ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Would you have let Andrej Stojakovic stay in the draft in exchange for a competent linebacking corps?
Really?
Ohio State 42, Illinois 19 Postgame
Really?
The name thrown out was Charlie Partridge. I don't think that was ever serious, just a red herring.
I think they were waiting for some contractual date so Hauck could retire to avoid paying an out clause. Then he retired, then signed with Illinois.
He signed over 3 weeks after the portal closed.
The players Hauck & Co. got is what Illinois gave him.
Mississippi State signed Zach Arnett to 3 years, 3.75M. Illinois signed Hauck to 2 years, 1.45M.
The Illinois defense is the economy option top to bottom except a few players.
Bielema, fans and media can throw a fit but they got what they paid for. Illinois isn't Iowa.
We put our money into our QB, Iowa put theirs into their defense
Offense is solid. Defense is why this team will barely win 6 games. Hauck grifted this program for his retirement checks. Defense is poor.
JSpence
- Evansville, IN
Fair, but we should only care about it as far as missed opportunity with donors goes.
If it ever comes up, the coaches can easily point out that we could have had 20 and they'll continue to take those risks and give players chances to win their games. They also have the stat for our 19-pts and 16-pts against OSU's defense to point to, which will look cool until they go to Bloomington in 20 days.
News for you. OSU is more than likely going to win the conference and it's not because every team they play are coached poorly. It's because they are more talented than everyone they play. Outside of Bailey, there is not one player on our defense that they wouldn't even bother recruiting. This goes for Oregon(Nike) and Michigan as well. It's 100% based on money and resources.
Conversely, the amount of money that goes into our basketball program is near the top of the conference and we can position ourselves to land 5 star recruits, so we end up with high seeds in the NCAA Tournament, going to Elite 8's and Final Fours. Given our roster, which is expensive, we could go for a second year in a row. That would be 3 years of an Elite 8 or Final Four in the last 4 years. When we lose the majority of our roster next year, we'll reload and will be at the top of the conference again. As a percentage of the revenue the athletic department greases the wheels of the basketball team because a roster of 12 guys is in the budget. A roster of 50 guys isn't.
We had to choose which side of the ball to spend out money on and it was clearly the offense and it shows. Iowa clearly spends their money on their defense and it clearly shows. That offense sucks and it has for the last 5 years. They win games 10-9. That drive they had yesterday was WILDLY lucky. They benefitted from a moronic personal foul by the Michigan DB on a terribly thrown ball and they benefitted from a ball that was tipped in the air twice and fell into the TE's lap. That wasn't a skillful drive, BUT the defense kept them in the game. When that happens , you give yourself a chance at the end. That's been the case with them for years. More news, Iowa fans have wanted Ferentz gone fore years.
Now, I do think that we have to reconsider how we allocate our football money. Absolutely. We have to pick a side. Keep in mind, this is the second year in a row that we're criticizing the defensive coordinator for failures. At what point do we just accept the fact that the talent isn't there? We're slow and flat out not as athletic as other teams. Oregon is going to do the exact same thing to us as last year. It's not the scheme. It's the players in it. It's ok to come to this conclusion. We either have to have the big money donors kick in more money to accommodate both sides of the ball or pick a side to focus on. If we choose to put our money into the defense, you'll be complaining about Lunney next year.
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yup
time for JW to use some of the increase in revenue from ticket sales and work the phones with donors to get out NIL up to the top 60% in the league . it’s hard to win a gun fight holding a knife
Juice is a sub par corner and he was tasked to cover the best WR college football has seen.... possibly ever. Did you see Resestich? That was an absolute joke. He got turned around four times on one play. There was no technique that was going to stop that. They were either going to get Mossed, slants were going to go for 60 yards or they'd be trailing by 5+ yards on a post. So, yeah, they had every reason to be uncomfortable or "scared'. Given our lack of talent/athleticism.....that was going to be the outcome. If we have Witherspoon or Brown back there(NFL caliber players), that would not have been the case. It was amazing how good the DC looked with that talent.
We have a FCS defensive staff and it shows. We also valued guys that left as rotational players and they went out and got paid like starters. The head coach literally said the market for defensive linemen had gotten crazy and he wasn’t going to pay those prices. This is what you’re stuck with
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Just for the record, Charlie Partridge was Bielema's AHC at Wisconsin and Arkansas and is now the Notre Dame DL coach.
It was CHRIS Partridge, Seahawks LB coach and now run game coordinator that was the DC consideration this offseason.
I don't believe there's any relation between the two.
It was CHRIS Partridge, Seahawks LB coach and now run game coordinator that was the DC consideration this offseason.
I don't believe there's any relation between the two.
