Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
Sending all of mine except the real one. And will throw in as many angels as can dance on the head of a pin...
The Illinois Coaching Staff Search
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Aaron Henry will be the DB coach
Mic'd up video on YouTube. Seems classy and very detailed about how he wants to teach. Question is can he recruit? Either way, great to start seeing names pop up so quickly after Christmas. Let's Go ILLINI! After digging a little more all the secondaries he has coached gave gotten much better under his direction. If the rumors are true it looks like he have a solid db coach to get us out of that base cover 2. Maybe we won't get gashed up the seam every other play.
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Played for BB.....3 trips to Rose Bowl as player. Young....coached in Big 10, ACC, and SEC. From Florida. If true, on paper, not much to not like.
Finally some coaching news
Looks like a nice choice if true. Did have to smile over the fact that how you wrote his credentials (coached in Big 10, ACC and SEC) — while true — paint a better picture than coached at Rutgers, NC St and Vandy. Presentation matters.
Numbers improved at each stop.....and no matter the school was coaching against the Alabama’s, Florida’s and Clemson’s all along. Can’t beat the experience.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I wonder if that would indicate that Ted Roof or Dave Huxtable are the DC. Henry has been with both in recent years.
Huxtable is an Elgin native and EIU alum, and was LB coach under Bielema at Wisconsin, then left with Dave Doeren to be DC at NC State. You can bet he’d want the gig, but he’s an older guy and wound up getting fired at NCSU. Might wind up a smart hire but not necessarily the most exciting.
Roof doesn’t have the same connection to Bielema or the state, but he is a top quality DC, that would be a great hire.
Like I said, I like the pick up if true. Just that saying he coached in Big 10 and SEC sounds much better than he coached for 2-10 Rutgers and winless Vanderbilt. But experience looks good and if he can recruit even better.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
He's had some success on the trail. FL native to came to the Big Ten and had great success as a player under Bielema. That's a story he will be selling down there.
I agree on Roof. His aggressive style of D with players attacking instead of getting beat. His D creates turns but doing it in a much more productive way than the way Lovie's D did. His numbers at Minnesota were solid. He would be a huge get and he got a ring at Auburn. He can teach D and get players in the best position to succeed.
Deleted member 186590
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The fact that Roof poached Henry from NC St after having him on his staff there to come to Vandy is the best endorsement. He would be a good hire no doubt
Wasn’t Roof at Mn several years ago?
Deleted member 747671
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I think the thought was that he seemed relatively specific about his systems and emphasized the importance of the coordinators that we kinda logically jumped to him probably having some of the staff already
Hux, Roof, and Henry were all on Deoren’s staff. Some of the recruits loved Hux, but I think his D and LB schemes are dated.
Roof was brought in for a year to fix the secondary and to teach Henry the ropes of coaching but it did not work. Roof moved on to App State with Drinkwitz, but didn’t get the move to Mizzou. I know it was a while ago, but Roof will always be the guy who ran Duke into the ground.
Henry, IMO, is a average to good recruiter. As a coach, our DBs never got better. Granted, he got switched around several times (nickels to safeties to corners), but they never seemed to progress.
Nit trying to poopoo the board, just relaying my experience with these guys.
Not sure if you can say Roof drove Duke into the ground, given their records the previous decade before he came in. Based on his resume vs. Huxtable, he seems like the much better choice, not that he isn’t without some red flags.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
Just now listening to Saturday Sports Talk and Tate mentioned Chris Ash as a possibility at DC. His name may have appeared earlier in this thread.
The good news = he went to the three consecutive Rose Bowls with Bret, and then followed him to Arkansas. Then to Ohio State and Rutgers (HC).
The bad news = he's currently the DC at Texas and therefore compensation & availability could be a problem.
No other names have so far been surfaced......
The good news = he went to the three consecutive Rose Bowls with Bret, and then followed him to Arkansas. Then to Ohio State and Rutgers (HC).
The bad news = he's currently the DC at Texas and therefore compensation & availability could be a problem.
No other names have so far been surfaced......
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Was thinking about Ash as well this morning and whether he was in the running. Maybe not with Herman staying put, but could be a more stable/upside situation at UIUC than Austin if Herman was sniffing around at the SC job.
Deleted member 747671
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Ash makes a ton of sense. I’d be fine with that.
After reviewing Duke's record before him, I am willing to concede that he didn't kill Duke (confused him with Carl Franks).
That being said, I maintain that both Hux & Roof are out of touch with modern schemes and cannot direct an effective pass defense. That 2018 season, NC State went 9-4 and that team had NFL caliber LBs & DL players. In all seriousness, it was painful to watch that secondary have 10 yards of cushion and know that a slant route would kill you.
I believe BB’s hands will be all over the defense. I don’t see a DC coming in to run whatever he wants......it will be BB’s scheme. If that is his strength, he should use it.
OC by far the more important hire IMO.
I like the Aaron Henry hire if true. I live about 30 minutes from where he went to HS which was Immokalee FL. Immokalee is an absolute power in FL. They are a tiny rural farming community that has managed to produce 7 NFL players since 2010 and many other D1 players. Having a young guy like Henry who is well connected in FL can only help us.
If that’s what we’re getting, why did we fire our last DC? That’s the same defense as Lovie.
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