We should have made that hire 8 years ago. Oh well.
The Illinois Football Coaching Search
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That would be 5x the surprise. Underwood moved to an arguably slightly better job. Campbell would be moving to a worse job. It's not happening. If it does, start the Whitman statue process stat.
TheAngryBavarian
- Charleston/Collinsville
If we do get Jeff Monken, do we run the triple? That'd be a lot of fun.
Ryllini
- Lombard
I’m all for Nate. We have an alumnus who just so happens to be an up and coming coach and by all accounts, a pretty good one. The only thing I’d worry about with him is, how does a 30 year establish a staff. Awfully young to have a tree. I truly believe this program needs people who love this university.
If anyone is grabbing Campbell, it’s Auburn.
My response would be, “Holy Toledo!”
It would shock the world way more than the Underwood hire did. Campbell is 41 and is on the top of everyone’s list. BU was 52 and though a great hire not at the top of lists. The shocker was he was employed at a P5 school and had a pretty successful year there including going to tourney. I think Doeren (49 and NC St ranked) is more analogous to BU than Campbell.
JJE
- Bethalto, IL
I agree. I doubt that he will get a third chance to hire another football coach. My gut tells me he is going to go with as sure fire coach as he can.
I'm not trying to guess too much on who it might be at this point. While it's a lot more difficult hiring a coach to come here for football than basketball, Whitman is very persuasive.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
Disagree both with the POV stated here and the broader notion that anything we do would get panned worse than the Cubit fiasco (ok, maybe hiring Art Briles).
We’d all like to memory-hole that, I get it, but come on.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
He better have some great coordinators and connections or it is way too soon.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Too soon, yes probably. Way too soon, I don't think so. 2 years younger than his boss when he got his first HC gig. Depending on how much $ JW gives him to work with I don't think pulling some really good coordinators is far fetched.
illinihawk16
- Chicago
Although I like Scheelhaase a lot and I think he's going to be a good coach, I think some of our love for him may be that he's "one of ours" and we want him to do well. I'm curious if any other fanbases with a coaching opening even have him on their radar. Definitely not any other P5 schools and probably not any smaller schools either.
Ryllini
- Lombard
Ultimately, I just want to win, so yea, get the best damn coach. To me, I want a connection to the state and university, because I think you will get max effort all the time and succeed and win at all cost with a coach with a rooted connection. Our chances of keeping a coach like that for the long haul, assuming they pan out, is much greater than just some guy ready to get moving to the next.
I think the idea is that we want someone like NW has in Fitz or Ok St. Has in Gundy. You want someone that loves the school and will do anything to do right by the program. Hometown kids typically get given more time to right the ship and the fan base is willing to struggle a lot more because he is one of our guys. There is also the thing that a guy with ties to IL will likely win the HS coaches back after Lovie and Beanie Weanie ruined an already strained relationship.
Basically people want an Illini to be the guy so he can come bring us back to the promise land. Honestly I wouldn't hate either of the Monkens or Scheelhouse (though he needs an experienced staff). Just because the instate buzz would be back again.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
I would love for Nate to come in and succeed. His head coach was an established OC at the MAC school that promoted him. Nate is not an OC and, though we may look like it, we are not in the MAC.
The last time we had a coach who moved onto something better was the last time we had consistent success. Bring on someone who wants to springboard after some years of success!
i keep seeing luke fickell's name being mentioned on other sites, i just hope we get the right coach!
illinihawk16
- Chicago
To be fair, I think there was some instate buzz after the Lovie hire. It doesn't seem like Lovie made much of an effort to maintain that, but it was there at the start.
illini80
- Forgottonia
No, but we can dream....
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