Be gone then!
Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Illinois Football
Can he pull a few players from the Giants?
sacraig
- The desert
Sure. So the last three seasons he had in this league all involved a trip to the Rose Bowl.
I'm not going to claim he is a surefire win, but can we at least stop pretending he's an obvious chump coach? It's disingenuous.
the national
- the Front Range
He also “reportedly” interviewed for the Colorado job. I was surprised.
the national
- the Front Range
I never knew! Just read his best friend is/was gene Hackman who also grew up in Danville. Hackman did study at the U of I. Small world!
Arkansas fan here. Bielema’s time here was really enigmatic. We were extremely competitive and looked like we were headed in a very good direction from 2014-2016. Then the last three games or so of 2016 it seemed like the wheels all fell off. He had a strong first staff but I think two of the things he struggled with were making good assistant replacement hires when his staff left for promotions and I think he got a little lazy in recruiting and drank too much toward the end of his time here.
I do think people have a misconception when it comes to his preferred style of offense. He’s a defensive-minded coach so I don’t think he’s married to one style of offense. It frustrated me to see people say that he didn’t work out here because he tried to “out Alabama-Alabama” because offense wasn’t really the problem, we finished 2nd in the SEC in scoring in 2015 and led the conference in passing in 2016. On top of that he blew out LSU twice and nearly beat Alabama (lost 14-13 on a missed extra point). Pretty sure under him there was a stat where we lost more close games (7 or fewer points) than any other P5 team in the country. So we were so close to winning 9-10 games a couple of times under him just kept finding ways to not quite get it done. Looking back on it we had quite a few players on his teams that are still playing in the NFL, he did a good job at getting guys drafted early on. I want to say we were actually top 5-6 in the SEC in quantity of players drafted, though most of them were in the mid to late rounds.
Anyway I’m curious to see how he does back in the Big 10. It might be a better fit for him than it was at Arkansas.
I do think people have a misconception when it comes to his preferred style of offense. He’s a defensive-minded coach so I don’t think he’s married to one style of offense. It frustrated me to see people say that he didn’t work out here because he tried to “out Alabama-Alabama” because offense wasn’t really the problem, we finished 2nd in the SEC in scoring in 2015 and led the conference in passing in 2016. On top of that he blew out LSU twice and nearly beat Alabama (lost 14-13 on a missed extra point). Pretty sure under him there was a stat where we lost more close games (7 or fewer points) than any other P5 team in the country. So we were so close to winning 9-10 games a couple of times under him just kept finding ways to not quite get it done. Looking back on it we had quite a few players on his teams that are still playing in the NFL, he did a good job at getting guys drafted early on. I want to say we were actually top 5-6 in the SEC in quantity of players drafted, though most of them were in the mid to late rounds.
Anyway I’m curious to see how he does back in the Big 10. It might be a better fit for him than it was at Arkansas.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
FWIW... 3-4 requires finding fewer hands-on-ground bigs - for which there is stiff competition. Easier to land workable edge rushers and LBs than stud DEs as required in the 4-3. Simplistic analysis to be sure...
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Right. I trust JW grilled BB on this topic and came away satisfied.
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
THIS
Let's face it. The very best candidates won't give us a sniff. The population of feasible candidates is small. JW chose who he thought was best from those available. I trust JW.
For what it's worth he mentioned the 3-4 as being better vs the RPO trend in offenses in the inferview with Robert.
Would never hear stuff like this from Lovie. Nof saying it's better or worse just different.
The 3-4 has more athletic edge defenders than your typical 4-3 hands on the ground DE. Makes sense as a better option to defend the RPO.
