DC Bobby Hauck out at Illinois

[Hingle McCringleberry]

I haven't a clue. It's painfully obvious, but I think it's a form of self soothing. They want to find someone to blame versus addressing the problem, which is significant. They are hoping that one decision fixes the problem and don't want to accept the fact that that entire side of the ball needs an upgrade and that can't be fixed this year.

There is no way that a reasonable person can't see that the guys we throw out there are slower, less athletic and can't physically match up with the opponent. These other teams a just bigger, taller, faster and have better athletes.....on defense.

We spent our money on the offense. If the reverse was true, these same people would want Lunney fired.

This is not an easy fix when we have no financial answers. That's the crux of the issue.

I don't think that anyone is saying that "one decision fixes the problem" at all. There are multiple problems, but the one problem you can fix is the disaster DC that can't even get the correct number of players on the field consistently.

Would you rather that nothing was done and keep Bobby ineptly managing our D? He didn't have the chops or commitment to do the job, not even close.

Kudos to Bobby, he got a solid payday and his kid a shot at a job he never would have had any other way. But that came at a cost to our program.

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

I don't think that anyone is saying that "one decision fixes the problem" at all. There are multiple problems, but the one problem you can fix is the disaster DC that can't even get the correct number of players on the field consistently.

Would you rather that nothing was done and keep Bobby ineptly managing our D? He didn't have the chops or commitment to do the job, not even close.

Kudos to Bobby, he got a solid payday and his kid a shot at a job he never would have had any other way. But that came at a cost to our program.

If he walked in and shut down his career because he felt overmatched schematically and he felt the defense regressed because of his coaching, then you have to cut bait. No doubt. You can't have a guy who's not 100% in. Is that what happened?

Or did Brett tear him up and strongly "hint" that it wasn't going to work out? Not sure how you can come to that conclusion after four games, but whatever. That's fine. The issue here is that this is on the heels of Henry getting run out and people thinking that was going to help the results. What makes us think that a third DC in four games changes anything?

We had a couple of NFL caliber players on D last year, most notably Jacas and Bailey. Having just one defensive lineman that was worth a salt made a big difference because he was doubled. As a DC, you can work with that to some extent. This years roster has nobody remotely close to having that type of physical impact.

 

[Illini-Rule]

The thing that frustrates me is that for the last 3 years we have known that we lacked speed and talent on the defensive side, and yet here we are in the same boat.

 

[ChiefGritty]

I’m not sure how people can’t realize how bad the talent on defense is.

That perspective was deemed unwelcome here as the roster was being assembled.

We had a couple of NFL caliber players on D last year, most notably Jacas and Bailey.

That's true, but it hard to overstate how central to our prior defensive strategy the constant deep rotation of big bodies was. Both in terms of performance of those guys, having different packages for situations, and managing the tempo of games.

Individual stars made big impacts, but the defense was depth-based up front at the basic theoretical level.

I think that played a big role in the decision to change philosophies. It's not that we couldn't find another Gabe Jacas in an ideal world, it's that we could never afford Gentle Hunt's and Jeremiah Warren's as depth guys anymore.

 

[MoCoMdIllini]

Brent Venables might be available in the offseason. 2-2 with TX/FL/GA/MSU/MO left.

Would he need to be the Khan Endowed Chair for Defense?

 

[therealmiket86]

That perspective was deemed unwelcome here as the roster was being assembled.


That's true, but it hard to overstate how central to our prior defensive strategy the constant deep rotation of big bodies was. Both in terms of performance of those guys, having different packages for situations, and managing the tempo of games.

Individual stars made big impacts, but the defense was depth-based up front at the basic theoretical level.

I think that played a big role in the decision to change philosophies. It's not that we couldn't find another Gabe Jacas in an ideal world, it's that we could never afford Gentle Hunt's and Jeremiah Warren's as depth guys anymore.

Jeremiah Warren has only played like 30 snaps this year for Pitt so I’m not sure now much he cost. You are right though we will never have the defensive line depth we had last year.

 

[gibb52]

Would he need to be the Khan Endowed Chair for Defense?

I'd say IL would definitely not be his first/second/third option