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.
Ohio State 42, Illinois 19 Postgame
- Status
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
Here is the list of DC's hired after the end of the season (before the Playoffs though) and up until Aaron Henry took his job at ND (which is when UofI officially opened it's DC search):
Is there any on this list we wouldn't take right now over what we have?
All 25 Power 4 DC hires before February 7
| Date | School | New defensive coordinator | Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec. 4, 2025 | Florida | Brad White | SEC |
| Dec. 6 | Mississippi State | Zach Arnett | SEC |
| Dec. 6 | Syracuse | Vince Kehres | ACC |
| Dec. 7 | Virginia Tech | Brent Pry | ACC |
| Dec. 7–8 | Nebraska | Rob Aurich | Big Ten |
| Dec. 9 | South Florida* | Josh Aldridge | — |
| Dec. 11 | Tennessee | Jim Knowles | SEC |
| Dec. 12 | Oklahoma State | Skyler Cassity | Big 12 |
| Dec. 12 | Texas A&M | Lyle Hemphill | SEC |
| Dec. 15 | Iowa State | Jesse Bobbit | Big 12 |
| Dec. 16 | Arkansas | Ron Roberts | SEC |
| Dec. 17 | Kentucky | Jay Bateman | SEC |
| Dec. 18 | Texas | Will Muschamp | SEC |
| Dec. 19 | Purdue | Kevin Kane | Big Ten |
| Dec. 21 | Kansas State | Jordan Peterson | Big 12 |
| Dec. 26 | Cal | Michael Hutchings | ACC |
| Dec. 26 | Michigan | Jay Hill | Big Ten |
| Dec. 29 | UCLA | Colin Hitschler | Big Ten |
| Dec. 30 | Boston College | Ted Roof | ACC |
| Jan. 2, 2026 | Penn State | D'Anton Lynn | Big Ten |
| Jan. 2 | Utah | Colton Swan | Big 12 |
| Jan. 15 | Oregon | Chris Hampton | Big Ten |
| Jan. 23 | USC | Gary Patterson | Big Ten |
| Feb. 1 | Illinois | Aaron Henry's replacement wasn't hired yet | Big Ten |
| Feb. 6 | Rutgers | Travis Johansen | Big Ten |
Last edited:
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
One of my most accurate takes is that the First Law of Football Fandom is that your team, no matter how good or bad, always has exactly one (1) Bad Coordinator.
There is always the Good Coordinator and the Bad Coordinator
The only thing I want to add on Hauck is that analytically speaking I think it is MUCH MUCH more relevant that he had both (1) never been a defensive coordinator before ever, at any level, in his whole career, and also that he had (2) retired out of contempt with dealing with the realities of the new college football days earlier, than anything to do with him coming from the FCS.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Instead, I'd have Josh first raise/surface the extra $20M to $25M we need, and then make decisions on a case by case (player by player) basis.
Last edited:
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
Not sure if you're just being facetious, but there are a few DC's in that list that you can argue are having a worst start in their new schools than Hauck, especially considering the talent that they have and their expectations going in.
Just in the B1G, I would argue that these DC's are having at the very least just as bad a start as Hauck is:
Travis Johansen
Kevin Kane (What if...)
Heck...
Chris Hampton with all that talent
Full disclosure, I don't have the time to review each every one of these dudes. So maybe I give you couple that are as bad.
But that's not my point, my point is that we waited until AFTER all these guys had already been through the full interview cycle and been hired BEFORE we officially started our search.
And yes, I understand the concept of "unofficial" searches, but that certainly did not pan out for us at all, as our unofficial candidate(s) bailed once our search became official.
Hereforit
- Littleton, CO
Yikes. The amount of vitriol for one another here is crazy. Honestly, makes me proud of the way ppl handle themselves on this board (and how Dan manages it).
Thought I’d never say this but rather have Henry than Hauck at this time.
- Status