Illinois 20, Maryland 17 Postgame
no need to feel bad for these guys
it’s not personal / it’s business
they are all well compensated
Coordinators for coordinators
Bret cannot afford to be wrong again. I’ll trust him to make the right call.
Interesting sentiment but not reality.
(1) There are 4 games to play and if we win 1 of them (I believe we will be the underdog in all 4) that changes the complexity of next year's coaching staff in its entirety. The 15 - 20 bowl game practices is where the vast majority of player development occurs.
(2) It's more likely Barry Lunney will not be here next year than Cooper not being the D - Coordinator should we win 1 of our final 4 games.
(3) Today's players do not commit based on the D-Coordinator. They commit based on:
(a) money.
(b) competition at their chosen position.
(c) who is their position coach would be.
(d) most importantly, which current players and recruiter help recruit them.
(4) We have one of the lowest off -field spends on defensive coaches in the B1G
(5) If the we get to a bowl game BB is more likely to stick with the 3-5-3 and Roger Cooper as long as it shows decent results. Changing coordinators won't get us better players, Players that enjoy the current staff and like the 3-5-3 system will be our best recruiting asset.
Thank you.
Hire Dave Doeren and have him bring with him a pack of wolves
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Literally no one would guess that, that's a crazy one.
We have so many fewer wins since 1996 than so many other teams, as a percentage of our wins that's wild.
We have had some damn good kickers and punters here over the years.
Not sure he was wrong. I mean Hauck’s coordinators seems to know what they are doing. Seems like Hauck was not as ready as he thought to accept going from an HC to a DC
Boo. Go pirates
Or he was already fully into retirement mode and couldn't get back into coaching mode?
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I don’t want to say UCLA isn’t good, but when you look at their schedule, it’s no surprise they’re undefeated.
@Cal
San Diego State
Purdue
@Maryland
@ Oregon
Wisconsin
Michigan St
Nevada
Their two best wins are Wisconsin and Oregon. The Badgers have played above preseason expectations while Oregon has played way under.
The rest of their schedule:
@Minnesota
Illinois
@Michigan
USC
The remaining teams aren’t world beaters but should pose a tougher test than anyone else they’ve faced. Would not be surprised if they lost at least 3 of those.
Which means he was wrong.
Spin in it how you’d like. He made the hire with some red flags and that’s on him. Cooper has done a great job recovering from a disastrous start. I trust Coach B will review what talent is available and will make the right call.
Before 1996 Chris White and Mike Bass stand out. It seems like one other one I'm missing.
Not to mention the '64 Rose Bowl.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
For punters, there was Steve Weatherford.
Edit: ope...he was more recent than I thought.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
Derek Dimke from Rockford was another good one…
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It’s not just Maryland game, we looked better against Oregon as well. Defense has saved us the last two weeks
I see it differently now. He hired Hauck based on his defensive philosophy. I think BB’s thought process is making sense based on what we saw the last two weeks. Bret hired Hauck because he saw an effective scheme that could work for Illinois based on our limited NIL budget .
I don’t blame Bret for not knowing Hauck was a head case. Difficult for any employer to know that before onboarding a person.
But respect your opinion and know I am in the minority here.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Here’s the list:
2026 Maryland
2025 Tennessee
2025 USC
2023 Maryland
2023 Toledo
2020 Rutgers
2019 Wisconsin
2014 Penn State
2006 Michigan State
The four recent ones were true walk-offs. Weird that they would say since 1996 since our first one was in 2006.
Other notables
2008 Iowa (46 seconds left)
2015 Middle Tennessee (2:09 left)
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
Chase McLaughlin Tim Rackers