illiniCA
- DC Area
Honestly Carter’s endorsement is more meaningful to me
Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Illinois Football
Respectfully disagree. I think there's a lot of faith in Whitman and the program as a whole. A lot of sport teams trending up.
Football is a different animal, one that is much more challenging to make right. The fact that we've gone the better part of a decade w/o making it to the dance is unacceptable in a state like Illinois, but our football fortunes are far less plentiful.
Well, according to what I read, Josh mentioned that Bielema really wanted the job, like it was something that stood out.
Losing 63-0 to Iowa at home, in your 3rd year was the lowest point in Illinois football history. There was nothing more embarrassing than that. That we have "fans" in this thread, that think keeping that coach is preferable to hiring a guy that's went to 3 Rose Bowls at Wisconsin, never missed a bowl in 7 years at Wisconsin, and went to 3 bowls in 5 years at Arkansas is crazy talk to me.
We've had the laziest coach in America when it comes to recruiting for the last 5 years, and we hire a guy that did more work in 5 minutes today than Lovie did in 5 years, and we still got people here running down Bielema.
These people don't deserve to see winning football at Illinois. They been part of the problem for years, their attitude permeated the administration. And I think this Bielema hire has triggered them. They can get off the bandwagon. When we start winning, and we will, don't jump back on. Thank you Josh Whitman again, for not listening to these types of people that have held Illinois back.
This couldn't be further from the truth with Lou. That guy is top notch.
sacraig
- The desert
Even Saban has been fired. Coaches get fired. The hope is that they learn and they grow and then you hire them when they're ready to stick somewhere.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Probably going to tap the transfer market for second-level defenders, especially edge.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I don't worry so much about fumigating the whole facility as I did with Beckman.
We don't have bad guys on the staff, they just haven't been managed and led in the right way.
They also of course are collectively not nearly of high enough quality as coaches, but if one or two stay I won't lose sleep over it.
Whereas retaining Paul Williams and Tim McGarigle was one of the many early warning signs that Lovie wasn't going to be the stone-cold pro we thought we were hiring.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
Thanks for all your input this past week, Mrs. Bielema!
sacraig
- The desert
I don't understand the logic that this was the wrong time to fire Lovie.
1) He had one year left. The only two options are extending him (no recruits with options would commit to a dead man walking) or firing him. Which would you prefer?
2) Many other programs thinking of firing their coaches will likely be more lenient given the pandemic situation, so less competition in the market for good coaches.
3) The one year transfer rules mean that bringing a new coach now gives him maximum chance for stopping the bleeding quickly.
Good on Whitman for striking at what is honestly an ideal time.
1) He had one year left. The only two options are extending him (no recruits with options would commit to a dead man walking) or firing him. Which would you prefer?
2) Many other programs thinking of firing their coaches will likely be more lenient given the pandemic situation, so less competition in the market for good coaches.
3) The one year transfer rules mean that bringing a new coach now gives him maximum chance for stopping the bleeding quickly.
Good on Whitman for striking at what is honestly an ideal time.
Is there someone on the roster you feel good about playing NT in a 3-4? I'm not sure who's sticking around.
Lovie needed to be fired last year so really, JW didn't rush at all and if you think BB isn't going to win more than 4 games in a season, you're crazy. Who did you want to hire anyway ?
1st post
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
That's because there is no logic to it. My only fear was that we didn't have the money.
Bringing back Lovie for 2021 would have been bringing back Tepper for 1996 and Turner for 2004 all over again. It was over, we did absolutely the right thing.
I couldn't agree more, but 4 out of 5?
Maybe some, not most.
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
Exactly. I didn't want Bielema, and I didn't want Tim Beckman.
I would have been satisfied with any other choice, even the ones (Nate, etc.) that would have required a million-to-one shot to succeed.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
We did. If you look beyond the initial splash though, Zook's recruiting was inconsistent, and was trending poorly.
you see the transfer train going toward us rather than away?
Wokker
- "The Good Land", WI
I have several concerns about your thinking in this post, particularly a couple thinly veiled remarks about Lovie and “triggering”.
Its not some concept of Us v Them or win over everything. We have the right as fans to desire a winning culture that also isn’t a PR embarrassment. The players and coaches are ultimately representatives of our university and we should hold them to the highest standards on and off the field.
On the short interview of Bielema on ESPN's GameDay, he talked about installing a different type of offense from what he's ran in the past, and a bit different D too, based on what he's learned over time. And funny how he gave the interview from his car, like he could care less about optics. Definitely a sharp mind though.