Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Illinois Football
I would love to see them keep Big Lou.
Bret couldn’t keep assistant coaches. He complained about that at Wisconsin and said it was lack of pay but at Arkansas his coaches were well compensated. Pittman left when Bret didn’t meet twice with a 4 star OL that ended up signing with another SEC team. His coaches would be upset and confused that after the season instead of concentrating on recruiting, he gave them 2 weeks off. I guess Vegas was calling! Another issue I had with him, he would not hold his players accountable and they ended up being soft. I hope he’s changed but I’m betting he’s the same old fried chicken eating lazy coach. Good luck!
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
This is going to end up being a great hire. Over time a lot of fans are going to look back and wonder what they were thinking.
Per Tom Coughlin, 2 time Super Bowl champion coach with the NY Giants "He’s helped so much,” Coughlin said recently. “I’d say the biggest thing that works so well for Coach B is he’s such a great teacher. I think that a lot of times you can get coaches that aren’t specifically great teachers. That dude is a great teacher. He’s super detailed with it. For a rookie at the beginning, it was a lot to take in. As we’ve progressed throughout the year and all that kind of stuff, it’s paid off so much ... he’s a great coach.”
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I'm with you. Zook could never put together a complete team let alone coach it competently. It's not too much to ask that fans leave the stadium having been entertained by the home team, and not in a "bloopers reel" fashion, and that the games matter most every week. Roots in the community, a fire to succeed rather than sail into the sunset (in a different state), a chip on the shoulder, and intelligence/creativity: it seems we now have that potential. I hope it's eventually realized.
I am not a fan of the hire and would have rather had Lovie stay on for another year and take our time courting someone. I'm guessing the next four years will go something like 3-9, 2-10, 4-8, 4-8, Bret fired. This is among the worst jobs in the P5. There are probably MAC jobs that are more attractive. It's a tough one to sell and we should probably spend at least a year seriously pitching it to prospects. We've literally just set that process back 4+ years.
Would love to be wrong, but I'm thinking I'm right.
Would love to be wrong, but I'm thinking I'm right.
And now we watch for the staff hirings. Which, IMO, is the most critical part of a coaching transition and is tied at the hip to “executing the plan.”
At least you picked some of the "classier" ones to postCheck out the pool party ones!
LAD
It seems like there are two guaranteed formulas for hiring a college football coach and Whitman didn't opt for either. One is hire Nick Saban. Two is hire Urban Meyer. Neither of those happened so I'll adopt my wait and see cautiously optimistic approach to all things Illini.
What I like hearing is that perhaps we'll have some fundamentals taught and executed? It remains to be seen and staff is a big part of that, but it's been missing from Lovie.
Love the early touch to the High School guy. I'm sure I was like others and thinking Lovie would have more recruiting success because every single coach in the state (perhaps the country?) was going to pick up the phone when he called. It doesn't seem like he ever was willing to use that and our recruiting really didn't take off.
What I like hearing is that perhaps we'll have some fundamentals taught and executed? It remains to be seen and staff is a big part of that, but it's been missing from Lovie.
Love the early touch to the High School guy. I'm sure I was like others and thinking Lovie would have more recruiting success because every single coach in the state (perhaps the country?) was going to pick up the phone when he called. It doesn't seem like he ever was willing to use that and our recruiting really didn't take off.
What arguments would we be able to make over the next 12 months that that could not make now? The history of our program speaks for itself. His losing record at Auburn is troubling, but I am not sure waiting another year would yield the optimal candidate.
sacraig
- The desert
If we are letting a single high school coach dictate our hires, then JW ought to be fired. Further, we've gotten, what, one player from ESTL in maybe the past decade or two across several coaches. So... nothing changes there.
If he can bring respectability to Illini football I don't care if he wears a big orange tent.
We could have spent the year tempting head coaches at P5 schools that are consistent but underpaid. We'd have some post-pandemic clarity on the reality of our situation. This whole season has been a wash. There was no rush to part ways with Lovie. I'd rather be set back one year than 4+. At best, Bret will give us what Lovie was. He's not the guy for the job, but we're stuck with him for at least four years.
That's one more phone call than Lovie
The Great Pumpkin? Blue, dress him in Blue. It is slimming.
That's what most people are already thinking, it seems. There was literally no reason to do this.
Lovie wasnt doing a good job, why wouldn’t jw make a change?
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Impulse decision? lol
Recruiting was mediocre (being kind), and trending down. Utter no-brainer.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Robert Rosenthal's comparison to Arizona hiring RichRod is a really good one. Bielema at Arkansas and RichRod at Michigan have a lot in common. As do Bielema at Wisconsin and RichRod at West Va (Don Nehlen wasn't the AD, but he was and remains a very prominent figure there). And they both walk into that 3rd job in about the same place in their life and career, with similar sorts of snickers about them.
The difference that jumps out is that RichRod was an offensive innovator, and he brought the same staff with him to Arizona from previous stops (including Rod Smith) and kept right on doing what he had been doing. Sounds like there may be some change with Bielema, which may not be a bad thing, but is different than the RichRod example.
The difference that jumps out is that RichRod was an offensive innovator, and he brought the same staff with him to Arizona from previous stops (including Rod Smith) and kept right on doing what he had been doing. Sounds like there may be some change with Bielema, which may not be a bad thing, but is different than the RichRod example.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You can poke holes in any hire that we are going to be able to make, given the state of our program. I am stoked with this!
Ubermensch
BOOM! Feed my ego.
It's like we're just making stuff up now.
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
altgeld88, I served with Winston Churchill, I knew Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill was a friend of mine. altgeld88, BB is no Winston ChurchillYou know, Winston Churchill was also a dissolute a$$hole when he was a younger man. And there was that epic debacle at Gallipoli in WWI when he was head of the British Navy at barely 40 yrs old.