He’s back! I was just going through the coaching search thread from last year before the “turnaround” and knew this current thread needed some Gritty.
Now we just need Twangers to make a reappearance.
The Illinois Football Coaching Search
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He’s back! I was just going through the coaching search thread from last year before the “turnaround” and knew this current thread needed some Gritty.
Now we just need Twangers to make a reappearance.
Whoa Gritty siting... back for misery?!?
I never got the impression that Tom Herman was particularly intelligent (especially outside of the football IQ sense), was that part sarcasm or did I miss something?
sacraig
- The desert
Maybe maybe not. I can find some evidence of power 5 coaches who started in their mid-30s (e.g. Kliff Kingsbury), but not so much early 30s.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
There is a large gap between a guy who's been a WR coach for three years and coaches earning $10 million/year, even with the (correct) assumption that Campbell and Fickell won't be returning our calls. Every coach listed in this thread has upside. Each of them have varying levels of likelihood of turning around Illinois' program. But there is a large difference between getting someone like Hartline (young WR coach at premier program) and Billy Napier (young head coach who's won at ULL and been a positional coach at a number of premier programs). Napier should be on the call list. Hartline needs to take a job like ULL first and win a bunch before a place like Illinois should be interested.
Doeren won't leave NCSU. Its very public how much his family love it there. Tennessee attempted to get him when their dumpster fire of a search happened a few years ago and he leveraged it for more money for the assistants. Add that to the facts that the new AD at NCSU has made helping him out with funding a priority and that he went 8-3 in a pandemic year, NCSU is going to do what they can to hold onto him.
sacraig
- The desert
Let me preface this by saying I am not sold one way or the other on someone like Hartline, but...
1) Basketball =/= football
2) A sample size of one doesn't exactly inspire confidence in this assessment.
3) Luke Fickell
1) Basketball =/= football
2) A sample size of one doesn't exactly inspire confidence in this assessment.
3) Luke Fickell
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Billy Napier is being considered for the Auburn job. I would sincerely doubt he would be interested in our opening. Just my opinion
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Per Nick Saban - a lot.
I actually think we as fans like a coaching search, more than a Rose Bowl season...
At least, am I the only one who checks this thread every 15 minutes, all day long?
BZuppke
- Plainfield
BZuppke
- Plainfield
That would be a disaster
TMC999
- Not Iowa
I think they’re both on the list. But both have shortcomings. If Hartline is the recruiter everyone says he is, that’s something we should take notice of. Napier’s a good candidate but he’s also in the bayou right now. There’s a geographical flavor as well. Not a knock on either, just two solid but imperfect candidates who’d both take the job.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
If Hartline is the guy then he could bring in experienced coordinators to call the plays. He could be the recruiting master and leave the major X’s and O’s to his staff. Not saying that’s brilliant, but it is bold.
Guys the hire will have HC or coordinator experience I promise you that.
Jim leonhard
Lance Leipold
Jeff Monken
Luke Fickell
Bret Bielema
Lance Leipold
Jeff Monken
Luke Fickell
Bret Bielema
My short list would look similar with a couple more OC in there and Josh Heupel and Wilcox at Cal
@ChiefGritty Last year you came up with 10 years worth of coaching hires in different categories to try and figure out if one particular type of hire stood out.
No particular category stood out except maybe up and coming head coach from a smaller school. And even then it wasn’t a smoking gun for success.
Do you still have that list? And has anything changed with an extra year of data?
No particular category stood out except maybe up and coming head coach from a smaller school. And even then it wasn’t a smoking gun for success.
Do you still have that list? And has anything changed with an extra year of data?
Every coaching hire is a crap shoot....no sure thing in this profession.
Kind of makes you wonder if the recipe for success is to stick with one category where you can be competitive. (For instance, Illinois won’t be poaching coaches from other P5 schools, but would be able to pull someone from G5 schools)
If one category sees coaches succeed 50% of the time, odds are you’ll hit a good one eventually. Maybe the fact that we keep bouncing around the category spectrum is why we have gone on this long of runs of unsuccessful/unsustainable coaches.
One problem with that.....power 5 head coaches aren’t beating down the door to come here.....Bret Bielema(even though a lot of people don’t think he is proven) Is the only one really. He could poach one but the odds are not in our favor
I get what you’re saying but I don’t think it is quite as black and white as that....I think you just have to find the right fit between school, coach and AD. Obviously Lovie wasn’t a fit for the college game and Beckman was a doofus. Zook and RG actually fit pretty well together and had a bit of success. So I think JW has to find a guy who’s vision for Illinois lines up with his own and thinks he can be successful here with what Illinois has to offer(or doesn’t have to offer) depending on how you look at it.
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