The Illinois Football Coaching Search

[Deleted member 747671]

To me the question is why did he win at UW? Looks like coattails to me. When given the chance to build his own at Arkansas it flamed out and there are burned bridges and lawsuits. Lots of opinions.... but I think he rode the mojo of Barry at UW more than anything. I’m looking for something newer, personally.

The counter to that is the fact that he was there 7 years. He kept it going, stayed at the top of the conference, and had built the majority of those teams with his recruits and coaching.

 

[illinoistradition]

Sorry if already mentioned, but one person is likely off the table:

Vandy's Next Coach?

 

[illini80]

Assuming(maybe just fact) that Fickell is a no, it's gotta be Liepold, Bielema, or a Monken.

I don't know of a lot of state ties that are as appealing and the outsiders would have ti have a stellar resume.

Per Lon Tay, Fickell and Campbell both have buyouts over $20M. Even if you could convince either one to come, that seems like a big hill to climb.

 

[CurbeloYourEnthusiasm]

Excuse me? Yeah I forgot that Wisonsin was dumpster fire before he took over. Oh wait, no, Alverez had already turned them into a contender and perennial Rose Bowl team LONG before Bretty boy got there. And the Badgers are so beloved in that state (a state that produces more OL talent than anywhere) that anyone could recruit well enough to keep the success going.
He tried, and failed, to turn Arkansas around.
He has builct nothing. Illinois needs someone who can actually start from scratch and turn it into something better.

There are a lot of great teams, that make coaching changes, and their teams turn into absolute garbage. Look at Mack Brown at Texas. When he left, the program tanked. Look at USC after Pete Carroll left. Look at Minnesota when Tim Brewster took over for Glen Mason. Look at Florida State when Jimbo Fisher left. Keeping a good program on track is alot harder than what you make it sound like no matter what was built before you got there. Bielema was DC at Wisconsin before he even became HC. He was part of that program as CO or HC for 9 years. That's a long time to keep something good.

And there aren't any coaches that meet the magical standard of "take over a terrible team, make them really good, be really young, and don't have any other teams that want you other than Illinois, because if someone else wants you then you are probably taking that job instead of Illinois". There's been 1 candidate like that. PJ Fleck. Whitman should have hired him. He didn't. If there were a Fleck type candidate out there, yes hire that person instead of Bielema. But there arent any. Matt Campbell's the only one. Matt Campbell ain't coming here.

 

[ILLINIShox24]

I see some of the people mentioning Fickell are being creative and saying "you gotta at least call him" so, sure, give him a call. But he's not coming here. He turned down MSU last year. He is being paid handsomely and has incredible job security. His teams down at UC have been excellent and his recruiting continues to improve. It's going to take a really good job to pry him from UC.

If you want someone associated with this program, Freeman is the (possibly) attainable name. He's a great, young defensive coach and probably would immediately breathe some fire into the program's recruiting.

I'm liking Freeman. He ought to be an attainable yet promising candidate.

 

[TooHot4Tots]

If we were to go with a OC/DC at a top 20 school, I'd look at Tony Elliot, Marcus Freeman, Jim Leonhard, Graham Harrell, Brent Venables. Imagine the young ones may want to prove they have what it takes to be a HC and Illinois does have the facilities now to help with that. But, I assume JW already has his guy and it will likely be a meh hire. Hope to be wrong.

 

[TMC999]

The counter to that is the fact that he was there 7 years. He kept it going, stayed at the top of the conference, and had built the majority of those teams with his recruits and coaching.

Very fair. But the stair step he’ll be starting at here will be significant lower than what Barry left him. Can he advance it up? Personally I don’t think so. I think it’ll come down to someone like him- some proven success with a red flag, or a younger hungrier version that’s more of a projection/gamble. It’s just where we are as Illinois. We likely won’t get a no-brainer. Unless Whitman trumps us all.

 

[CurbeloYourEnthusiasm]

Gary Anderson followed Bielema and is considered a major failure as a coach by Wisconsin fans, yet he has a better career winning percentage at UW than Bielema.

Gary Anderson went 13-3 in the Big 10 in only 2 seasons on the job. How is that a major failure? Barry Alvarez hasn't coached Wisconsin in 16 years. He should not get the credit for anything a current coach does.

 

[KrushCow31]

Of course I can. Because coaching in the Big 10 at Illinois, is ALOT EASIER than trying to compete against Alabama, Auburn, LSU in the SEC West. I mean, not having success in the toughest conference in America doesn't mean he can't beat the NWs, Iowa, WI's at Illinois. It's a different ballgame.

