2019-20 Coaching Discussion/Carousel

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#1,301      
I've thought from the beginning that Lovie would get 5 years. I also thought that year 4 we would see a turn around. Lovie's defense isn't working and I'm ready for a change. I think most people will be pissed at Whitman if Lovie is here in 2020 and some will call for Whitman's head if he is. For me I see it as Whitman keeping his word to Lovie.

0440 you seem to be closer to the situation than anybody here. What's your take on the situation?
Have we seen any progress in 4 years? Could almost argue that they were more competitive in his first year than now? I think Whitman cuts ties at the end of the year but part of me is cautious about saying it is a done deal based off of who Whitman has in his ear and who he trusts.
 
#1,302      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
I've thought from the beginning that Lovie would get 5 years.

I certainly did too initially. I think what we've seen is a lesson in the difference between growing pains and just failure. The plan was bad, Lovie was not cut out to be a college head coach, and that was absolutely crystal clear as last season went along. The initial decision to sign a contract which made it financially impossible to acknowledge the obvious at that point was a mistake, and it would be a mistake to lock ourselves in that way again in the name of "stability".

If the wins aren't there yet but you have something potentially good brewing after 2-3 years, you'll know.

See: our loss to #1 Ohio State in 2006 to fall to 2-8 in Zook's 2nd season. Everybody walked out of MS that evening knowing we were on the right track. It wasn't just about recruiting, the progress on the field was right there in front of us.
 
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#1,304      
I certainly did too initially. I think what we've seen is a lesson in the difference between growing pains and just failure. The plan was bad, Lovie was not cut out to be a college head coach, and that was absolutely crystal clear as last season went along. The initial decision to sign a contract which made it financially impossible to acknowledge the obvious at that point was a mistake, and it would be a mistake to lock ourselves in that way again in the name of "stability".

If the wins aren't there yet but you have something potentially good brewing after 2-3 years, you'll know.

See: our loss to #1 Ohio State in 2006 to fall to 2-8 in Zook's 2nd season. Everybody walked out of MS that evening knowing we were on the right track. It wasn't just about recruiting, the progress on the field was right there in front of us.

Not that I don't agree, but the game against Nebraska was closer tha 2018 and we clawed to within 3 of Michigan. There has been *some* improvement, but for me it's the lack of being able to.simply function as a team in all 3 phases of the game.

The talent is there, the signs are sometimes there, it's getting it to show up at the same time that eludes Lovie and that's why a change should be made. I'm not to complete failure but it's been extremely uninspiring to watch this team and I think Lovie got raw-ish deals in Chicago and TB and I was a fan of his until what seems like a empty husk of Lovie took over this team.
 
#1,305      
Can you confirm that Whitman is already working back channels? (I understand that ADs always have a list, but actually reaching out to get feelers is a whole different scenario)
With no inside information, I can confirm that...unless Whitman was a total idiot he has to be doing that & he isn't close to being a total idiot.
 
#1,306      

redwingillini11

North Aurora
If Lovie is retained, it had better be with a new defensive coordinator with a new scheme and new linebacker coach, at a minimum. Perhaps a new D-line coach.

Its tough to imagine a real quality coordinator joining this staff while it appears to be a sinking ship with one year or less of life left in it.
 
#1,307      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
There has been *some* improvement

From what Lovie intentionally demolished the roster to, there has been. We're better this year than we were last year, and we were better last year than in 2017.

The problem is, looking at the development of the roster and the state of our recruiting, we're pretty much at the peak right now. This is what we've painstakingly built to. A 7-5 roster with an 0-12 staff.
 
#1,308      
From what Lovie intentionally demolished the roster to, there has been. We're better this year than we were last year, and we were better last year than in 2017.

The problem is, looking at the development of the roster and the state of our recruiting, we're pretty much at the peak right now. This is what we've painstakingly built to. A 7-5 roster with an 0-12 staff.

So we've gone from mediocre with MAC level recruits to bad with B1G recruits.

Wow, that's depressing.
 
#1,309      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
So we've gone from mediocre with MAC level recruits to bad with B1G recruits.

Wow, that's depressing.

To be clear, we never had MAC-level recruits. We've had the odd elite-MAC-level individual class, but the state of the roster hasn't dipped below the marginally competitive Big Ten level since at least 2005.
 
#1,310      
Have we seen any progress in 4 years? Could almost argue that they were more competitive in his first year than now? I think Whitman cuts ties at the end of the year but part of me is cautious about saying it is a done deal based off of who Whitman has in his ear and who he trusts.
I agree I'm tired of watching bad fundamentals and poor football games. Frankly it's embarrassing. Time for a change.
 
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#1,311      
Lovie, I think, has not yet figured out college coaching. Lovie's brand is under assault, if not damaged.

Retaining Lovie for another year is what I expect.

