Barry Lunney Named Illinois Offensive Coordinator and QBs Coach
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Yep. Lunney is clearly an upgrade over Peterson. Bielema is not messing around.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
It's a weird feeling not feeling like my favorite football team is an absolute clown show. It's been a good 14 years or so. Gonna have to try to get used to this.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Lunney hired as Illini offensive coordinator
Barry Lunney Jr., who was tight ends coach for Bret Bielema at Arkansas from 2013-17, joins him again with the Illini after spending the past two seasons at Texas San
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
While I'm dreaming, Lunney could be a great bridge to Nate (with the requisite seasoning). Regardless, I love the staff that Coach B has built.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
That was a heck of a lot easier than the basketball assistant coaching search.
POWURR
- From Downtown
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Does Barker come back? That’s a big question now with a TE-heavy offense.
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
Quite and upgrade:
| 2021 Offensive Category | UTSA | ILL |
| Games Played | 14 | 12 |
| Tot. Yds. Passing | 3,577 | 1,874 |
| Avg. Yds./Game Passing | 255.5 | 156.2 |
| Tot. Yds. Rushing | 2,569 | 2,083 |
| Avg. Yds./Game Rushing | 183.5 | 173.6 |
| Total Offensive Yds. | 6,146 | 3,957 |
| Total Offensive Yds./Game | 436.9 | 329.8 |
| Total Points Scored | 516 | 238 |
| Avg. Points/Game | 36.9 | 19.8 |
Well I'm excited. A) BB strong enough internally to know it wasn't working, and acting on it. B) Landing BL as an upgrade.
Sorry for dredging this up again but the contrast between, on the one hand, assembling a staff with Walters and Lunney leading it, and, on the other hand, naming yourself head coach/defensive coordinator and adding your son as position coach, could not be more telling. It's all the difference in the world. Who knows where this Bielema era takes us but this is exactly what I always wanted to see from Illinois football. Full throttle total commitment. I love it.
The year before Lunney got to UTSA they averaged 19 points per game. His first year there that jumped to 28.6 PPG. His second season UTSA averaged 36.9 PPG. If you combine that huge improvement with his recruiting ability, this is a big time hire for the ILLINI.
POWURR
- From Downtown
Having some Texas ties won’t hurt recruiting for sure. UTSA is a close enough drive to some power northern San Antonio area programs that I would assume has to have been around them some.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Lol I'm an idiot and misread the sarcasm. It IS hard to get used to this kind of excitement about our football team!
INI!
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Love the hire and momentum! Two questions:
1. Do we have the players (mainly qb) to allow the coach to see a jump in O improvement?
2. Does it realistically make IL any more attractive in the transfer market to try and close the gap for next year?
It seems 0440 mentioned a possible transfer QB (not tommy d) who looked decent on film. But seems like we just need the right transfer at that position especially to make a big leap next year. And I would imagine 2-3 quality o-line transfers would be a target for the staff as well.
Basically, it’s time to start recruiting like crazy. But things seem to be headed in the right direction!
1. Do we have the players (mainly qb) to allow the coach to see a jump in O improvement?
2. Does it realistically make IL any more attractive in the transfer market to try and close the gap for next year?
It seems 0440 mentioned a possible transfer QB (not tommy d) who looked decent on film. But seems like we just need the right transfer at that position especially to make a big leap next year. And I would imagine 2-3 quality o-line transfers would be a target for the staff as well.
Basically, it’s time to start recruiting like crazy. But things seem to be headed in the right direction!