Illini4Chief
- TENNESSEE
My employer, gives the doomed employee the "resign tag", rather than "Fired"....then post a notice that goes like this " Jerome will be leaving us to pursue other interests and opportunities"
DC Bobby Hauck out at Illinois
We also don't have the athletes to run a 4-3-4 or a 3-4-4. Relatively speaking, the defensive backfield was supposed to be the strength of the defense, so I understand the desire to get more of them on the field and fewer DL and LB's, where we are starting guys who were rotation guys at places like Jacksonville St.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
The "soft landing" theory for Aaron Henry being voiced here by many only holds water if Bret Bielema was caught completely off guard by his exit and was intent on keeping him for another year as DC.
To be clear: Bielema almost certainly did wait for Henry to find a soft landing so he wouldn't have to outright fire a former player and long-time protégé. But that managed exit had nothing to do with the search for a new DC or how Illinois ultimately landed on Bobby Hauck.
An experienced head coach doesn't just sit on his hands when a change is needed; he quietly vets replacements behind the scenes long before any public moves happen.
The far more plausible scenario is that Bielema did have a primary target lined up... such as Chris Partridge... only for that deal to fall through at the last minute.
When your Plan A dissolves in February after the standard candidate pool has already been picked clean, you're forced into an emergency pivot. That is precisely how Illinois ended up with an unexpected stylistic shift like Hauck.
Bielema wasn't waiting around passively... he was left scrambling when his top replacement option collapsed at the eleventh hour.
To be clear: Bielema almost certainly did wait for Henry to find a soft landing so he wouldn't have to outright fire a former player and long-time protégé. But that managed exit had nothing to do with the search for a new DC or how Illinois ultimately landed on Bobby Hauck.
An experienced head coach doesn't just sit on his hands when a change is needed; he quietly vets replacements behind the scenes long before any public moves happen.
The far more plausible scenario is that Bielema did have a primary target lined up... such as Chris Partridge... only for that deal to fall through at the last minute.
When your Plan A dissolves in February after the standard candidate pool has already been picked clean, you're forced into an emergency pivot. That is precisely how Illinois ended up with an unexpected stylistic shift like Hauck.
Bielema wasn't waiting around passively... he was left scrambling when his top replacement option collapsed at the eleventh hour.
Am I the only one that would laugh if we send 12 men out on defense for the first snap?
According to the Athletic, Northwestern spends around the same on its roster as us, and likely a little more. This narrative that Northwestern is tough to win at never made a ton of sense (it's s very wealthy institution with tons of wealthy alumni) and it makes less sense now than ever. Crazy how this board treats any Northwestern coach that can tie his shoes and spell his own name like some kind of savant.
Does your college football roster cost $8M or $50M? Here's our report on 68 teams
The best teams are, on average, the ones paying players the most, but there's a wide disparity between the schools at the top and the bottom of major conferences.
www.nytimes.com
As I said, we spend $5M in NIL. NIL is a small part of our roster spend. The majority of our roster spend comes from revenue sharing which most teams spend roughly the same amount on ($15-17M). The disparity in quality of rosters comes from the disparity in NIL spending where top schools spend $35M plus and we spend approximately $5M. It’s pretty shocking how many people (like yourself) do not understand NIL and roster spend.
Last edited:
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Right, the scuttlebutt at the time was Walters was going to hire Henry as DC if Bielema elevated Kane, so facing the choice between the two Bielema beat Walters to the punch.
Between what happened under Walters and where those DB's have gone, the contrast in performance of our DB's last year to this year, Notre Dame hiring Henry and the improvements Notre Dame has seen so far this year, it all paints an extremely clear and consistent picture.
Aaron Henry is one of the best teachers of DB play in the country (outside of QB probably the most teaching-impacted position on the field), who any program in the country would want in that role. As a gameplanner and playcaller for an entire defense, he has not shone in the same way.
Peter Principle, tale as old as time.
I am horrified to speak in defense of Fitzee, but for a long time they had the worst facilities in the league and had very significant academic disadvantages in terms of the players they could sign. That was a really challenging (read: bad) job for a long time, much more challenging than Illinois ever has been.
Is that NIL only, or is it NIL plus revenue sharing?
Unpopular opinion. I would like to see Mike Locksley come back as our DC or Pitts DC. Maybe Berry Lunny can bring Jess Loepp from UTSA
Last edited:
What are the expectations this weekend for our defense now that we have a new coach calling the shots? If we let up 28+ to Purdue, where does the blame go?
75% to Hauck, 25% to Henry
indiana proved a winning team can be built without blue-chip players......bb is a great guy but not convinced great guys win football championships....winning starts with the head on down....
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
Pretty sure Locks would take OFFENSE to that statement (see what I did there? harde har har).
The Bears Defense looked "competent" against the Eagles Monday night
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
All that may be true, but at the same time, it's also likely true that waiting until February to make the move significantly limited Bielema's options should his Plan A have failed like it did. While Bielema probably wasn't caught off-guard, his seeming loyalty to A-Hen likely ended up being detrimental to the program
It is my understanding that rev sharing number for the football program is between 15-20 mil and the NIL budget is about 24 mil.
They had 8 guys drafted last year, including 2 first rounders, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, a 5th , a 6th and a 7th. They had the #1 pick.in the NFL draft last year.
I heard this roster was in the 25-29 million range. I could definitely be wrong
So, the guy who recruited them, Bielema, doesn't have any accountability? Not being able to land a serviceable defensive lineman or LB? It's either he's not selling the program or the money isn't there. Have to pick a lane with the reasoning.
If what you're saying is true, I'm expecting a phenomenal outing this weekend on the defensive side because we have the players to accomplish this. They're running the same scheme, so better leadership should fix this? I hope you're right.
I’m not sure how people can’t realize how bad the talent on defense is.
None of that gives him experience at a P4 or even G6 prior to Northwestern.According to the Athletic, Northwestern spends around the same on its roster as us, and likely a little more. This narrative that Northwestern is tough to win at never made a ton of sense (it's s very wealthy institution with tons of wealthy alumni) and it makes less sense now than ever. Crazy how this board treats any Northwestern coach that can tie his shoes and spell his own name like some kind of savant.
Does your college football roster cost $8M or $50M? Here's our report on 68 teams
The best teams are, on average, the ones paying players the most, but there's a wide disparity between the schools at the top and the bottom of major conferences.
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.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Gotta bring that average up...
I do think we had issues with Hauck but I don’t think any DC would look good with the talent we have. The next portal cycle has to be much more balanced. The ROI of the portal and juco class has been very bad. We spent a lot on several prep recruits last year so hopefully they can make an impact soon. We had 4 guards go down this year and TJ Taylor still can’t get on the field. That’s not encouraging