Illini Football 2026

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#126      
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
 
#127      
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 .
 
#128      
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".
 
#130      
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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#131      
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.
 
#133      
lstewart53x3
TheChief4Life said:
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".
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Skimmed through the whole thread. Hate might be a strong word, but I’d say 75% of posts in the thread were expressing disappointment in the hire.
 
#134      
illini0440
Point-Illinois said:
I was 100% skeptical and was afraid we were getting Arkansas BB and not this new BB.

1. Happy to be wrong.

2. Goes to show that people don’t always stagnate and can change for the better when they learn and grow from past experiences.
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Go look at Arkansas’s schedules during Bret’s time there….insane stuff especially when Bret wouldn’t cheat like the other schools were. A big part of the reason Bret is so pro NIL and Rev sharing.
 
#135      
lstewart53x3
illini0440 said:
Go look at Arkansas’s schedules during Bret’s time there….insane stuff especially when Bret wouldn’t cheat like the other schools were. A big part of the reason Bret is so pro NIL and Rev sharing.
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Yeah, his strength of schedule at Arkansas according to FPI was:

2013: 12 (3-9)
2014: 3 (7-6)
2015: 7 (8-5)
2016: 6 (7-6)
2017: 31 (4-8)

So his last year was bad. The others were decent to good based on schedule.

For context, his strength of schedule here so far:

2021: 53
2022: 46
2023: 65 (5-7 oof)
2024: 30 (still won 10 games!)
2025: 23 (still won 9 games!)

If Bret had our schedule at Arkansas, he would’ve won 9-10 games a year.
 
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#136      
BretMyBeachHouse
50 years into this fandom business, my default setting on just about every coach and recruit is skepticism. Some call that negativity. Perhaps others say it's a defense mechanism, like a nut cup.

I definitely had skepticism with BB. In fairness, even the Wisconsin version of Bret probably doesn't survive here. I don't know if it was the kids, or just age, but he seems to be a different person and it's set him up for success.
 
#137      
TheChief4Life
lstewart53x3 said:
Skimmed through the whole thread. Hate might be a strong word, but I’d say 75% of posts in the thread were expressing disappointment in the hire.
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OKay, sorry, I couldn't let this die....

I actually read through the entire thread. If you actually look at the hire thread and look at individual posters vs. the same poster posting the same sentiment 30 times in 30 different ways, the break down is roughly 3 to 1 (slightly less) in favor with about 25% of the posters indifferent or "waiting to see". Which is exactly how I remember it being.

Illinoisloyalty is notorious for letting small groups of negative nancies dictate the feeling or direction of an entire thread or fan base.
 
#138      
illini80
lstewart53x3 said:
Skimmed through the whole thread. Hate might be a strong word, but I’d say 75% of posts in the thread were expressing disappointment in the hire.
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I wasn’t skeptical of his abilities, but I questioned how long he would stick around. With JW at the helm and the changes in the game, it was perfect timing where he could really excel here. Very thankful for how things have worked out.
 
#139      
Point-Illinois
illini0440 said:
Go look at Arkansas’s schedules during Bret’s time there….insane stuff especially when Bret wouldn’t cheat like the other schools were. A big part of the reason Bret is so pro NIL and Rev sharing.
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I was more referencing what seemed like behavior/personality stuff at Arkansas as opposed to schedule.

But yeah, dude had a crazy tough road to succeed there.

He definitely got an insightful look under the hood of the SEC machine, which means he truly was the perfect hire right as NIL was coming around.
 
#141      
pvaughn8
TheChief4Life said:
OKay, sorry, I couldn't let this die....

I actually read through the entire thread. If you actually look at the hire thread and look at individual posters vs. the same poster posting the same sentiment 30 times in 30 different ways, the break down is roughly 3 to 1 (slightly less) in favor with about 25% of the posters indifferent or "waiting to see". Which is exactly how I remember it being.

Illinoisloyalty is notorious for letting small groups of negative nancies dictate the feeling or direction of an entire thread or fan base.
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No need to count posts, there was a poll!
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90% rated the hire an A or B. Can't remember exactly but I rated him an A if not B. Simpletons like me saw a former big ten champion coach and figured that was a good thing
 
#145      
Fly Illini Fly!
mhuml32 said:
Evidence continues to pile up that the staff isn’t thrilled about the WRs

(1) Bielema makes the statement at B1G media days
(2) Eberhart being moved from secondary to WR
(3) Bringing in a very late transfer WR
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This is so weird to me.

The IlliniInquirer podcast guys have continued to state Platt has been a marquee addition. And Dixon and Clement are already proven products.
 
#147      
mhuml32
Fly Illini Fly! said:
This is so weird to me.

The IlliniInquirer podcast guys have continued to state Platt has been a marquee addition. And Dixon and Clement are already proven products.
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Plus the WR room has to be the best recruited unit on the team. Maybe it's the viewpoint that Dixon-Clement-Platt are very good, Trimble has potential, but the rest is not good.

genevaillini39w said:
I think things are pretty sparse past the top 4 or 5.

I think rankin might be a bust.
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I do not want to make that strong of a statement, but has there been any noise about him? There was a lot of public noise about Trimble last year but haven't heard the same about Rankin.
 
#149      
genevaillini39w
Mr. Tibbs said:
they can tell this already ?
curious if it’s off field stuff causing this
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He was out in the spring.

Haven’t heard Lunney, stepp, or bielema mention him. I have a feeling he was projected to be an end of the rotation guy his first year on campus and was paid accordingly.

I think that’s part of the reason they are making these changes now.

Just my two cents, lots of recruiting noise and nothing once he’s been on campus.

Usually the farther away you are from the ball the easier it is to play right away. I’m a pretty big believer that a true freshman should have some flashes in practice at a minimum that are discussed if he’s going to be a player for you in the future.
 
#150      
lstewart53x3
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