If I were a fan of an SEC team, no I would not hire Bielema. And I would look at his stretch at Arkansas and determine his system won't work in the SEC. But Big 10, I believe his system will work. Some coach's systems work in the Big 10, and don't elsewhere. You'll see Mike Leach will probably fail at MS State because his system won't work in the SEC. Doesn't mean Leach isn't a good coach in other conferences. He'll probably be fired at MS State and go back to the Big 12 where his stuff will work. It's all about fit. Bielema's system is made for Big 10 football IMO. It's not for the SEC.

Bielema took a successful Wisconsin team and kept them successful, which is good. We don't have an established successful program. At Arkansas he took a successful team that had 1 down year with that weird Petrino downfall/fill in coach and they did terrible. I think the situation at Arkansas more closely mirrors the current situation at Illinois than his time at Wisconsin. But I doubt we will see eye to eye on this.

 

[CurbeloYourEnthusiasm]

It's weird to me, that Bielema doesn't get any respect here because of what people perceive that Barry Alvarez built. I'd ask those same people whether they also believe Fitzee is nothing special as a coach. Because he didn't build anything from scratch at NW. They were already a decent program under Randy Walker and Gary Barnett when he took over.

Would you not want Ryan Day coaching Illinois? I mean, Urban Meyer left him some rather good pieces to work with at Ohio State. At what point does Ryan Day get credit for having a good program? Or is it still due to Urban?

 

[Deleted member 747671]

Very fair. But the stair step he’ll be starting at here will be significant lower than what Barry left him. Can he advance it up? Personally I don’t think so. I think it’ll come down to someone like him- some proven success with a red flag, or a younger hungrier version that’s more of a projection/gamble. It’s just where we are as Illinois. We likely won’t get a no-brainer. Unless Whitman trumps us all.

Yeah. Even "no-brainer" hires don't always work out. And you're right, we'll never get the "perfect" candidate. There will always be something missing. I think he's actually younger than I realized. That's a ton of experience for being 50. He's also as hungry, if not more hungry than the younger guys. This would be his last chance at a big time job. He's not getting any younger, and if he fails here, he's pretty much done as a P5 HC. He would definitely be all in.

 

[Illwinsagain]

It's weird to me, that Bielema doesn't get any respect here because of what people perceive that Barry Alvarez built. I'd ask those same people whether they also believe Fitzee is nothing special as a coach. Because he didn't build anything from scratch at NW. They were already a decent program under Randy Walker and Gary Barnett when he took over.

Would you not want Ryan Day coaching Illinois? I mean, Urban Meyer left him some rather good pieces to work with at Ohio State. At what point does Ryan Day get credit for having a good program? Or is it still due to Urban?

Or Jim Tressell, or Woody Hayes.....

 

[Poe's Law]

It's weird to me, that Bielema doesn't get any respect here because of what people perceive that Barry Alvarez built. I'd ask those same people whether they also believe Fitzee is nothing special as a coach. Because he didn't build anything from scratch at NW. They were already a decent program under Randy Walker and Gary Barnett when he took over.

Would you not want Ryan Day coaching Illinois? I mean, Urban Meyer left him some rather good pieces to work with at Ohio State. At what point does Ryan Day get credit for having a good program? Or is it still due to Urban?

You're giving Urban too much credit... Fickell rebuilt that program after Tressel got them in trouble. My only concern is his family's long history for changing one's loyalties and interests frequently.

 

[illiniblue]

Per Lon Tay, Fickell and Campbell both have buyouts over $20M. Even if you could convince either one to come, that seems like a big hill to climb.

ah c'mon! let's buy out fickell and get'em in here!!!

 

[mhuml32]

There are a lot of great teams, that make coaching changes, and their teams turn into absolute garbage. Look at Mack Brown at Texas. When he left, the program tanked. Look at USC after Pete Carroll left. Look at Minnesota when Tim Brewster took over for Glen Mason. Look at Florida State when Jimbo Fisher left. Keeping a good program on track is alot harder than what you make it sound like no matter what was built before you got there. Bielema was DC at Wisconsin before he even became HC. He was part of that program as CO or HC for 9 years. That's a long time to keep something good.

And there aren't any coaches that meet the magical standard of "take over a terrible team, make them really good, be really young, and don't have any other teams that want you other than Illinois, because if someone else wants you then you are probably taking that job instead of Illinois". There's been 1 candidate like that. PJ Fleck. Whitman should have hired him. He didn't. If there were a Fleck type candidate out there, yes hire that person instead of Bielema. But there arent any. Matt Campbell's the only one. Matt Campbell ain't coming here.