Don’t forget a partridge in a pear tree
Agreed - a lot of chicken or the egg here IMO. And we do seem to make a conscious decision that QB will be a position that gets paid relative to market value (which duh), but I’m aware no defensive position gets that opportunity afforded to them.
But we churn out top flight WRs who develop here. We don’t miss on portal QBs. The line is where we don’t spend relatively, but the line either competes or is schemed well enough.
You’re right the talent on that side is better, and probably better paid. That said, it’s not paid like OSU or USC or whom ever, but damn it, it competes at that level.
IU spent a fortune on the offense this year, and I know they’re well coached. I think ours is better or right there with them. And Houser looks better than ALOT of QBs we know went for crazy bank this offseason. IMO he’s flat out better than Leavitt
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Quiet, don't let the head coaching market hear you
Today & this season's D is a direct by-product of Brett not managing his DC's very well...bottom line. I love Brett and think he has been the best coach we've had for decades. But the difference between us an upper tier team and an average team in the B1G is consistently our defense.
We had one great year with Ryan Walters (who is a d-bag btw) and it's been underperforming ever since. Aaron Henry was in way over his head, Brett kept him waaaaay too long (due to his very close personal relationship with him).
Brett did not have a good Plan A (poor timing, holding Henry too long after season end and all good DC's were scooped up), Plan B (Seahawk's OLB Coach Partridge that backed out of his verbal commitment to Brett) or any Plan C (nobody).
Now we've got a FCS coach that made less $$ than a lot of high school coaches, and he is trying to run his D at a P4 level and his "system" simply isn't cutting it. The goal-line penalty with our 11th man running off the field on the Duke side of the LOS lost us that game. Now we have 9 men on the field against OSU. OMG, what a disaster. That is 100% on Hauck. Again, another DC in waaay over his head.
We had one great year with Ryan Walters (who is a d-bag btw) and it's been underperforming ever since. Aaron Henry was in way over his head, Brett kept him waaaaay too long (due to his very close personal relationship with him).
Brett did not have a good Plan A (poor timing, holding Henry too long after season end and all good DC's were scooped up), Plan B (Seahawk's OLB Coach Partridge that backed out of his verbal commitment to Brett) or any Plan C (nobody).
Now we've got a FCS coach that made less $$ than a lot of high school coaches, and he is trying to run his D at a P4 level and his "system" simply isn't cutting it. The goal-line penalty with our 11th man running off the field on the Duke side of the LOS lost us that game. Now we have 9 men on the field against OSU. OMG, what a disaster. That is 100% on Hauck. Again, another DC in waaay over his head.
Also, why the F is Bobby Hauck not taking questions after these losses and instead reporters are having to ask Matt Bailey about defensive communication etc...???
I have zero respect for any Coach that makes his players answer for his schematic and communication mistakes.
I have zero respect for any Coach that makes his players answer for his schematic and communication mistakes.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
I don't think it works that way for post game press availability. I don't think I've ever seen an Illinois coordinator post-game, or any other B1G coordinator for that matter. So I doubt that Hauck asked Bailey to answer for his coach's miscues.
Also, not that I disagree with you on handling DC's at Illinois, but curious who do you think we would have had a good chance of landing out of the "good DCs that were scooped up" last offseason?
I think some of us need to chill a little. Do I like the Defense? Stupid question. Can it be fixed moderately enough to get us to 7-8 wins. I think so. Remembering some previous coaches from the last 15 years when we had neither an offense or a defense and 49-0 was on the platter for a day in the shoe. Is this good? No! Let's see what happens here. I still think we get to 7 wins if not more. Hopefully valuable lessons will be learned. Defense may suck right now but they have some dudes to work with and try to fix it. The offense is just flat out fun to watch and will get better when we get some people back.
I'm not making excuses for Hauck, but I don't think the coordinators and coaches other than Brett ever get interviewed right after the game. That is usually reserved for Mondays if my memory serves me correct.
Hauck actually has MORE financial incentives to "phone it in" / fail this year than succeed.
If his D continues to struggle and he gets canned at the end of this season (a very feasible scenario), he get's paid all of his next year's salary and doesn't have to work at all!
He can go back to retirement having pocketed in 1 year ($1.4M the equivalent of his last 6 yrs of Univ of Montana salary) buy a nice vacation house in Whitefish or Flathead Lake and live his dream. Great for him, awful for us. Ugh.
Rant over
If his D continues to struggle and he gets canned at the end of this season (a very feasible scenario), he get's paid all of his next year's salary and doesn't have to work at all!
He can go back to retirement having pocketed in 1 year ($1.4M the equivalent of his last 6 yrs of Univ of Montana salary) buy a nice vacation house in Whitefish or Flathead Lake and live his dream. Great for him, awful for us. Ugh.
Rant over
The proverbial cat is out of the bag already….just a matter of time.Quiet, don't let the head coaching market hear you
