Nebraska 20, Illinois 7 Postgame
For Illinois to be this bad; there has to be something going on behind the scenes
He was brutal on coverage.
Everyone on here was raving how Bret brought the Illini from losers to 2 bowl games. Ok this version is not what I expected. I was looking forward to making another bowl appearance this year but that won't happen. Perhaps some of the coaches need to move on but I think it is premature to call for Bret's firing! They gave Lovie several chances to win so if this pattern continues into next season the pull the plug.
I get the the thought process here but Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan were all one-score losses. We would have beaten #3 Michigan in their building (and won the B1G west) but for the outrageously bad OPI non-call that gifted the Wolverines that game. All our draft-bound players sat out the reliaquest bowl.
What we witnessed this past Friday is a whole different universe of bad. Nebraska had four second half possessions that started in our territory and got three points out of that. If that Cornhusker team was even remotely competent, they would have crushed us but 40 points.
There was an absolute killer of a DPI on Spoon in the Purdue(?) game that kind of set the tone and MSU kept falling down because of "injuries".
Excuses sure, but there was some fluky bs that led to the ending of last year.
Not sure why because it's probably the most meaningless of the three, but that MSU fakery made me so angry, more than the other two. Maybe because they were one (albeit very significant) play each and the MSU crap was over and over again.
same can be said for the PennSt game, the defense prevented a major embarrassment. The offense is the culprit here.
It's really NOT about firing a coach too soon... It's about 50+ years of NOT hiring the right coach and sticking with him (since I don't follow NFL I didn't even know who Lovie was)...
This university prides itself on being one of the top Research institutes on the planet... Yet when it comes to researching for a good coach it can't find one ? ? Tell me which coach was the wise decision: Valek, Moeller, Tepper, Turner, Zook, Beckman, Cubit, Lovie ? ? For years and years this university prided itself on producing the premier accounting people in the US. Tell me which coach accounted for the most sustained success: Valek, Moeller, Tepper, Turner, Zook, Beckman, Cubit, Lovie ? ? This university prides itself on producing top engineers that solve problems on a worldwide scale. Tell me which coach has been able to engineer anything except catching lightning in a bottle once a decade: Valek, Moeller, Tepper, Turner, Zook, Beckman, Cubit, Lovie ? ?
We've had fifteen (15) head coaches since 1959 (2 were 1 game only interim coaches), and NONE (not one), has coached 100 games....
Many believed Mike White was the "right coach" but his tenure pretty much describes the pattern you suggest.
If one has a pattern that has persisted for over 60 years, isn't pretty resonsble to expect this is the pattern that is most likely to continue in the future?
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I graduated in 1983. White's reputation as a rule bender with regards to recruiting followed him around and I want to say he lost the respect of some of the people in admin and at some point Stoner was kind of forced to can him when the rumors didnt stop and then the results were sub par again
I think there is more to the story than White just having a couple crappy years in a row.
I think there is more to the story than White just having a couple crappy years in a row.
I don't disagree with anything here, or from @Old.Edgy , but it is a vicious cycle. Very few want to come here, with our history.
We can rag (rightfully) on the Beckmans, et. al., but we were turned down multiple times that search. Some of those turndowns were pre-emptive as well.
Mike White was the program-changer, and in the 80s we were right there with UM and tOSU. He did enough that we were able to hire the 2nd-best coach in my lifetime in Mackovic. But he left for browner pastures and it's been mostly a turd sandwich since.
Bret seemed the perfect model...P5 experience, B1G experience, championships, hometown boy. If he fails where does an administration turn? Probably all moot anyway in the new Pacific Midwest division, as many here have said. Would you whiskey drinkers please pass the bottle?
It’s an extremely delicate balance of giving a coach enough time to build a program vs. cutting ties before you fall too deep into the well.
I think recently, it’s been pretty obvious. Even with hindsight I don’t think Zook, Beckman (due to his own actions), or Lovie were kept too long or given too short of a time. Zook you might argue could’ve been cut a year or two earlier but again hindsight.
Bret’s first two years were the best we’ve had from a coach in 20+ years. This year is an extreme disappointment so far and frankly there’s no way around that fact. I don’t foresee next year bringing us much better luck and the future seems bleak, but the transfer changes really make outlooks difficult.
The Big Ten is also changing. I don’t think it’s impossible to be a 6 win floor team, but it is much more challenging for Illinois to become that. Id like to see some positives the rest of the way in this season to feel confident enough to say Bret deserves more than anorther year here.