I don't care if someone is begging to come here. I care that they took over a crap program and has been successful. And that candidate is out there and has been mentioned many times in this thread.

 

[Deleted member 747671]

Programs are not just on autopilot when they're successful and the HC leaves. It takes a ton of effort and skill to maintain those levels. Look at all the teams that have dropped off: USC, Texas, Miami, FSU, Michigan, Tennessee.......

 

[Deleted member 747671]

I don't care if someone is begging to come here. I care that they took over a crap program and has been successful. And that candidate is out there and has been mentioned many times in this thread.

Leipold?

 

[mhuml32]

It's weird to me, that Bielema doesn't get any respect here because of what people perceive that Barry Alvarez built. I'd ask those same people whether they also believe Fitzee is nothing special as a coach. Because he didn't build anything from scratch at NW. They were already a decent program under Randy Walker and Gary Barnett when he took over.

Would you not want Ryan Day coaching Illinois? I mean, Urban Meyer left him some rather good pieces to work with at Ohio State. At what point does Ryan Day get credit for having a good program? Or is it still due to Urban?

You can't see the difference in Ryan Day's resume compared to Bielema? The difference is Bielema left Wisconsin to take the Arkansas job and he was their worst non-interim coach since the late 1990's.

Illinois' program is much closer to Arkansas than Wisconsin (in fact, we are worse than Arkansas). Bielema failed at the job that was most similar to our current situation.

 

[illini_tommy]

Programs are not just on autopilot when they're successful and the HC leaves. It takes a ton of effort and skill to maintain those levels. Look at all the teams that have dropped off: USC, Texas, Miami, FSU, Michigan, Tennessee.......

Yes, but it’s a different thing than rebuilding like we will need here.

 

[dbeaverfg]

Well besides hitting on cheerleaders and suing the last school he was involved with plus the many accounts that he is a miserable human being I would prefer we stay away.

The first one ( personal knowledge) should put up an enormous red flag.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

It's weird to me, that Bielema doesn't get any respect here because of what people perceive that Barry Alvarez built. I'd ask those same people whether they also believe Fitzee is nothing special as a coach. Because he didn't build anything from scratch at NW. They were already a decent program under Randy Walker and Gary Barnett when he took over.

Would you not want Ryan Day coaching Illinois? I mean, Urban Meyer left him some rather good pieces to work with at Ohio State. At what point does Ryan Day get credit for having a good program? Or is it still due to Urban?

I think it's not so much about credit as about relevance of the experience/skill set. Some coaches are great at maintaining a high level program. Some great at fixing a dumpster fire. Probably a few that can do both. Evidence on Bielema is that he can absolutely maintain a winning program, but there's no evidence he can turn around a terrible program, and in fact the evidence on that is to the contrary. Don't think that means he'd necessarily fail, but I also don't think it means he's any less risky than some of the other names being tossed around. And if he's just as risky, are there other factors that make him a better pick? I'm not sure there are.

 

[Deleted member 747671]

You can't see the difference in Ryan Day's resume compared to Bielema? The difference is Bielema left Wisconsin to take the Arkansas job and he was their worst non-interim coach since the late 1990's.

Illinois' program is much closer to Arkansas than Wisconsin (in fact, we are worse than Arkansas). Bielema failed at the job that was most similar to our current situation.

The difference, is the 7 years at Wisconsin vs the 2 years at OSU. And Wisconsin was never at the level that OSU currently is in terms of talent.

 

[Jet Jockey]

When you are building a program you have to start with the guys up front. We need a coach that can lead this group.

 

[mhuml32]

Programs are not just on autopilot when they're successful and the HC leaves. It takes a ton of effort and skill to maintain those levels. Look at all the teams that have dropped off: USC, Texas, Miami, FSU, Michigan, Tennessee.......

I'm not necessarily disagreeing that taking over a program that has been successful guarnatees prolonged success. But they're effectively completely different jobs. Turning Illinois into a consistent 9/10-win program is a hell of a lot harder than keeping Wisconsin at 9-10-wins every year.

 

[DocMorgan]

The first one ( personal knowledge) should put up an enormous red flag.

People keep talking about Bielema with cheerleaders and being improper. Is this factual information? I have not heard it before. I hope there is truth to this if people are saying this and defaming his character.