Illini Football 2026

lstewart53x3 · 2026-10-14T13:09:36-0500

bluemountain said:
Well let's be honest here. Bret inherited a pretty talented roster from Lovie and our overall talent level is down a good bit from where it has been the past few years. Maybe there are some diamonds in the freshman class, but it's safe to say that in terms of talent, our sophomore through senior classes rank in the bottom quartile of the Big 10. I believe in BB, but his recruiting and portal additions haven't been sufficient to keep us in the top half of the league. I don't think it is an unfair request to ask what they are doing to address that shortcoming if I'm going to give $1M to the program.

I think bluemountain's got it figured out.

Recruiting isn't where it needs to be to complete.

The solution? Withhold funds that would be used for recruiting.

Our fanbase literally argues against the improvement of our program.

lstewart53x3 · 2026-10-14T13:45:02-0500

bluemountain said:
Well let's be honest here. Bret inherited a pretty talented roster from Lovie and our overall talent level is down a good bit from where it has been the past few years. Maybe there are some diamonds in the freshman class, but it's safe to say that in terms of talent, our sophomore through senior classes rank in the bottom quartile of the Big 10. I believe in BB, but his recruiting and portal additions haven't been sufficient to keep us in the top half of the league. I don't think it is an unfair request to ask what they are doing to address that shortcoming if I'm going to give $1M to the program.

I know I’ve probably belabored this point too much already, but:

Pretend you’re a Purdue fan.

Would you be happy or mad at a booster is withholding a million dollars that could be used for recruiting?

Happy, right?

If your grand plan for Illinois football would make our enemies happy, it’s probably not a good plan.

the juiceman cometh · 2026-10-14T13:56:02-0500

lstewart53x3 said:
I think bluemountain's got it figured out.

Recruiting isn't where it needs to be to complete.

The solution? Withhold funds that would be used for recruiting.

Our fanbase literally argues against the improvement of our program.

I see where both of you are coming from.

I don't think it's a question of withholding funds. I do think donors make decisions based on a sense of ROI (not real ROI, because donors don't actually recoup any financial investment). I agree that, overall, Bielema has done a great job and this should be proof of concept for donors that the "ROI" is there for our football program, on the whole. At the same time, with regards to the roster composition for this year's program, I don't think it was optimal. Other programs are clearly doing more with the same or less than us. As much as I like Houser, I can't help but wonder if the better play was to spend less on that position and get someone more middle of the conference level, and then have more money to spread around, particularly on the defensive side. I do think donors will want some reassurance that lessons have been learned and there will be some improvement in this area. If people are going to open up their wallets for a $40 million roster, I think they'll want to know they're not doing so just to get $30 million results.

The other potential issue for football right now is that donating to our basketball program is clearly returning more "ROI" than donating to football. If you have, say, $1 million to spend on donations to college athletics, would you rather that money go towards trying to win a national championship in basketball, or trying to get to 8 or 9 wins in football? Personally, I'd go basketball every single time right now.

An interesting question is, what would the implications for our basketball program have been if we'd somehow made the CFP last season? Surely investment in the football roster would be higher than it is now. And surely while the total investment in the athletic programs would possibly be higher, at least some of that increased football roster spending would have come at the expense of basketball. Would that mean we'd have lost Andrej? Maybe the Ivisic's? Been unable to land Vaaks? It's an interesting thought experiment. How much of the current basketball roster would you trade for a better football roster?

FloridaMan · 2026-10-14T13:57:44-0500

bluemountain said:
Well let's be honest here. Bret inherited a pretty talented roster from Lovie and our overall talent level is down a good bit from where it has been the past few years. Maybe there are some diamonds in the freshman class, but it's safe to say that in terms of talent, our sophomore through senior classes rank in the bottom quartile of the Big 10. I believe in BB, but his recruiting and portal additions haven't been sufficient to keep us in the top half of the league. I don't think it is an unfair request to ask what they are doing to address that shortcoming if I'm going to give $1M to the program.

and it is, by and large, on the defensive side. And that falls directly on BB and his decision to keep a DC that was not getting it done in recruiting replacements for Lovie's recruits. He has to figure out how to get the right person with the ability to both coach and recruit. But that's why he's near the top of the league in salary. Josh has to help him put money in place to be able to do that as well.

