Why do you all waste time speculating what BB is going to do. He is out there doing his job. In fact, such speculation only feeds in to a narrative that opposing staffs can use when recruiting. It is JW's job to be concerned about longevity of the FB coach. He is good at his job. BB is getting whatever he needs to develop staff, recruit players, and recruit the state. The FB program has never been in better shape for many, many years. BB just built a house and has a family to raise in a good midwestern environment. So I think fans should do everything possible to support the effort he and his staff are putting forth.
Illini Football 2023
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redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
I agree. I went in with sky-high expectations when I visited my cousin there a couple of years ago, and I was fairly underwhelmed. The educational buildings were nothing special. State Street is solid, and the backdrop of the lake is great. But I felt like the use of the lake is surprisingly lacking. I'm thinking ok so there's the lake, what can you do? Well you go to the terrace and hang out. Oh, ok. Like Northwestern you have that park, and beach, and sailing facilities, it seems like there is plenty to do along Lake Michigan. Did not seem that way at Wisconsin.Wisconsin's campus w/o the lakes and the student union = pedestrian IMO. I respect the university. As @Mr. Tibbs notes, strong academics across the board (if an undergrad can stay sufficiently sober to take advantage of it). Their engineering and commerce programs will never touch ours, of course.
When BB arrived I liked the hire. He seemed to me to have sown his wild oats, gotten his head handed to him in Fayetteville, and then recouped in the NFL. He had a family, two small children, and was at the right age (not too old, stoking a fire to succeed on his own at a place not Wisconsin, but having sufficiently matured) to appreciate the opportunity that Illinois afforded him.
My enduring question is whether he will stay if this rocket launches into orbit. I hope so. In the meantime, I'm loving being excited about Illini football in a way I haven't since the late '80s. And having lots of company there
Now, anyone can make an objective case that Wisconsin has a better campus than Illinois. That's fine, I expect that. To me Champaign-Urbana felt like home in a way no other campus did, but that's just me. But I came away just thinking Madison does less with more.
I do not expect Illinois to become Wisconsin's big brother in football again in my lifetime. I think its just too hard to own Illinois in-state recruiting if we have to compete against the likes of ND, Michigan, Ohio State, and elite-elite southern schools coming in and raiding our second/third-tier recruiting blueprint. But there's no reason we can't push ourselves to be amongst the leaders of the pack of the more-regional brands, and I think Bret has us on a trajectory that could take us there. Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State? We can be right up there with them. Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Purdue, we should and we have to leave them behind.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I've been thinking more about this, and I would welcome insight from insiders or others who just generally know more about this than I do ... or at least think they know more.
It really seems like there are two main factors that play into "how easy it is to win" at a certain job, and they are both extremely intertwined:1. How (relatively) easy is it to recruit talent there?
2. How much financial support - whether that refers to salaries, NIL, facilities improvements or whatever else - will you get from the athletic department, donors and university?
These all have plenty of subcategories, but everything else seems tangential to those two things to me.
1. For recruiting, there seem to be lots of avenues to get there. Your Alabama examples are obvious - the brand they have built up (added on to Saban's reputation) recruits itself. Another avenue seems to be to be in a talent-rich state. I don't care what anyone says, it IS a slight advantage to be the "instate team" no matter what your program's standing is. An elite recruit from St. Louis might have his mind almost made up that he is going to 'Bama, USC, Michigan, Georgia - anywhere but Mizzou. However, if there is even the slightest pressure to include Mizzou in his top 10, a great recruiter in the Missouri HC job will have a fighter's chance to convince him to "stay home." That advantage just simply doesn't exist for Iowa or MSU trying to get that same St. Louis recruit. It might be a small advantage in and of itself, but it gives a new HC an invaluable opportunity to get a foot in the door. That is QUITE literally why we even had a shot to convince Ayo to come to a then-dead program and lead a complete resurgence. The next avenue seems to recruit based on "results" and because that place is "currently cool" or whatever ... pretty much how Clemson is getting players. Lastly, it would be a respect for the program's tradition and long-standing fan support that a recruit might just be enamored with ... aka why Nebraska still recruits pretty well, as does Indiana basketball, despite not having been elite in any sense of the word in decades. But REALLY lastly, and most recently, seems to be how competitive your NIL is ... and that is pretty much #2.
