The Illinois Coaching Staff Search
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So I want to preface this and state that my expectations may be unrealistic, but I am pleasantly surprised with this staff. I think it has a lot of potential and combines good experience with recruiting personality.
I know I have been hard on both CP and Henry, and I feel those criticisms are justly deserved. I do not know enough about the new TE coach. But overall, I am fairly happy with a couple of slots to go. Go get a solid WR who can recruit and I will shut up completely lol
I know I have been hard on both CP and Henry, and I feel those criticisms are justly deserved. I do not know enough about the new TE coach. But overall, I am fairly happy with a couple of slots to go. Go get a solid WR who can recruit and I will shut up completely lol
Appreciate it..thanks
This is where I was at. Sure they can talk on the phone or over a headset but it's not the same, and it's not constant. I don't think it's unfair to say that Peters and Smith were not on the same page for most of last season.
- Western Illinois
Completely agree with this accessment. So many times when things were going bad, Peters would like a whipped pup.
Could also be because Rod wanted to play IW but Lovie wouldn't let him
- Montgomery County, Maryland
I concur with respect to the QB/coach relationship. I'm remembering back to Juice Williams and the way Locksley could settle him down when necessary.
- MDW-CMI-MSP-SEA
Thank you again for your great insight. Your measured, rational optimism is exactly what I needed to hear. I look forward to consistent development and solid program building.
Rex, I mean Brandon, is our quarterback
We all know what we really want now, that is Gritty coming in hot with the EXACT opposite opinion.
Dang it, couldn't resist. I was gonna wait until the staff was finalized.We all know what we really want now, that is Gritty coming in hot with the EXACT opposite opinion.
So like, the big fear was bigger than Petersen, it was the idea that Petersen meant Bielema was struggling to hire quality people, and particularly quality people with experience working with him. Because that's the fear with Bielema, the negative reading of his resume, that he kinda showed himself to be a clown at Arkansas and isn't to be trusted outside of the very pre-structured setup in place at Wisconsin. Petersen was a red flashing light in that regard.
The hires made since make crystal clear that that fear was wrong, full stop. The rest of the staff is really good, worth the money we're spending, and has a number of people with a lot of credibility and capital eagerly returning to Bielema's side after having played or coached for him. We hired Bielema in large part because of the opportunity and ability to bring in this kind of staff (though I am still looking for a couple of solid gold recruiters in the last two spots. I'd rather not Bellamy at WR but I'll live if that does end up being the case).
But the Petersen thing remains what it is. That's probably the most important spot on the staff, and we filled it with a totally baffling and shaky choice. Still, with the benefit of hindsight and context, clearly Bielema didn't just scrape him off the bottom of the barrel, that's the guy he wanted, for whatever reason. And Bret Bielema has forgotten more about football than I will ever know. So what can you do but hope for the best, hope it works, and hope that if it doesn't, the very competitive salary we have allotted to Petersen can quickly and easily be transferred to someone better.
My expectation is that it won't work and we'll have a new OC before long. But far stranger things have happened.
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BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
Without dismissing Peterson's potential contributions, I'm guessing it's probably easier to hire a quality OC once a dumpster fire has been extinguished. And even easier still once you've got some momentum going in the right direction.
Great mix of in state recruiters, military background/disciplined coaches, and a ton of pure collegiate coaching experience. This is the type of staff you put together for competing at college football. We got people that know what they are doing, as opposed to the last staff’s attitude of “we’ll figure it out on the fly”.
I am glad to hear people are excited about the staff. I have no idea about any of them besides what others say. I do like the sound of our OLine coach. I really don't see splash hires. But, I will take everyone's word that the staff is good.
Great stuff here. I'm old enough to remember when White and Mackovic had really strong staffs, and it showed in player development and on field performance. We have had some good individual coaches on each staff since, but none that overall appeared as strong as this one. If players develop, are well coached and are well taken care of by the staff, the recruiting will come
Miller's been interviewed. He did a 30 minute presser the day he was announced. You can find it online. He's also been interviewed on local area radio.
I think BB is hiring some young but experienced guys with fire in the belly. Hopefully, that energy will motivate the guys on the team to get better and attract guys to the team who have the physical talent and mental makeup to play hard-nosed football and strive for success.
What's not to like about either one? And the good news is, they're both now on staff!
I'm impressed with the selections so far. I hope one of the remaining slots is not allocated to a full-time Special Teams coach. I just don't see that as a good use of resources. Our need for improved recruiting far outweighs anything potentially brought to the table by a Special Teams coach who can't or won't hustle for recruits.
The coaches aren't just connected to BB. Several them have coached with each other before. That's got to be a good sign.
It's not uncommon to split special teams responsibilities -- an offensive coach handles FGs, PATs, and return game, while a defensive coach handles Kickoffs, punts and coverage teams. Or something along those lines.
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