The Illinois Coaching Staff Search

[whatahack]

Let the picking of nits begin....

 

[CubsIlliniFan]

Seems like an solid pick. Explosive offensive numbers.

 

[Whitewaterr]

As I said, The OC will be Tony Peterson, Mark Helfrich, Derek Dooley or Dan Enos

Username checks out

 

[jjniner]

Peterson brings experience to App State offense

BOONE — Tony Peterson is no stranger to Appalachian State football.

www.wataugademocrat.com

 

[Deleted member 186590]

He certainly has had success and experience as an OC, but let me just say what we are all thinking - after discussing Power 5 OC’s and JW increasing the staff budget to $5M to play with the big boys - this is not the name I was expecting. We did not need to increase the budget to get him- BB must have splash hires pegged elsewhere

 

[ILLINISON1]

Peterson has lots of experience and scores points. No black eyes anywhere. Whats not to like?

 

[ChiefGritty]

You don't want to overreact too much to one hire, but that is extremely underwhelming and raises the specter that Enos didn't want to reunite with Bielema, which raises the specter that Whitman got played.

Trust but verify, and that's a nuke being shipped to Cuba.

 

[JFGsCoffeeMug]

Consider me underwhelmed thus far.

 

[O&B4Ever]

If BB believes this is his guy, I'm all for it. I think he knows better than dudes on a fan forum.

 

[JustPassing]

BB = thunder.

TP = passing shower.

Waiting for the lightening

 

[Deleted member 747671]

Never heard of him. Maybe he’s good.

 

[LasagnaFan]

App State fans sure seem happy he is gone...

 

[ChiefGritty]

Petersen was an analyst on the Mizzou staff last year, with Derek Dooley.

But in terms of his history as a proper playcalling OC, here it is, using SP+

Appalachian State
2020 - 36th

East Carolina
2018 - 199th - Scottie Montgomery fired
2017 - 77th
2016 - 80th

Louisiana Tech
2015 - 32nd
2014 - 77th
2013 - 115th

Remember when we lost to Louisiana Tech in the Heart of Dallas Bowl? He was the OC.

 

[Qwiksilvur]

Never heard of him. Maybe he’s good.

Yeah that’s about where I’m at. Gotta think he won’t be getting paid what we thought some of the other OCs discussed here would have made. Maybe that goes to try and get that DC @ProfessorQC was talking about. Or maybe Ash or whomever. The oddest thing to me...I mean...Bielema is a DC by trade...so hiring a G5 or lower DC wouldn’t be so shocking if you thought he had a high ceiling. But an OC....that’s a lot of faith to put in this guy in an area Bielema isn’t as fluent with.

 

[Illinifan533]

Tony Petersen Named Fighting Illini Offensive Coordinator - University of Illinois Athletics

Petersen has directed some of the nation's most exciting and prolific offenses during his 30-year college coaching career.

fightingillini.com

What stood out to me from this release:
"During Petersen's run as co-offensive coordinator at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers had three straight seasons (2003-05) in which they averaged more than 250.0 rushing yards per game. Minnesota ranked third nationally and set a school record by averaging 289.2 rushing yards per game in 2003. The averages of 273.1 yards in 2005 and 256.8 yards in 2004 rank second and third, respectively, in program history."

So, it seems that Petersen is a guy familiar with a run-heavy system that Bielema likes to run.

 

[Deleted member 747671]

Well he’s definitely experienced. Seems like a weird random hire but sometimes these work out better than a big name.

 

[JJE]

BB was just did an interview on the ESPN radio station down here in St. Louis. They asked him about staff he said he was likely going to have some splash hires and also guys we've never heard of. He also mentioned just because you pay a guy lot doesn't mean he will be a good coach. He said fit is key.

BB has said he wants the right guys. I'm not going to hold much of an opinion one way or another yet. We all thought Garrick McGee was a homerun hire at the time and on paper he seemed like it. So maybe we shouldn't rush to too much of a judgement yet.

Peterson might fit well with where BB wants to go and the other coaches might not have.

 

[jbutts718]

App State fans sure seem happy he is gone...

I don’t know.....his numbers are good everywhere he has been. Great rushing numbers while at Minny. Has had some solid QBs.....Pennington, Leftwich, Driscoll and Minshew.

Never been a fan of Enos. I can live with this. Lots of good coaches out there not in Power 5. And.....some bad coaches in Power 5.

 

[sacraig]

You don't want to overreact too much to one hire, but that is extremely underwhelming and raises the specter that Enos didn't want to reunite with Bielema, which raises the specter that Whitman got played.

