The Illinois Coaching Staff Search

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 30, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
Partridge is interesting because he's never really been a DC despite being a very prominent assistant and even a head coach at Florida Atlantic. Terrific recruiter in the state of Florida. A guy in high demand, though thanks to the state of Pennsylvania's absurd public records laws, we don't know what he makes despite Pitt being a public school. Well over $500k would not surprise me.

Interestingly, when Bielema initially hired him at Wisconsin, he was titled as the Special Teams Coach, after serving in the same role at Pitt in his first go-round there. Bielema did eventually change his title to AHC/co-DC/DL, and he hasn't been titled ST coach since, but still, hmm.

By the way, Partridge and Chris Ash were college teammates at Drake, along with Dave Doeren.

Would I cheap out on the OC hire to fit Ash and Partridge into the budget? Absolutely not. Would it make a certain amount of cognizable sense of the otherwise utterly inexplicable Petersen hire? Yeah, it kinda would.

And in Ash, Partridge, and Bart Miller you'd have assembled the DB coach, DL coach, and OL coach from Bielema's last Wisconsin team, and Aaron Henry was team captain the year before.

I do not believe Ash would leave Texas for all the money in the world. Still,

Partridge would easily command the highest non-coordinator salary on the staff. Also, Pitt just lost their linebackers coach, so I'd imagine Narduzzi would do everything in his power to not lose Partridge as well. That will cost a pretty penny. Putting together a rockstar defensive staff would be a good thing for any coach. I'd be more than ok with that, although I share your belief that no way is Ash leaving Texas for Illinois. Also, look at the B1G west. A good defense immediately makes you competitive in the division.

I think you need to step back from the OC ledge you keep putting yourself on. I posted earlier that I doubt Petersen was his first choice, but I also think it wasn't necessarily a bad choice. OCs have egos. Many are probably not open to a ball-control dictate from the HC. Many probably prefer prominently passing and/or uptempo spread schemes. One thing about Petersen is his apparent scheme flexibility and lack of ego. I think BB clearly values that more than most.

bigmike · Dec 30, 2020

Dude said:
Lou lost a lot of his time to the COVID restrictions. I do not think you can make a fair assessment in such a short duration coupled with all the lack of actually training the boys in person

Covid has wrecked havoc on all stength programs. As far as Lou not being as visible to the players. I do not know the circumstances in his case, but with all of the covid protocols and such,i guarantee Lou was pulled a million different ways. The head stength coach spends so many hours getting pulled in all kinds of directions. Many times I remember running the show while the head stength coach was stuck dealing with the athletic training staff and details surrounding injured players.however players notice when the big guy is not there!

ChiefGritty · Dec 30, 2020

WINTer said:
Partridge would easily command the highest non-coordinator salary on the staff.

What I'm suggesting is that Partridge would be the Special Teams Coordinator that Bielema won't shut up about, given that he has a background in that area with Bielema.

It also would not shock me if Partridge was the DC. There's a reason no one has given him that title before in a long and very successful career, but if Bielema is going to be heavily involved, maybe that's the right marriage of resources and talent to help putting the jigsaw puzzle together.

Either way, it has become pretty standard practice across college football in these days of 10 assistants and rapidly escalating salary pools to make a 3rd "big" role on the staff, and I would hope and expect that's what we plan on doing.

Deleted member 654622 · Dec 30, 2020

bigmike said:
Covid has wrecked havoc on all stength programs. As far as Lou not being as visible to the players. I do not know the circumstances in his case, but with all of the covid protocols and such,i guarantee Lou was pulled a million different ways. The head stength coach spends so many hours getting pulled in all kinds of directions. Many times I remember running the show while the head stength coach was stuck dealing with the athletic training staff and details surrounding injured players.however players notice when the big guy is not there!

I'm not doubting that information. This particular response is in reply to what the players look like athletically. In short, it's not fair to give Lou a grade when the players are forced to do box jumps on trash cans and push their neighborhood trucks around because the governor said to not leave your house. The players missed significant time in the Illinois weight room with Lous staff doing Lous protocol

Deleted member 747867 · Dec 30, 2020

Dude said:
Statements/ideas that stood out
1. Seen multiple tape of him saying he grew up in Nebraska. But I see he graduated from IL. Too lazy to look up the background there
2. Says practices need to be hard so the game comes easy. They practice with a D lineman lined up off sides to make it more difficult
3. Very big on second step being planted before making contact. Gives a little insight on how anal he is on technique
4. Has some clips of Wisconsin and FAU practices
5. Works pass protection at the end of practice because they are running team and wont be in passing mode until the end of the half or game
6. Developed a pass pro circuit over the last 10 years to work on technique before practice. Because practice time needs to be used being physical and hitting
7. Loves 1 on 1 drills with the defense - man vs man. Works with the defense at least one drill every day
8. Finish Everything (referring to blocking)
9. Preparation and the knowledge of defense we are going to face.
10. We do teach technique but not at the expense of physicality. Pride ourselves on being physical. You cannot expect to be physical if you do not live in that world everyday. I know the arguments against it and I don't agree with it. Your bodies are adapted to being physical. Its better to be the hammer and not the nail. (I have expressed this exact point about Lovie's lack of physical practices and how we always get out physicalled and hurt on the field)
11. Center has to be good (Kramer staying might be the most important decision for the teams 2021 success)

Conclusion: I like him

Miller grew up in Nebraska until high school, when his family moved to the Chicago area. He attended Elk Grove High School.

GForce · Dec 30, 2020

WINTer said:
Really like Henry and Partridge in those spots.

