Barry Lunney Named Illinois Offensive Coordinator and QBs Coach

#51      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
Stevegarbs said:
Can we expect to get 3 years from Lunney before he takes the leap to HC? What is the usual progression when you stay in the same role but move up to a P5 school?
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I believe it's only natural for an OC to consider head coaching opportunities after back to back West Division titles in his 2nd and 3rd years in the job. I think the "where to" can only be answered by whether or not his offense is able to put up more than 30 points in the national semi-finals during that 3rd season.
 
#54      

WeatherfordForMVP

W
WeatherfordForMVP
Stevegarbs said:
Can we expect to get 3 years from Lunney before he takes the leap to HC? What is the usual progression when you stay in the same role but move up to a P5 school?
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I think that almost regardless of how next year goes, he won't get an offer that is a significant enough upgrade to him that he would leave something trending in a positive direction. If we get two years of solid improvement, I could see him leaving for an OC job at an elite football program, just like he left a G5 program for a P5 program after two years at UTSA. If things improve for three straight years, we get him for as long as he cares to stay until he gets the precise job offer he wants (which he'd probably get after three years), which could be either an elite OC job or the right HC job.

So, I figure if things go well, we've got him for 2-3 years. If things go poorly...we probably also have him for 2-3 years. :)
 
#55      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
Illiniguy74 said:
I'm beginning to feel like I did in 1980.
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Agreed. However, the one piece still missing is a 2-3 notch upgrade in the talent level.

Back in those days, the Big 10 was the big 2 and everyone else --- so we easily slid into the #3 "talent level" spot by 1983. It will be a lot more difficult to become a top 4-5 program in the conference this time around.
 
#56      

Dbell1981

D
Decatur, IL
Dbell1981
Illiniguy74 said:
I'm beginning to feel like I did in 1980.
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Oh yeah
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#57      

HensonHall71

H
HensonHall71
orange100 said:
I wonder if BB wanted Lunney last year, but it didn't happen for whatever reason? I always felt like Petersen was a warm-body hire, but that may just be my bias.
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Except Peterson was BB’s first hire right out of the gate, with a lot bigger names floated out there given our budget- that is what made the Peterson hire so perplexing

He had time and money to make a big hire so the only conclusion you can draw is he really wanted Peterson- I don’t think Lunney would have been in consideration last year given he wasn’t an OC - what a difference a year makes!
 
#58      

RJK01

R
RJK01
HensonHall71 said:
Except Peterson was BB’s first hire right out of the gate, with a lot bigger names floated out there given our budget- that is what made the Peterson hire so perplexing

He had time and money to make a big hire so the only conclusion you can draw is he really wanted Peterson- I don’t think Lunney would have been in consideration last year given he wasn’t an OC - what a difference a year makes!
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I didn't understand the Peterson hire either. Why hire a guy as your OC that had been demoted twice and was working as the QB coach at a G5 school? Bielema could have hired any number of talented G5 coaches to be the Illinois OC. I think Jeff Hecklinski or Dustin Ward have better resumes for the position than Peterson.
 
#59      

Illinivek23

Illinivek23
Gurnee
Illinivek23
HensonHall71 said:
Except Peterson was BB’s first hire right out of the gate, with a lot bigger names floated out there given our budget- that is what made the Peterson hire so perplexing

He had time and money to make a big hire so the only conclusion you can draw is he really wanted Peterson- I don’t think Lunney would have been in consideration last year given he wasn’t an OC - what a difference a year makes!
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I think Lunney would have just finished his first year as an OC last Dec, so probably didn't want to hire him based on 1 year. When Year 2 was even better...
 
#60      

CubsIlliniFan

C
CubsIlliniFan
HensonHall71 said:
Except Peterson was BB’s first hire right out of the gate, with a lot bigger names floated out there given our budget- that is what made the Peterson hire so perplexing

He had time and money to make a big hire so the only conclusion you can draw is he really wanted Peterson- I don’t think Lunney would have been in consideration last year given he wasn’t an OC - what a difference a year makes!
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Just a thought but what if BB wanted Lunney last year but wanted him to get another year under his belt at UTSA, hired Peterson as a stop gap until now when we hired him? Maybe that’s the reason he passed on other options or that Lunney was not ready to leave UTSA considering they had a really good team last year. BB is not stupid. This does not sound far fetched.
 
#61      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
CubsIlliniFan said:
Just a thought but what if BB wanted Lunney last year but wanted him to get another year under his belt at UTSA, hired Peterson as a stop gap until now when we hired him? Maybe that’s the reason he passed on other options or that Lunney was not ready to leave UTSA considering they had a really good team last year. BB is not stupid. This does not sound far fetched.
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Sounds a little far fetched to me. As you say, BB is not stupid, so he finally gets another P5 head coaching job and he hires a “stop gap” for one of his two coordinator positions? He knows how important the first season is for setting the tone for his program and he hires a “stop gap” rather than choosing a coordinator that he believes can help him win and build the program? He hired Peterson and it didn’t work out. Some of that likely had to do with personnel, but BB was smart enough to see that even with better personnel (and without abundance of proof Peterson would be key to bringing in better personnel) he wasn’t going to see the type of improvement needed, so he moved on. Kudos for that. Not every hiring decision is going to be right, the key is to realize the mistake and make the correction needed.
 