Trust but verify, and that's a nuke being shipped to Cuba.

Way to jump to the worse series of conclusions based on absolutely no evidence.

 

[Deleted member 186590]

You don't want to overreact too much to one hire, but that is extremely underwhelming and raises the specter that Enos didn't want to reunite with Bielema, which raises the specter that Whitman got played.

Trust but verify, and that's a nuke being shipped to Cuba.

I completely agree with you. I agree we don’t want to overreact to one hire, but it’s hard not too when this is by far the most important one he’ll make.

BB is going to be much more involved in the defense he said than his previous stops, so he really needs an independent AHC type to run the offense and can recruit the type of athletes to fit his system. This is not that hire - and it was his first announced hire so it wouldn’t appear that he exhausted all other possibilities first- which is why I’m really confused

 

[mhuml32]

Looking over the bio information: Used to be heavy running game oriented during his Minny time but has been more passing oriented during his La Tech and ECU stops (tough to justify the stench of that ECU tenure), but his one year at App State led to a revival of his running roots.

Breakdown of stats the year before and tenure at school (green = >15 spot improvement, red = > 15 spot regression, black = relatively stayed the same):

Louisiana Tech
Last year of Sonny Dykes and Air Raid System - 1st in the country in yards per game
2012 - Points Per Play (.581 - 2nd)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (227.9 - 16th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (350.0 - 3rd)

First year of Skip Holtz and Peterson (4-8)
2013 - Points Per Play (.249 - 114th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (149.9 - 78th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (209.6 - 84th)

Second year of Skip Holtz and Peterson (9-5) - Beat Illinois in Heart of Dallas Bowl
2014 - Points Per Play (.548 - 8th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (149.8 - 78th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (250.1 - 47th)

Third year of Skip Holtz and Peterson (9-4) - Beat Arkansas State in New Orleans Bowl
2015 - Points Per Play (.492 - 18th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (155.9 - 81st)
- Passing Yards Per Game (317.8 - 13th)

East Carolina
Last year of Ruffin McNeil (5-7)
2015 - Points Per Play (.361 - 77th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (128.0 - 108th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (285.5 - 24th)

First year of Scottie Montgomery and Peterson (3-9)
2016 - Points Per Play (.296 - 109th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (119.5 - 113th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (327.5 - 8th)

Second year of Scottie Montgomery and Peterson (3-9)
2017 - Points Per Play (.328 - 96th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (111.1 - 117th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (320.3 - 11th)

Third year of Scottie Montgomery and Peterson (3-9)
2018 - Points Per Play (.271 - 120th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (135.3 - 102nd)
- Passing Yards Per Game (282.1 - 20th)

Appalachian State
Last year with Drinkwitz (13-1)
2019 - Points Per Play (.545 - 6th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (228.5 - 16th)
- Passing Yards Per Game (204.4 - 91st)

First year with Clark and Peterson (9-3)
2019 - Points Per Play (.450 - 36th)
- Rushing Yards Per Game (252.5 - 8th) - I know this isn't a 15-spot improvement but moving from 16th to 8th is tough sledding and deserves recognition
- Passing Yards Per Game (192.1 - 100th)

 

[kyillinifan]

Looks like we got a guy with experience and had success.

 

[jbutts718]

I completely agree with you. I agree we don’t want to overreact to one hire, but it’s hard not too when this is by far the most important one he’ll make.

BB is going to be much more involved in the defense he said than his previous stops, so he really needs an independent AHC type to run the offense and can recruit the type of athletes to fit his system. This is not that hire - and it was his first announced hire so it wouldn’t appear that he exhausted all other possibilities first- which is why I’m really confused

You have no idea who BB wanted......he coached in Big 10 against BB and Minny had great rushing numbers while he was there. BB knows him. Why don’t we see what he puts together.

i don’t need retreads like Enos, Canada, the guy at TN.

 

[Deleted member 186590]

Peterson was making $200K at App St

 

[mhuml32]

My disappointment is that OC was probably the position I was hoping for the biggest splash. Bielema hangs his hate on defense, so I can understand not bringing in as big of a name at DC knowing that Bielema will have his hands on that unit. I was initially worried about his passing preference at ECU and La Tech due to weather concerns as the season goes on but this past year at App. State makes me think he can successfully run the ball.

I get all of the stipulations: Bielema wants this guy and it's his show, so let's hope it works out....but as a fan I'm underwhelmed.