*whispers back* I do, A power 5 school offers you a contract of 2-4 mil a year you have to consider it right? he may only be here for 2-3 years and that's fine. He is the type of coach that can come in and compete and snag a couple difference maker type recruits in year 1.
Football Coaching Staff / Coaching Carousel Thread
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*whispers back* I do, A power 5 school offers you a contract of 2-4 mil a year you have to consider it right? he may only be here for 2-3 years and that's fine. He is the type of coach that can come in and compete and snag a couple difference maker type recruits in year 1.
Lovie's biggest problem is his scheme, and he will be unwilling to change it. His tampa 2 just isn't great against college offenses and is even worse when the talent level of the defense isn't great. Personally never been a fan of a 1-gap scheme.
An assistant coach helped fund a visit for a recruit. Oh no. Hes not Tim Beckman despite the comparison before hand.
I totally agree there. At least our university had the you know what to can him, unlike Maryland. What a dumpster fire there with current players publicly expressing their disdain towards the ruling yesterday.
That's not wholly accurate. Lovie's version of the Tampa 2 is built exactly to be able to cover multiple schemes. The problem we're having is we still don't quite have the front 7 that can win the one-on-one battles and get downhill in their gaps. The ones that can get double-teamed and those that can't are just a smidge behind to be totally disruptive. Now some may automatically assume you should adjust to accommodate what you do have, but I think we still need a couple more stud recruits and really solid juco kids that are power 5 ready.
Also need a really good coverage MLB (Urlacher for Ex.) as they are expected to drop a lot deeper into the middle of the field than typical MLB cover 2 responsibilities.
You need to read the context of the post to which I responded, all the offense in the world is going to fix the fundamental problem we have right now that we can't stop anyone. There has been progress on the offensive side of the ball to get us to approaching mediocre from very, very bad. All considering, too young of a line, all new QBs, new offensive coordinator, no depth to replace guys like Dudek, sure I would like to be better, but we are performing to realistic expectations on offense. Another perspective: last year offense only averaged 280 yd/game, Defense gave up 418 yds/game - this year we are 387 yds/gm on offense & 535 yds/game on defense; plus the Kent State/Western games are still weighted heavier with the partial results so they will likely get worse.
This - If you have good people it makes all schemes look better. Plus I would add it looked like we did try to adjust, started bringing more people on blitzs and loading the box during/since the Wisconsin game & now we are giving up more big plays. We have a JC defense playing varsity, scheme away, but for the most part we are just getting manhandled up front.
I would like to just to try some average coverage from the LB at this point
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I would refer to the Maryland Scandal thread to highlight what I assume the OP feels a real scandal constitutes. Lane Kiffin left the Tennessee job with some minor violations. that whole conference flaunts those kind of actions in the NCAA's face. If that bothers posters here, they must be real pissed Illinois hired Orlando Antigua.
Lane is going back to a P5 team sometime soon. He is either going to take that team to new highs or burn the program to the ground trying. That is PERFECT for Illinois right now! Hard to burn a pile of ashes.
Chugga-chugga-choo-choo
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
A wildly overrated talking point when it was in vogue and it's yesterday's news now. NCAA qualifying standards have gone up and the leadership and attitude of UI admissions has changed as a result of state funding issues as well as a broader culture change in higher education.
Illusory indeed. Only Rutgers, Maryland and Minnesota have more of their budget coming from institutional funds in the B1G than Illinois. Significant school subsidy is rare in the Power Five and it should be.
Illinois' percentage of in-state students is behind only Rutgers in the Big Ten. That percentage has declined in recent years, but enrollment has also increased. There are as many Illinoisans enrolled at UI as there ever were.
Certainly hasn't helped from a fanbase perspective, but the Chief thing was out of our hands unfortunately.
Football has two B1G titles since then and basketball has three.
The entire MS renovation was a monstrosity that will hamstring us for decades to come, though it's worth noting that the students being shunted into worse seats than they used to have is a broad national trend. Student attendance is down everywhere.
Cal has been significantly better than us in both football and basketball over the past decade.
Gameday atmosphere is down across the country in all sports really, as is attendance generally. A sign of the times. But Illinois has swan-dived even below that trend and the reason is that the teams on the field and court have been total garbage and have relentlessly failed to meet even the most modest of expectations, period.
A loyal attendee (or TV watcher, or message board warrior) of Illini football and basketball over the past decade has been not just disappointed but embarrassed and humiliated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
We. Deserve. Better.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
February 21, 2007 - Chief's Last Dance
January 1, 2008 - Illinois plays in the Rose Bowl
:huh:
ivwilsoniv
- Aurora, IL
Yes, the "Tampa 2" relies heavily on pressuring the QB before the receivers/backs can find soft spots in the zone. Also, as mentioned above, you need a really fluid, athletic MLB to drop into coverage and take away the crossing routes. If you look at some of the defensive breakdowns that have been done by that Illinois Football Breakdown account on Twitter, both of these weaknesses on the current defense have been exploited. Lovie's defense is really great when you have the personnel/talent to run it, but Illinois doesn't have Tommie Harris, Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, and Brian Urlacher, or even Corey Liuget, Whitney Mercilus, Martez Wilson, and J Leman.
3-9
5-7
7-6, lost bowl game
Them ain't Michigan-type seasons
So the players on the team when he came in were shortchanged.
According to a story on NFL.com:
"How bad is it there? It's worse than you can imagine," says one NFL player who spent 2012 with the Bucs. "It's like being in Cuba."