Fighter of the Nightman · 2026-10-14T14:11:06-0500

bluemountain said:
If I'm a big donor, I say "no problem, I would love to stroke a check for $1M to help bring in better talent. Before I do that though, tell me what you are going to do to make sure I'm not wasting on my money on guys like TJ Taylor. How are you addressing your existing shortcomings in talent evaluation and development?"

Lol, GOD I wish I were a billionaire who could just waste his extra cash on making the Illini elite.

"Alright, Josh ... I have $150 million here that I want to go toward my beloved Illini. And you can have $5 million of it today for NIL."

"... and if you use this $45 million to fix the ugly-!!! Horseshoe, I will give you the remaining $100 million to also use for NIL."

lstewart53x3 · 2026-10-14T14:15:16-0500

the juiceman cometh said:
I see where both of you are coming from.

I don't think it's a question of withholding funds. I do think donors make decisions based on a sense of ROI (not real ROI, because donors don't actually recoup any financial investment). I agree that, overall, Bielema has done a great job and this should be proof of concept for donors that the "ROI" is there for our football program, on the whole. At the same time, with regards to the roster composition for this year's program, I don't think it was optimal. Other programs are clearly doing more with the same or less than us. As much as I like Houser, I can't help but wonder if the better play was to spend less on that position and get someone more middle of the conference level, and then have more money to spread around, particularly on the defensive side. I do think donors will want some reassurance that lessons have been learned and there will be some improvement in this area. If people are going to open up their wallets for a $40 million roster, I think they'll want to know they're not doing so just to get $30 million results.

The other potential issue for football right now is that donating to our basketball program is clearly returning more "ROI" than donating to football. If you have, say, $1 million to spend on donations to college athletics, would you rather that money go towards trying to win a national championship in basketball, or trying to get to 8 or 9 wins in football? Personally, I'd go basketball every single time right now.

An interesting question is, what would the implications for our basketball program have been if we'd somehow made the CFP last season? Surely investment in the football roster would be higher than it is now. And surely while the total investment in the athletic programs would possibly be higher, at least some of that increased football roster spending would have come at the expense of basketball. Would that mean we'd have lost Andrej? Maybe the Ivisic's? Been unable to land Vaaks? It's an interesting thought experiment. How much of the current basketball roster would you trade for a better football roster?

A couple thoughts:

1. For sure, this was a bad offseason by Bret. The timing of the Henry firing, the Hauck hire, the portal additions on defense. All missteps.

2. But if you want a good program, and you have the financial resources to help, help. Because offering less funds certainly won’t help.

3. In terms of financial prudence (getting good results out of resources a program has), Bret’s been one of the best. Over the past 5 years, our talent composite has been in the high 60s and our metrics have been in the low 40s. So we’re finishing, on average, about 30 spots higher in the team rankings than we are in the talent rankings. There’s probably only a handful of teams in the country who can say the same.

So even though the results this year haven’t been up to par, Bret’s track record at IL has demonstrated ability to outperform the resources he has.

4. Whether or not you’d prefer to invest into basketball over football is a different conversation altogether. As a booster, it’s fine to allocate resources to basketball instead, just don’t complain when the results aren’t there in football.

Illiniaaron · 2026-10-14T14:35:30-0500

Second place is 1st loser said:
At some point you have to pay your good players.

If they don't play as freshmen, then they'll play as sophomores, just with less experience and we have to live with growing pains. Then, they'll have to get paid as a junior. This is all based on the assumption that they stick around and don't transfer to a place where they will play immediately. This is a instant gratification world with these kids/parents. They want things, they want it now and they'll leave if they don't get it.

If they play as freshmen and do well, then they are much more seasoned going into their second year, but they'll get paid sooner.

So, they're either get paid as Sophomores or Juniors. You're not going to get around paying these kids. We either accept that and raise the money to keep them or we continue to go into the portal and get what we can afford, which as we've seen on the defense.....what we can afford isn't very good.

It all comes back to the same conclusion.....either have the money and be good or don't and have a ceiling of average.

There is a third option, which is go the Iowa route and put what we do have on the defense and on the offensive line. Get an average QB, some average receivers, a decent back and win games in the trenches. A defense travels, an offense doesn't. You can win with a dominant defense and an average offense. The reverse isn't true. It's not the most exciting brand of ball, but I'd rather win 14-10, then lose 42-21. That's a money management decision.