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#62      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
EyeoftheIllini said:
Sounds a little far fetched to me. As you say, BB is not stupid, so he finally gets another P5 head coaching job and he hires a “stop gap” for one of his two coordinator positions? He knows how important the first season is for setting the tone for his program and he hires a “stop gap” rather than choosing a coordinator that he believes can help him win and build the program? He hired Peterson and it didn’t work out. Some of that likely had to do with personnel, but BB was smart enough to see that even with better personnel (and without abundance of proof Peterson would be key to bringing in better personnel) he wasn’t going to see the type of improvement needed, so he moved on. Kudos for that. Not every hiring decision is going to be right, the key is not realize the mistake and make the correction needed.
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Yep, my guess is:

1.) BB saw something in Peterson and initially thought he would be a good hire or the best hire we could get at the time.

2.) Based on the results in his first season + potentially some things that happened after the season, BB no longer believed Peterson was the right man for the job.

3.) Before pulling the trigger on Peterson, BB put out feelers. Then received assurances from Lunney that if there was an opening, he would be very interested in it.

4.) BB fires Peterson. Conducts final rounds of interviews and negotiations with Lunney. Hires Lunney.
 
#63      

illini0440

illini0440
illini0440
EyeoftheIllini said:
Sounds a little far fetched to me. As you say, BB is not stupid, so he finally gets another P5 head coaching job and he hires a “stop gap” for one of his two coordinator positions? He knows how important the first season is for setting the tone for his program and he hires a “stop gap” rather than choosing a coordinator that he believes can help him win and build the program? He hired Peterson and it didn’t work out. Some of that likely had to do with personnel, but BB was smart enough to see that even with better personnel (and without abundance of proof Peterson would be key to bringing in better personnel) he wasn’t going to see the type of improvement needed, so he moved on. Kudos for that. Not every hiring decision is going to be right, the key is not realize the mistake and make the correction needed.
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Bingo. TP wasn’t option one or 2 when hiring the first go around. But fit the bill in terms of how his offensive style and philosophy meshed with BB. BB also has known TP for awhile so he hired him hoping it would work when his first choices weren’t available. It didn’t and BB realized this halfway through the season. Good on him for having the nads to pull the trigger.
 
#64      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
EyeoftheIllini said:
Sounds a little far fetched to me. As you say, BB is not stupid, so he finally gets another P5 head coaching job and he hires a “stop gap” for one of his two coordinator positions? He knows how important the first season is for setting the tone for his program and he hires a “stop gap” rather than choosing a coordinator that he believes can help him win and build the program? He hired Peterson and it didn’t work out. Some of that likely had to do with personnel, but BB was smart enough to see that even with better personnel (and without abundance of proof Peterson would be key to bringing in better personnel) he wasn’t going to see the type of improvement needed, so he moved on. Kudos for that. Not every hiring decision is going to be right, the key is to realize the mistake and make the correction needed.
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pretty well sums it up for me .........As for the hiring of Lunney .....................

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#65      

pvaughn8

P
pvaughn8
illini0440 said:
Bingo. TP wasn’t option one or 2 when hiring the first go around. But fit the bill in terms of how his offensive style and philosophy meshed with BB. BB also has known TP for awhile so he hired him hoping it would work when his first choices weren’t available. It didn’t and BB realized this halfway through the season. Good on him for having the nads to pull the trigger.
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I'm so used to suffering years of obviously failing coaches. This is a breath of fresh air
 
#67      

BashCtIllini

BashCtIllini
BashCtIllini
Top player in Arkansas for next class is a TE, just outside of the top 100. Already committed to the Razorbacks. Any chance Lunney can work some magic? Only other guy currently listed is a big OL from Bentonville.
 
#69      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks
DeonThomas said:
Agreed. However, the one piece still missing is a 2-3 notch upgrade in the talent level.

Back in those days, the Big 10 was the big 2 and everyone else --- so we easily slid into the #3 "talent level" spot by 1983. It will be a lot more difficult to become a top 4-5 program in the conference this time around.
Click to expand...
On the plus side we don't have to play those 'big 2' every year now. The west division is not very strong so, with some improvement, we should be able to move on up.
 
#70      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks
CubsIlliniFan said:
Just a thought but what if BB wanted Lunney last year but wanted him to get another year under his belt at UTSA, hired Peterson as a stop gap until now when we hired him? Maybe that’s the reason he passed on other options or that Lunney was not ready to leave UTSA considering they had a really good team last year. BB is not stupid. This does not sound far fetched.
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Could be, but I don't think that we would have offered Peterson a three year contract under those conditions.