Several current Bucs players describe a similarly bleak environment in which the all-powerful, unyielding Schiano spews tone-deaf platitudes while demonstrating the personal charm of "Homeland" character Nicholas Brody.
None of this is a surprise to people in NFL scouting circles, who came to dread their visits to Rutgers when Schiano was coaching there from 2001 to 2011. ... such encounters were, in the words of one NFC personnel executive, "pure misery."
One veteran NFL coach told me then: "It's his way or (expletive) you. He needs to back up a little bit, or he's going to have a very hard time in this league over the long haul."
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Kiffin had the big season with FAU last year and then got ditched by both of his coordinators, one of whom was his own brother.
One of his replacements: 25 year old Charlie Weis Jr. Yes, that guy's son. No, he's much slimmer thankfully.
And after being picked as the best team in the conference in the preseason poll they're 3-5.
What Illinois needs is not buzz, it's not being the talk of social media, it's the day-to-day behind the scenes grinding needed to build up a culture of hard work and maximizing resources.
Kiffin has shown a marked inability to do that in his career, even in really advantageous situations.
He may just crash and burn at FAU and that will be the last of him, but if he doesn't, the situation that would be right for him is one where a winning coach has left for a bigger school and he can come and be the fun substitute teacher for a program that already has the roster and the winning culture. That could work for a year or two at least. He'd fall flat on his face at UI.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
What Illinois "needs" is varied by each fan's own perspective. What I "need" from Illinois football is some entertainment value. Lane Kiffin is a lock there, thus a no brainer hire to me. If he finds a way to win consistently as well, we can all celebrate that first in my 20+ years paying attention to the Illini! If he crashes and burns, then he joins the list of every other coach at our illustrious program.
For the record, I have no clue if Lane, or any other coach in America, could win here. I thought Lovie was about as good a chance at that as we could do. So my vote goes to the guy I know will be entertaining on the recruiting trail, at the podium and hopefully on the field.
But since we are not making any changes for at least another year, this is a completely irrelevant conversation right now.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
To each their own but I no longer find much entertainment value in us getting out butts whipped every Saturday.
The pattern in sports always seems to be to hire a new guy that is completely opposite of the old guy.
Lovie is
1) older
2) calmer
3) full of HC experience
4) NFL guy
If the patterns follows here, our new guy will be
1) young
2) energetic
3) probably coordinator but maybe not head coach experience
4) college guy
Who fits that bill?
Lovie is
1) older
2) calmer
3) full of HC experience
4) NFL guy
If the patterns follows here, our new guy will be
1) young
2) energetic
3) probably coordinator but maybe not head coach experience
4) college guy
Who fits that bill?
BZuppke
- Plainfield
I will never believe it can’t be done at Illinois. It can and it will when we have the right coach. Lovie did not have many of the attributes we needed but had the big name star power. We all hoped for the best. But he had no recruiting skills, out of the college game for decades etc. we all hoped his star power and the smart hiring of assistants would fill in his shortcomings but it didn’t happen. What would be the best scenario is for Lovie to retire to spend more time with his family.
I agree with your whole post, and I’m starting to believe this last statement, as well.
There’s still a quarter of our season left and it’s with Lovie leading the entire defense. Unrealistic case, we win out. But the best case, we finally start making competent adjustments and hold teams under 400 yards and squeak out a win or two.
I just can’t get over last week that we kept showing single high safety and rotating them to the strong side only to have Maryland run weakside. Every. Single. Time.
To end this ramble, if we see the same incompetence the last 4 weeks, Lovie needs to “retire.” I hope we see some strides back to the Pre-Homecoming weekend hype but we need to show growth everywhere on defense.
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
Lovie could bow out gracefully, he is older and has been at this for a long time. It would be no disgrace if he admitted he does not have an interest in the recruiting game, and would like to spend more quality time with family (as possibly hackneyed as that claim is, it has to be true sometimes). Maybe Nickerson's exit was foreshadowing, and Lovie just wants finish the season. I like Lovie, and wish him no ill, but I just don't see this working out.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Agree to disagree.
That is the pattern, and a lot of the time that's a really stupid thing to do and ends up being needlessly destructive.
I think some of the things Lovie has brought to the job have been really smart. I think the focus on Texas and Florida in recruiting, and leaving behind declining talent markets where our brand is garbage like Ohio has been a smart move. I think the way we've staffed up our back office with NFL-quality scouting people was a great idea which has maximized our ability to find talent and focus on the right recruitments. I think the focus on the QB run game is smart when the B1G West has so many traditional pro-style teams and we play in a notorious wind tunnel.
I wouldn't be super eager to jump on another longtime NFL coach who would face a steep learning curve after the Lovie experience, but beyond that I don't think we should limit ourselves to Lovie's opposite at all. We should find the best fit.
I would be surprised if Lovie isn't our coach in 2019, and I think there is no chance Whitman fires him and pays the $12 million. Maybe he quits, but I doubt it.
I'm looking at this coaching search stuff with November 2019 in mind at this point. Lovie saving his job beyond then is more of a hope than an expectation, IMO.
Lovie knows that 2019 is his chance to leave a respectable legacy here. I think he'll buckle and hire the best DC he can, even if he has to give up his own defense. Given the choice, wouldn't we all choose to be known as a great HC who turned things around (and had to give up his status as the true DC) rather than a former defensive wiz who ran it into the ground? If he finds the ying to Rod Smith's yang, we'll all forgive and forget that his preferred D didn't work out the first few years.
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