2. Regarding financial support, what really determines this? We tend to think of the "big money schools" as the ones with large athletic revenues and great TV ratings, but those are DIRECTLY tied to how good you are at football right now. And that only somewhat speaks to potential. For example, Illinois had $145.7 million in athletic revenue vs. $151.5 million for Iowa. However, Iowa made over $26 million from ticket sales alone compared to our $15.7 million ... that suggests that if Illinois had won as many football games as Iowa the past 7-8 years, we would be a higher revenue school, as it takes time to train fans to show up all the time. TV ratings are also directly tied to what channel you are on and how many times you get the prime slots. Wisconsin and PSU did not draw significantly better than Illinois when they had to be on BTN, and Illinois delivered great ratings when we got the chance on ABC or FOX. So, I think it pretty much comes down to how many donors you have and how much money they have! Illinois has a massive alumni base (MUCH bigger than Iowa's, as another comparison), it has a huge endowment (at least somewhat indicative of your "ceiling" in this regard, if you ask me) and we have a huge state population to draw casual fans from when we are winning ... we have all seen them come out of the woodworks for seasons like the 2005 Final Four and 2007-08 Rose Bowl; they're there, and they're ready (if a bit fair weather!).
I think on both of those fronts, Illinois has shot itself in the foot too many times to truly rise into any sort of "elite" tier (i.e., Michigan or OSU or Florida) as far as potential goes, but I really think we stand out as a clear "sleeping giant" among that next tier of the Iowas, MSUs, Wisconsins, etc. The ceiling is very high, and it's often difficult for people to realize that until you have people like Josh Whitman and Bret Bielema frankly just show it to you!!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I agree completely with your last sentence, but I don't really think there has been much "wasted time speculating" on this here. Some discussion about it, sure, but nothing like the baseless worrying about Underwood, lol.
Big Ten coach rankings 2023: Jim Harbaugh jumps Ryan Day after Michigan's consecutive wins over Ohio State
Elsewhere, a gap between the conference's highest- and lowest-ranked coaches grows
www.cbssports.com
I'll take it
It's my hope that he doesn't want to take over and be the next Alvarez/Ferentz/. I hope he wants to stay, leave a legacy and make his successor be the next Bielema if that makes any sense. Anyway... here's to the upcoming season. If nothing else, it will be fun to watch, I'll be in great company, the students will play their hearts out, and that's really all I can ask.
Not sure how old you are, but while I agree it is difficult to compete for all the recruits in the state given proximity of the programs you mention, Bret was a player in the league during the time when we were Wisconsin's big brother. They were pretty much a guaranteed win for us from 1970 to 1990. We won 12 of 16 and tied them once during that time. With the right coach, maybe one who may remember that dominance, it can certainly happen again. If things fall correctly in the next 4-5 years, there is every reason to hope that IL can make a leap above programs like Wisc, Purdue, MSU, and Minnesota. True, we likely never match Mich & OSU, but there is no reason that we can't be in that next tier battling for occasional shots at B10 titles.
Phil Steele ranks Toledo 22.
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redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Phil Steele ranks Toledo 22.
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When will we stop doing this to ourselves with our non-conference scheduling?
Toledos last non cons vs. the P5 have been Ohio State, a last minute loss to 10 win ND, A good Kentucky team, and a beat an 8-5 Arkansas team coached by Brett... it's not like anyone throws Toledo a bone in the B1G anymore. Being undefeated vs. Penn State and Michigan will do that to you. 10 pts is a good line. Play the under.
When will we stop doing this to ourselves with our non-conference scheduling?
What are you talking about? This game was announced in 2018.. Toledo being good or bad 5 years later is luck of the draw.
When will we stop doing this to ourselves with our non-conference scheduling?
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I also think we overrate how different Chicago is to other states. You know why Georgia keeps more Atlanta talent home? Because they're good. If they had our record the past two decades, they'd speak about Atlanta the same way we do about Chicago. Winning cures all!
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
Toledo hasn't had a losing season since 2009 (bonus points if you can name the coach). 10 bowl appearances in the last 12 seasons (after throwing out 2020). They are the last MAC school you would want to schedule.
Holy Toledo Macman if you’re going to be a good program you have to win these types of games.
When will we stop doing this to ourselves with our non-conference scheduling?
Yes, Toledo is a good program, but if we have to be afraid of playing them or complain about playing them, then we might as well just down the entire football program.
Right on! May be we should schedule south or north dakota!
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
True, but avoid both South Dakota State and North Dakota State though lol
While I think Illinois will be and should be favored, Toledo was in the MAC the last time BB faced them.
I am looking at Toledo as last year's Wyoming. Solid team in its own right, but not in our league.
Therefore, looking for a solid 35-3 tidy result.
A very tidy, tidy result to again open the season to let all the team's new comers an opportunity to say to all of our fans: Hi! everybody, we are here!!!
Tidy is the key.
Therefore, looking for a solid 35-3 tidy result.
A very tidy, tidy result to again open the season to let all the team's new comers an opportunity to say to all of our fans: Hi! everybody, we are here!!!
Tidy is the key.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
So Tidy to start... then it gets Rolling?
There's a slogan here, I just know it. But what?
There's a slogan here, I just know it. But what?
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I wish we’d add more trees in Grange Grove itself to make it … an actual grove. Would it be in the strict “practical” interests of the allotted space for tailgating lots? No. Would it add immeasurably to the atmosphere and charm? You tell me….
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