The question is how much more damage would that cause to the IL brand. Not much I think. Cannot go too much lower. Imho.

The real question is what next. Lovie is a goner. Is Josh, if he retains Lovie next year, damaged? Dunno. I think it depends on how deep are the pockets.
 
#1,312      
If the team achieves what I believe to be the realistic ceiling of a 4-8 record for this season, what are the odds Lovie gets canned?

I know what I think should happen, but honestly have no clue what to expect.
 
#1,313      

Big Kat

Austin, TX
Feldman article - Interesting article by Bruce Feldman in the Athletic today. He definitely thinks Lovie is getting fired, and he mentions quite a few names as potential options for Illinois. There were a couple that I thought were fairly new to this thread (and a bunch of the ones that have been discussed - Long, Candle, Monken, M. Norvell, Leipold).

The new ones:
Joe Moorhead (!)
Nick Rolovich
Troy Calhoun
Clark Lea (Illinois mentioned in the alert but not in the article)

He does mention Fickell, but he doubts Fickell would leave for us. Nine of the 23 names on the list are mentioned as Illinois possibilities.
 
#1,314      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Feldman article - Interesting article by Bruce Feldman in the Athletic today. He definitely thinks Lovie is getting fired, and he mentions quite a few names as potential options for Illinois. There were a couple that I thought were fairly new to this thread (and a bunch of the ones that have been discussed - Long, Candle, Monken, M. Norvell, Leipold).

The new ones:
Joe Moorhead (!)
Nick Rolovich
Troy Calhoun
Clark Lea (Illinois mentioned in the alert but not in the article)

He does mention Fickell, but he doubts Fickell would leave for us. Nine of the 23 names on the list are mentioned as Illinois possibilities.

I was thinking about Moorhead the other day. He's a Pennsylvania guy stuck in a job that is impossible, where an elite coach like Dan Mullen beat his head against the wall and was often drifting toward hot seat territory himself. Moorhead will be fired there within two years. He has a big contract and he'd be paid a lot of money to be fired, but he might very well never get another Power Five job. If he hits the ejector seat for Illinois, he gets to go somewhere that's a much better cultural fit for him and where the bar for success is way lower, with similar resources.

Coaches at this level tend to be very prideful and self-confident and therefore not think about things that way, but you could make the case.

Rolovich is a nice coach, but not a fit at all.
Calhoun's not leaving AFA, and why would we want him over Monken?
I have a friend who is a big ND fan who loves Clark Lea and thinks he's a much better HC candidate than Chip Long, for whatever that's worth.
 
#1,317      
What would everyone's opinion be of Whitman if Lovie is retained?
My opinion of Josh Whitman would be greatly diminished.
We are in our fourth season of watching poorly coached teams that commit too many penalties, have too many players who don't seem to know how to properly execute their tasks, display poor fundamentals, barely beat teams with far less athletic ability, and lose to Iowa 63-0 at home. Josh must surely see these things, and he must surely know that at extra season for Lovie will not change a thing.
 
#1,318      
This is purely my read on paper BUT, on paper, Moorhead is legitimately attainable. May have to fight Rutgers for him and before you laugh at that, don't. He's an East Coast guy who loved his time at Fordham, that area will appeal to him.
 
#1,319      
There's no way Calhoun leaves AFA. Judging by his coaching records there was multiple times when he was an attractive candidate and likely got offers but passed.

Clark Lea is interesting. ND defense is solid but there's not much out there about him from a coaching history perspective
 
#1,320      

Big Kat

Austin, TX
Clark Lea is interesting. ND defense is solid but there's not much out there about him from a coaching history perspective

The work he's done with the ND defense this year after losing a ton of talent is pretty impressive. Supposedly he's a terrific communicator and really good at developing LBs. Losing Tranquill and Coney was huge but he's got some young guys that have plugged right in (after the first couple of drives against Louisville). He's worked all over the country (UCLA, Syracuse, Wake) so I would think he has good contacts in multiple locations.
 
#1,321      
Clark Lea looks interesting. I assume he'd be our youngest head football coach, by quite a margin.

I'd look at Lea as a pretty bold, high-risk hire. But I don't see anything I dislike about him yet.
 
#1,322      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
There's no way Calhoun leaves AFA. Judging by his coaching records there was multiple times when he was an attractive candidate and likely got offers but passed.

Clark Lea is interesting. ND defense is solid but there's not much out there about him from a coaching history perspective
Yeah, Calhoun is set for life at Air Force. Other than a couple of short-stay coaches in the late 70's (including The Tuna), they've had like 3 coaches since the 50's.
 
#1,324      
Just a thought to be considered. Did Josh announce the +$100 mil stadium upgrades to (1) entice a new coach or (2) keep the fan base off of him because he plans on keeping his wagon hitched to Lovie or (3) coincidence???!!!
 
#1,325      
I was thinking about Moorhead the other day.

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