Coach is a true college coach who knows the midwest and will all ready have a relationship with many of the coaches which can only help with recruiting. I also think his college connections will help him hire a good staff one that is more connected to the college game. Lovie never could get away from his pro roots and never really got off the ground from a recruiting stand point. Coaches teams will be aggressive and physical on both sides of the ball which fits the returning offensive talent that we have. Defensively makes since to go to a 3-4 look as college offenses as it is easier to defend the spread offenses that continue to become more and more prevalent in the college game. Bielema is a good coach and probably the best proven coach Illinois was going to get to take the job. Whether he can turn around a program that has been more below than above average over the last 40 years is another question. You could make the argument right now unfortunately that Illinois is one of the toughest places to win in the entire power five. Good luck to coach and hope he can get it done
Deleted member 747671
D
Guest
I do think the 3-4 vs 4-3 thing does get a little over blown. Lots of players can fit in both. The coverages and gap assignments still need to be covered. And most teams have so many sub packages that it all kinda blends together. My favorite part about the Robert interview and his defense was him mentioning about confusing the qb. That’s all I ever want to hear from a college defensive coach. Confuse the qb and force errors. Sounds like we’ll be more aggressive which I love.
The 3-4 defense was once a hallmark of Illinois, especially under Lou Tepper. Say what you will of him as a HC, he was an excellent DC and his defenses were the best I’ve ever seen at Illinois.
I’m interested in seeing the reaction to the after he meets with the team. I realize we’re not going to hear a lot of direct things, but could get some hints. Of course, the reactions that matter are transfers out how many seniors come back.
the national
- the Front Range
“On November 9, 2015, Thomas was fired via a without cause contractual clause from the University of Illinois. Most speculate it was tied to Tim Beckman and the treatment of the football team.”
Worst AD Ever. He’s the reason we tanked in both football and basketball. Others might disagree but he may be one of the worst things to happen to Illinois athletics in the last 30 yrs.
100% agree. Yet I remember things like “MT for Prez” because he so heroically fired Zook, Weber and Jolette Law and then embarrassed himself with his public searches that yielded 3 turds to replace them. Great guy
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
I like Lovie a lot, yet we didn't win, which made me unhappy. I don't particularly like Bielema, but if we win, I'll be happy. For good or bad, satisfaction in fandom is a pretty simple equation with one overriding determinant.
I'm become pretty ambivalent about Illinois football over the last decade plus. If Bielema can turn this ship around, then he will have been an excellent hire. If he can't, he will be no different than the preceding three coaches. Given the state of the program, the downside risk is minimal.
I'm become pretty ambivalent about Illinois football over the last decade plus. If Bielema can turn this ship around, then he will have been an excellent hire. If he can't, he will be no different than the preceding three coaches. Given the state of the program, the downside risk is minimal.
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
Thanks for the insight. As some here have pointed out, his time at Arkansas has to be viewed with a closer lens than simply W/L. It's ultimately what matters, and things definitely fell apart at the end, but he wasn't a disaster there. Hopefully he has his personal vices under control now. There are rumors about the drinking and his family expanding which compromised his tenure there. You have to believe he didn't leave there without learning some lessons.
DaChief4ever
- Urbana
Lovey gone, time to make a move on FAHEY Women's BB.....( 4-46 in the Bigs).
Don’t use the how many seniors come back as a yardstick. Evaluations and discussions need to be honest with those guys. Schools all across the country will be doing the same thing. If they can help us by all means bring them back if they want. Some will leave because they’re ready to get on with their lives; tired of football.
AirNeezy
Orange Krush '13 -'14
Yup. Thank god for Whitman. I honestly think that in 20 years we will look back and see his hire as one of the singular hinge points for our programs.
To go from John Groce and Tim Beckman to Brad Underwood and Bret Bielema in both our revenue sports is nothing short of a miracle that few other AD's I think could've pulled off. Especially considering where we were when he was hired. Obviously Lovie didn't work out but not sure that anyone could've foreseen just how little interest he would have in recruiting.
As pointed out by DaChief above, JW did hire Lovie and Fahey. Fahey has been an unmitigated disaster. He can’t afford many (any?) more hires like that, but he bleeds O&B and he’s not a straight up a$$_ole like MT, so much easier to support and forgive.
This,
With the current transfer situation as well, this is going to be a year of incredible fluidity. Just a bunch of reasons for guys to leave that aren't related to whether they like or want to play for a particular coach.