success of the team effects the University and town. I also plan to use the Chamber of Commerce as a resoucrce. Hopefully I will be able to visit this establishment; if I cannot, however, I plan to utilize its website. In addition to these sources I plan to use sports websites such as ESPN.com and cbs.sportsline.com to conduct some basic research on the teams past success. After further research, I have chosen to avoid the chamber of commerce. I think that interviewing several establishments in the town will be much more affective. I also plan to interview people of the university to see how the success of the team effects the university. As of now, I am still trying to keep my research and those materials aiding the process pretty broad because I am not exactly sure how I am going to constuct my paper at this point. It for sure is going to cover the history of the team and the coaches. The gray area that I still have is which group I am going to choose to see is effected by the team's success, and in which way they are effected. |
Project diary
Field Notes
Use this space to discuss what interesting, significant, revealing, and/or strange information you've recorded in your field notes. What are you learning about your chosen subculture? You might also begin to synthesize the information you are getting from your observations and the other sources you consult.
Field notes are kind of tough to come by for my topic. About the only things that I can take notes on are the games and the practices. I have attended a looked in on an outdoor practice and took in one game since beginning this project. I would say that the game against Minnesota was more informative/helpful than the practice was. I feel this way because the game shows the success of the team ooutright. They either win or they lose. Granted, the outcome of the game does not lie fully on the shoulders of the coach, but he is in large part responsible. His responsiblity does not only lie in the preperation for the contest, but in his onfield strategy and self conduct. Also, with a lack of many home games it is tough to have valid field notes concerning the success of the town because I have nothing to compare the game against Minnesota. I think that I am going to get much more field information about my topic through interviews. As of now, I have learned a lot about my subculture. I have looked into the history of the team and have found lots of interesting information ranging from the past success of the team to when their stadium was built and remodeled. |
Project diary
The University of Illinois has had a steady football program over the years. They have never been too outstanding, but have had enough success to be known as a respectable football program throughout the nation; that is until recent years when the team has taken a sharp downfall. Growing up, University of Illinois students of Generation X/Y would think of players like Dick Butkus, Kevin Hardy, and Simeon Rice upon mention of the University of Illinois’ football program; they would think of one of the original teams in the Big Nine Athletic Conference; they would think of fierce rivalries with schools like the Northwestern University, Purdue University and the Ohio State University (Byers, 1948). Now, however, students attending the University cringe at the very mention of the team; they think of unforced errors and missed opportunities; they think of costly penalties; they think of unsightly blowouts against programs from universities like Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Long gone are the days that students have something positive to look forward to every fall Saturday afternoon; now students have a potential 1-11 season to look forward to with their one victory coming over a Division I-AA school. It is now literally an embarrassment not only to the program but the university itself. In addition, the failure of the program effects much more than the team itself, it reflects and affects the whole university and the town that it is located within. |
Findings
Discuss your findings.
My findings have been very interesting thus far. I know I should be. but I am not completely finished with all of my research quite yet. I still need to find a few more resources to confirm and further my findings. I have found various information on the head coach of the University of Illinois' Football team, Ron Turner. I have located information ranging from his record as the Illini head coach to his past coaching experiences. Not only have I found information about the head coach, but I have found information on the history of the program and past teams. In addition to my research on the team, I have looked into how the success of the team effects the people and the success/attitude of the town. I have done this through interviews of students and hopefully business owners. I have found that the town has a much higher morale and people are in better spirits when the team is succeeding. This is not only present with the football team, but with all major teams the school has in general. One prominent example is the basketball team. The town is already buzzing with anticipation of the upcoming basketball season. Things have also been a little shaken up with the following demise of the football team. It has really helped contribute to my findings because I am witnessing what it is like to be at the bottom of the barrell first hand. We all knew at the beginning of this project that there was no chance that we would be a contender, but I don't think that anyone expected this, possibly the worst team in this school' history. |
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Refer to other EOTU work
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Project diary
-Overall, I liked this project. It gave me a chance to get to know some people I otherwise wouldn't have known as well, grasp the depth of the football program here at the U of I, and have decent time while writing a pretty lengthy paper. I have to admit, my procrastination did not help me much, so that kind of took away from the fun of the writing, but it was still a good time.
-I find it very unfortunate that the program is so bad this year. There are a lot of good people involved witht the team and they have the potential to be much better than they have shown. That it the difference betweent the good and the bad teams though. You have to be able to play to your abilities and execute week in and week out or else you are not going to achieve success.
-It is also unfortunate that Ron may lose his job. From what I have been told he is a tremendous coach and man. There is no question about his character, but the tremendous coach is a little questionable. He has proven himself in the past but is not getting results now. Hopefully he can stick around though.
-I was not able to find the kind of research that I had hoped for regarding how the team affects the success of the town, university, etc., which was kind of disappointing to me. However, I was able to take a lot away from this project. I learned alot about the relationships that are formed and was able to go into that more than I had anticipated I would.
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Project diary
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