Look at Iowa's game by game scores since 2024, they do score points.

the Castle on Daniel · 2026-10-14T15:06:41-0500

Fighter of the Nightman said:
Lol, GOD I wish I were a billionaire who could just waste his extra cash on making the Illini elite.

"Alright, Josh ... I have $150 million here that I want to go toward my beloved Illini. And you can have $5 million of it today for NIL."

"... and if you use this $45 million to fix the ugly-!!! Horseshoe, I will give you the remaining $100 million to also use for NIL."

Lol, I love the commitment to getting the horseshoe leveled, but seeing as we just installed a giant video board behind it, I doubt it's changing any time soon. I'd rather all the cash go to NIL until we're so elite the DIA is OK to front the cash to expand because we're sold out every home game August-November.

bluemountain · 2026-10-14T15:36:59-0500

lstewart53x3 said:
I think bluemountain's got it figured out.

Recruiting isn't where it needs to be to complete.

The solution? Withhold funds that would be used for recruiting.

Our fanbase literally argues against the improvement of our program.

I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. Again - fantasizing I have an extra million to give to the program. I want to give the money and I'm prepared to give the money. Having said that, I can clearly see that BB hasn't done a great job recruiting and with the portal with the money he has had available. Is it unreasonable to want to hear how he plans to correct this before committing to the payment?

WyattEarp · 2026-10-14T15:44:46-0500

Scoregasm said:
There's a 2 Live Crew joke somewhere in here.

I had no idea he coached football in South Florida? Thats a helluva “revelation”!

Sounds like he’s got Clayton well prepared. That’s “what I like.”

(best could do…I mean, I’m sure you’re familiar with the discography.)

Fighter of the Nightman · 2026-10-14T16:33:55-0500

the Castle on Daniel said:
Lol, I love the commitment to getting the horseshoe leveled, but seeing as we just installed a giant video board behind it, I doubt it's changing any time soon. I'd rather all the cash go to NIL until we're so elite the DIA is OK to front the cash to expand because we're sold out every home game August-November.

I'm fine with the decision to leave the "skeleton" there for the foreseeable future, but I reject that this means no improvements can be done. We could easily bring the first row down to field level to match the corners on either side of it and get rid of the ugly gap, for example. That would cost us almost nothing!

Mr. Tibbs · 2026-10-14T16:52:33-0500

Fighter of the Nightman said:
I'm fine with the decision to leave the "skeleton" there for the foreseeable future, but I reject that this means no improvements can be done. We could easily bring the first row down to field level to match the corners on either side of it and get rid of the ugly gap, for example. That would cost us almost nothing!

you’re preaching to the choir with most of us .
it clear it not viewed as a priority with Josh & others.

it’s your pet project - I get it , but you should try to put it on the back burner for awhile .
jmo, sorry bro.

sbillini · 2026-10-14T16:59:04-0500

lstewart53x3 said:
A couple thoughts:

1. For sure, this was a bad offseason by Bret. The timing of the Henry firing, the Hauck hire, the portal additions on defense. All missteps.

2. But if you want a good program, and you have the financial resources to help, help. Because offering less funds certainly won’t help.

3. In terms of financial prudence (getting good results out of resources a program has), Bret’s been one of the best. Over the past 5 years, our talent composite has been in the high 60s and our metrics have been in the low 40s. So we’re finishing, on average, about 30 spots higher in the team rankings than we are in the talent rankings. There’s probably only a handful of teams in the country who can say the same.

So even though the results this year haven’t been up to par, Bret’s track record at IL has demonstrated ability to outperform the resources he has.

4. Whether or not you’d prefer to invest into basketball over football is a different conversation altogether. As a booster, it’s fine to allocate resources to basketball instead, just don’t complain when the results aren’t there in football.

I think the chicken (better results) and egg (more donor funding) is the classic conundrum. As you point out, the chicken has been there for several years up until this season. Has that resulted in demonstrably more eggs and the eggs were just put in the wrong basket? I dont know the answer there.

More broadly, with Peterson, hauck, holding onto AH for too long, I worry we’re getting enough datapoints that bielema has a mixed at best track record of coaching hires. Even BLJ was rocky at first, and I worry there that altmyer band-aided over a lot of deficiencies on that side of the ball. Walters is the one obvious exception, admittedly. So I don’t think it’s clear, but overall I think it’s a real risk.