I think recently, it’s been pretty obvious. Even with hindsight I don’t think Zook, Beckman (due to his own actions), or Lovie were kept too long or given too short of a time. Zook you might argue could’ve been cut a year or two earlier but again hindsight.
Bret’s first two years were the best we’ve had from a coach in 20+ years. This year is an extreme disappointment so far and frankly there’s no way around that fact. I don’t foresee next year bringing us much better luck and the future seems bleak, but the transfer changes really make outlooks difficult.
The Big Ten is also changing. I don’t think it’s impossible to be a 6 win floor team, but it is much more challenging for Illinois to become that. Id like to see some positives the rest of the way in this season to feel confident enough to say Bret deserves more than anorther year here.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
Let's also not forget, we got all that highly coveted bowl game extra practice time and experience (esp. for those taking over for our sit outs). That extra practice and experience sure hasn't seemed to help anything this season.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
The one thing I'd look for in a coaching hire is someone who's had some sustained success where success wasn't common, someone who built it of their own doing. I thought Leipold was the better choice than Bielema, but that remains to be seen.
I look at a school like Wisconsin. What advantage does Wisconsin have over Illinois? Similar location, similar academic prestige, same conference, we have more instate talent. But I mentioned early, over the last 41 years, we have won 43% of our games, Wisconsin has won 62% of their games. If we changed that to from Barry Alvarez forward (33 years) they've won 67% (Illinois 40%) of their games. And actually Alvarez is the low point. Every coach since Barry has won more than 70% of their games, Bielema won 73% of his games at Wisconsin.
So why can Wisconsin be consistently strong but we can't? Why can they bring in 3 coaches in a row to win 70+% of their games? Fickell could very well make that 4. I'm sure there is a strong backing from the administration. But what I find even more curious about Wisconsin is, Bielema wins 73% of his games over 7 seasons, leaves for Arkansas and wins 46% of his games. Granted the SEC West is very strong, but that's a big drop. Gary Anderson wins 74% of his games in 2 years, leaves and bombs at Oregon State, then gets booted from his old Utah State job in 2 years. Paul Chryst wins 71% of his games, gets fired for 1 slow start and he's an Offensive Analyst now, not even a coordinator.
So what the heck is Wisconsin doing? Feel like Whitman should make friends and study that program, because they have been consistently strong for decades. We appear to be trying to hire as many Wisconsin coaches as possible, but something going on in Madison is just different. We need to emulate it.
I get all that. But I’ve sat in the stands for the 0-12 Washington Huskies, led by Jake The Mistake Locker at QB.
Fans still got loud.
There’s just something in the water here. People like to get loud.
Not to mention that the Smith Center was to be a 'game changer' with regard to recruiting.
Wisconsin has had nine (9) head coaches since 1960 - not counting the interims... We've had thirteen (13) not counting interims...
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
it was sold to the fanbase and donors that way , while in reality, the Smith(s) was(were) just keeping up with the Jones
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
its the cheese
Mike White was a VG coach but couldn't keep himself from bending the rules and had to go. Mac was an excellent coach here but Texas called. The worst event happened when Mac left as there was a change in Admin happening at the same time so Tepper was elevated and our chance to grab a good coach was wasted. And the whole 30 yrs of where we are now was set in motion. On top of that we had Ron Guenther as AD. Ron Turner was only interested in the IL job as a stepping stone to an NFL HC job, and he only spent enough time on recruiting to put together a good enough team to get him there. After the Sugar Bowl season we had no talent left and Turner had no NFL job either. Zook was a bad hire. In 2008 and 2009 we were 5-7 and 3-9 with far more NFL level talent than we had last year. We ended up with Beckman because Thomas couldn't keep a lid on the search, and because his reputation as a jerk was well known. Josh did what he could with Lovie, in hindsight maybe having an interim for a year while buying time to land a better coach would have been better. Maybe not who knows. BB will get 2024 and 2025 to get his program going, but Josh can't let this thing spiral down over multiple seasons or he will be out the door as well.
They are recruiting better. That simple. Higher rated recruiting classes with smarter evaluatiuons on the offers they make. Plus, the position coaches are better at development...but mostly recruiting.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
White was the best modern era coach. If Jim Bennett from Aurora hadn’t screwed up he would have been the next great QB and Whites last two seasons would have been different. Further, White recruited the talent that Mackovic won with.