Illini Football 2026

#102      
SescIllini
Beilema likely gave Eberhart the facts, situation and context. Then let's the player make the decision. Beilema may have saw immediate playing time was at WR and not defense this year. Will have option to go back to defense if player/coaches want imho. Illinois has been pretty good at putting players where they and team can succeed.
 
#105      
therealmiket86
mhuml32 said:
Ponder Denzel Washington GIF by Entertainment Tonight
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Interesting move because it seemed like he was going to replace Matt next year. I do think with his size and speed he could make an impact this year at wr. Also Straughton and Williams were just moved from safety to linebacker.
 
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#106      
Joel Goodson
SescIllini said:
Beilema likely gave Eberhart the facts, situation and context. Then let's the player make the decision. Beilema may have saw immediate playing time was at WR and not defense this year. Will have option to go back to defense if player/coaches want imho. Illinois has been pretty good at putting players where they and team can succeed.
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+1

getting on the field >>> sitting on the bench

dollars to donuts, he flips back to D after this season
 
#107      
RabidDawgClassic
RabidDawgClassic said:
Crazy to think that there are enough great wins to form a top ten list, let alone four more for an honorable mention category. I think we’d struggle to even come up with five from the Beckman/Cubit/Lovie era.
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So I found five games in the Beckman/Cubit/Lovie era that you could qualify as top wins — only two of which would have a reasonable argument to rival any of the top wins in the Bielema era.

1. 2019 at Michigan State (37-43)
2. 2019 vs Wisconsin (24-23)
3. 2015 vs Nebraska (14-13)
4. 2014 vs Penn State (16-14)
5. 2014 vs Minnesota (28-24)

“Honorable” mention
2013 at Purdue (20-16)
2016 vs Michigan State (31-27)
2019 at UConn (31-23)

Looking at the highlights from these games I must say… we had some dreadful uniform combinations during this period. I’m glad Bret has righted the ship in that area, as well as on field play.
 
#114      
DeonThomas
jimbo72 said:
I thought coming out of high school seeing him play 2x. He was Larry Fitzgerald. Big, quick, and fighter for ball. WR.. all day everyday. Nfl potential and I thought this last fall.
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Glad to hear you say this. When I first saw that Eberhart was moving to WR (perhaps already our #1 most talented player group where playing time will be difficult to come by), my mind instantly went to this place instead............

Are you kidding me? We just moved arguably our #1 incoming Freshman (just days before the start of the season, no less) because he's been a mess trying to learn our complicated new defense. Why in the world would we ever move a talented kid to a place he's going to get completely lost in the shuffle? He'll now never see the field in 2026. And our defense is going to be in huge trouble this season!
 
#115      
BZuppke
Mr. Tibbs said:
I liked the choice of BB from the get go. Mainly because he had already proved he could win in the B1G

But I was in the minority. I recall it was about 75%~80% negative on here.
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Me too. We needed a proven winner.
 
#116      
BWBW
As I recall, some folks were concerned that we were getting the immature BB because there was no evidence of a mature BB. Immature BB might have been problematic. Mature BB is one of the best coaches in all of football. I'm glad we have him running our program.
 
#119      
RabidDawgClassic
TheChief4Life said:
I know there were a lot of questions, and likely complainers, but I do not recall it being anywhere near this high against the hire.
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Here’s a refresher for anyone who’s interested. Not sure it was 75-80%, but there sure was a lot of skepticism.

The Illinois Football Coaching Search

No love for the Lewis guy? Maybe just no connection at all to Josh, so not really seen as an option? Great offense but very QB driven, also defense leaves something to be desired.
www.illinoisloyalty.com www.illinoisloyalty.com
 
#120      
Mr. Tibbs
RabidDawgClassic said:
Here’s a refresher for anyone who’s interested. Not sure it was 75-80%, but there sure was a lot of skepticism.

The Illinois Football Coaching Search

No love for the Lewis guy? Maybe just no connection at all to Josh, so not really seen as an option? Great offense but very QB driven, also defense leaves something to be desired.
www.illinoisloyalty.com www.illinoisloyalty.com
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just re read about 4-5 pages of that (34-38) . there was mostly negative to meh discussion about BB. don’t recall a post on those pages being enthusiastic. I stand by my earlier comment of this board being 75% against it .

Me ? I always liked him due to his Illinois upbringing , success at Wisc, and him & I sharing Dutch heritage and BB reminding me looks wise of 3/4 of my uncles . His so called sophomoric behavior didn’t bother me as I’ve been accused of that at times .

Happy that he obviously nailed it in his interview with Josh and he’s subsequently proven to be the perfect hire for us . I don’t know who exactly else on that well circulated list we considered , assume LL & Fickell were . Recall discussion Fickell wasn’t really interested , but LL was . Josh made the right choice .

Everyone says how extremely organized BB is . I truly think he stays with us until he retires and gets recognition at that time as our best coach ever .
 
#121      
TheChief4Life
RabidDawgClassic said:
Here’s a refresher for anyone who’s interested. Not sure it was 75-80%, but there sure was a lot of skepticism.

The Illinois Football Coaching Search

No love for the Lewis guy? Maybe just no connection at all to Josh, so not really seen as an option? Great offense but very QB driven, also defense leaves something to be desired.
www.illinoisloyalty.com www.illinoisloyalty.com
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Here are the reactions to the actual hire, not the search.

Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Illinois Football

www.illinoisloyalty.com www.illinoisloyalty.com

When there are people in the search thread thinking we're pulling in Nick Saban-ish, obviously the reaction to prospects like BB will be negative. Once the hire was made, the reactions were much less extremist.

I just find it funny the revisionist history over the last couple of successful seasons of "I was the first to love this hire!" and "BB was always my guy!". Honestly, I think 75% were more of the "eh... this is Illinois" then "we hate this hire".
 
#123      
OskieWowWow
Mr. Tibbs said:
just re read about 4-5 pages of that (34-38) . there was mostly negative to meh discussion about BB. don’t recall a post on those pages being enthusiastic. I stand by my earlier comment of this board being 75% against it .

Me ? I always liked him due to his Illinois upbringing , success at Wisc, and him & I sharing Dutch heritage and BB reminding me looks wise of 3/4 of my uncles . His so called sophomoric behavior didn’t bother me as I’ve been accused of that at times .

Happy that he obviously nailed it in his interview with Josh and he’s subsequently proven to be the perfect hire for us . I don’t know who exactly else on that well circulated list we considered , assume LL & Fickell were . Recall discussion Fickell wasn’t really interested , but LL was . Josh made the right choice .

Everyone says how extremely organized BB is . I truly think he stays with us until he retires and gets recognition at that time as our best coach ever .
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Wasn't worried about his character, people who interacted with him all said that he was a real and genuine person. I was worried about his drinking at the time. Sam Pittman left Arkansas after BB no-show'd to a recruiting visit
 
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#124      
GForce
BWBW said:
As I recall, some folks were concerned that we were getting the immature BB because there was no evidence of a mature BB. Immature BB might have been problematic. Mature BB is one of the best coaches in all of football. I'm glad we have him running our program.
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These were my exact thoughts. My nephew attended UWisc at the end of BB's tenure there, and had stories of immature BB.
 
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