DC Bobby Hauck out at Illinois
- Status
Illini4Chief
- TENNESSEE
Could of been big school vs small school.... shock, always seemed low energy, ho hum..stance.., just not ready for big time.....
Last edited:
He has talent there and they perform at a high level.
He had a couple of solid players here and the results showed. It wasn't always a picture of beauty, but it was enough to win.
I don't know how this falls 100% on the DC. The talent isn't there whatsoever. This defensive line and LB corp is MAC level. We'll see what the next sacrificial lamb brings.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
I just have to say this out loud. I can’t stand any of the “Locked On” podcasts. Any of them. I have never seen a bunch of people rattle on for so long without ever actually saying anything meaningful or insightful. And it’s across the board for these guys - I’ve regretted every clickbait video across all the teams I follow. I clicked on one again related to this topic and I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the ball Lucy is holding. Man I’m such a blockhead. /end rant
my comment refers to BB likely agreeing to Haucks assessment and not trying to talk him out of it . it’s not as if this possibility was never ever anticipated.
just my opinion. I have a hard time believing BB or others in the know were totally surprised
A big part of our problem is the roster construction. That falls on the head coach and GM. I do think the communication is a problem but the talent level is the real problem
I think Coach B made it clear to Hauck over the past few games that he was increasingly frustrated with the poor communications, blown tackles, lack of a pass rush, failure to get off the field, few turnovers and TFLs, penalties, and failure to show much improvement while the season was slipping away. For his part, I think Hauck had difficulty relating to today's players, was not used to coaching at the P4 level, and did not like being criticized by a younger head coach after calling the shots for so many years as the HC. Hauck figured he didn't need the aggravation, and at least had the sense and class to resign after seeing he would not succeed at Illinois. Coach B looked relieved to move on, and pointedly did not thank Hauck for his service to the program.
Both are happy to be done with this totally failed experiment, though I expect the Illini to retain Hauck's old DC and the 3-5-3 D for the rest of this year, tweak QB pressure packages, emphasize better tackling, swarming to the ball, taking away the opponent's primary weapon,and streamlined communications. Retooling to a whole new defense at this point and issuing/learning a new playbook, has no advantages and would likely cause complete confusion and tank the season.
Both are happy to be done with this totally failed experiment, though I expect the Illini to retain Hauck's old DC and the 3-5-3 D for the rest of this year, tweak QB pressure packages, emphasize better tackling, swarming to the ball, taking away the opponent's primary weapon,and streamlined communications. Retooling to a whole new defense at this point and issuing/learning a new playbook, has no advantages and would likely cause complete confusion and tank the season.
Last edited:
I'm betting a better defense
People don't want to admit that because it's self soothing to believe that firing one guy fixes the problem, when the problem is the lack of money we have to spend and what we do spend greases the wheels of the offense.
This is a talent problem. This will be our third DC in 4 games. We'll see what he can do to better things.
Didn't we say the same thing with Hauck? Anything was supposed to be upgrade over Henry, right? Well, maybe not so much.
If our defense isn't better vs Purdue than it was against OSU..... that'll be a problem.
They needed to know what the dline market was going to be. Imagine if a NFL team said they ran out of money and only added undrafted players to the defense. Our offense has looked very good and we have been missing several starters. I think it’s crazy to completely neglect the defense during portal season then be shocked it’s bad.
Like ... the Bears?
I think its a good thing that "what we do spend greases the wheels of the offense."
I'd rather be really good on one side and bad on the other, than being average in both.
I get what you’re saying but the bears invested much more on defense than we did.
We spent a lot of money on offensive players that haven’t played a snap so far. Some of that money could’ve been on defense and we would be a much better team.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The way I interpreted it is that the situation obviously needed to be dealt with and handled differently, Bielema had one vision of the changes that needed to be made, Hauck (who remember is an even more experienced head coach than Bielema is) came on his own with a different vision of the changes to make, and they were so misaligned that it was better to just make a clean break.
I don't think Hauck just up and quit, I don't think Bielema even suggested as much today, he kept saying "there was no point", whatever Hauck wanted to do going forward just wasn't acceptable to Bert.
I'd rather be dominant on defense and have troubles on offense. Defense travels. Iowa is proof.
Talent matters, but I think coaching is way more important. Iowa always seems to overachieve with the least amount of talent, especially on defense. A&M, which I follow because of my wife, always seems to massively underachieve year after year despite having 4- and 5-star recruits at nearly every defensive position.
Heck, Spoon was only a 2- or 3-star recruit when he got here, and he turned out pretty damn good. So I’m one who would rather have a better coach than a roster full of stars.
Heck, Spoon was only a 2- or 3-star recruit when he got here, and he turned out pretty damn good. So I’m one who would rather have a better coach than a roster full of stars.
I think you've got a few things wrong here.
First, I don't recall much talk from insiders that we were going to be able to do better than the guys we lost. Maybe in one or two instances. It was much more about not being able to spend so much on those players. I remember much more about the money constraints than the idea that we'd do better. If you've got some quotes, I'd love to hear them.
I'm still not understanding why you think that the Henry exit wasn't a case of Bret wanting him gone but waiting for him to find a spot to go. It fits the timelines more than anything. If you think that the decision to go with a speed over size defense was made pre-Hauck, then it even supports that notion more. Why not fire Henry right after the season.
As to the five weeks of us finding a landing spot, that's hardly a stretch. If what we mean by a soft landing is one that saves face, then the options there are limited. There aren't many near lateral moves for a DC at a B1G school. He's not getting a head coach in a lesser conference, so it means a position coach at a top program. There aren't that many that come up in a given year, and they often come up as part of the carousel. Not a firing, but someone moving to another spot. Notre Dame's DB coach left for the Ravens a week before they hired Henry.
blackdog
- Champaign
I don't think it's fair to penalize the staff for players getting hurt. Obviously roster construction would look very different if they could predict the future.
TJ Taylor was paid a lot and can’t get on the field. It’s reckless to spend that much money on one side of the ball and then say you ran out of money for defensive linemen.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I mean let's be real here. Has a player or coach ever left the program in either sport and that was not the immediate, dutiful, narrative-controlling reply of the insiders?
But let me be clear about the two things I am saying here
1. I don't think we were planning on making as substantial of changes to the defense until at least the second week of January when some unexpected portal entries happened and the gap between what we had and the market price it would take to get what our system needed became clear.
2. At no point was a decision made to move on from Henry in which we were not prepared to immediately hire his replacement. It would be absurd to suggest otherwise, and that note is only getting played around here as catnip to those who couldn't believe he wasn't fired years earlier.
- Status