Not trying to dunk on the guy, honest question. If Bellamy wasn't an alum, would people actually want him to be retained? What has he really provided on the recruiting and teaching front? Kinda similar feeling with Patterson, how much does he give us besides the handful of his former HS players?

Funny, every opening people on here clamor for Holocek, Nate, or some other lightly experienced former player. Meanwhile, a former standout player and total pro who bleeds O&B and was probably our best positional coach the last few years, also just happens to be on staff right now and may be retained. And yet it's all yawns and questions about his ability.

By the way, when spitballing new HC possibilities on his podcast, Dudek threw out Bellamy's name, pointing to his football IQ and how liked and respected he was by players and staff.

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 30, 2020

GForce said:
Funny, every opening people on here clamor for Holocek, Nate, or some other lightly experienced former player. Meanwhile, a former standout player and total pro who bleeds O&B and was probably our best positional coach the last few years, also just happens to be on staff right now and may be retained. And yet it's all yawns and questions about his ability.

By the way, when spitballing new HC possibilities on his podcast, Dudek threw out Bellamy's name, pointing to his football IQ and how liked and respected he was by players and staff.

Guess this is kinda what I was asking. I like both guys but have no idea how they are perceived as coaches. We were at the bottom in terms of recruiting in conference so there’s not much for us casual fans to make of a position coach. Glad to hear Bellamy is highly respected by former players and based on his career, it makes sense. My general thinking is I like new coaches to have a blank slate. We had a clearly sub par staff. Cleaning house makes sense but if there’s a couple good options to keep, that’s fine too.

ProfessorQC · Dec 30, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
It also would not shock me if Partridge was the DC. There's a reason no one has given him that title before in a long and very successful career, but if Bielema is going to be heavily involved, maybe that's the right marriage of resources and talent to help putting the jigsaw puzzle together.

THIS ^^

CubsIlliniFan · Dec 30, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
Texas has very high expectations and they should, but it shows the brain worms that develop in those kind of places that anyone would refer to Tom Herman as "the dumbest coach in football".

Watch him coach and you will see. I have watched him drive Texas into the ground. Texas does have high expectations but this HC will never lead them to anymore than a middle bowl

Ramrod2010 · Dec 30, 2020

I'm ashamed it's taken me this long to post this...

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 30, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
What I'm suggesting is that Partridge would be the Special Teams Coordinator that Bielema won't shut up about, given that he has a background in that area with Bielema.

It also would not shock me if Partridge was the DC. There's a reason no one has given him that title before in a long and very successful career, but if Bielema is going to be heavily involved, maybe that's the right marriage of resources and talent to help putting the jigsaw puzzle together.

Either way, it has become pretty standard practice across college football in these days of 10 assistants and rapidly escalating salary pools to make a 3rd "big" role on the staff, and I would hope and expect that's what we plan on doing.

If partridge is on the staff I’m guessing you’re right. He’s going to require at least a co-dc/ahc title and salary. That would be an interesting st choice. I don’t know a ton about him but he seems very well respected.

ChiefGritty · Dec 30, 2020

Ramrod2010 said:
I'm ashamed it's taken me this long to post this...

My offensive line coach is also named Bort.

Illini1974Ever · Dec 30, 2020

WINTer said:
They just both have such thin resumes, basically nothing besides their time here. Bellamy has 2 short stints at Illinois, 1 year as QC at Miss State and 2 years at Toledo. I agree it's very hard to judge them based on the perceived lack of support from Lovie on the recruiting front, but it's hard to describe Bellamy's recruiting as anything too positive. Also, what is Patterson's track record outside of the Trinity kids? There's still a lot of unanswered questions with both those guys. Both guys do seem to be very positive and likeable, and definitely seem like they enjoy being here.

I think both Patterson and Bellamy relate really good with guys on the team and recruits definitely like to see them here .

Deleted member 186590 · Dec 30, 2020

WINTer said:
If partridge is on the staff I’m guessing you’re right. He’s going to require at least a co-dc/ahc title and salary. That would be an interesting st choice. I don’t know a ton about him but he seems very well respected.

BB has hired Partridge twice, so it wouldn’t shock me if he’s on the staff - he was “only” making $525K as FAU’s HC before he was fired, so I would guess he’s making around 400K at FAU given his offset was 800K (2 year deal at Pitt initially?) for the amount FAU owed him.

He’s known as a good recruiter in South Florida- which would be awesome, he’s really a DL guy, so DL/AHC sounds about right - I don’t know you want him calling the defense every play, so you would just need someone else to do that.

Mike55 · Dec 30, 2020

Dude said:
Lou lost a lot of his time to the COVID restrictions. I do not think you can make a fair assessment in such a short duration coupled with all the lack of actually training the boys in person

COVID or no COVID, Lou didn't do his job and Josh knew it. Lots of employees at the U of I were proactive/creative at their job during the pandemic. Others weren't & some of those were shown the door.

Mike55 · Dec 30, 2020

Dude said:
I do not know him personally. However, he played in the NFL, maintains a very passionate persona on twitter, and has coaching experience and is from the Chicago area I believe?
Like Patterson, I do not think we got to see exactly what he can do as a recruiter under Lovie. I absolutely want to see him retained. Would be better for the program if he got to coach the WRs but better for his career that he grew into a different role

This is such a great point. So sad to say, but Lovie didn't set up his staff for success. Some "Managers" just don't know how to & that's what keeps them from being good "Leaders."

altgeld88 · Dec 30, 2020

Am curious, given the talk about Lou here, what you guys want to see from an S&C coach and program. I know nothing about Lou's regimen, just that generally S&C coaches in D-1 tend to do a lot of "silly b---s--t" regardless of the sport. When you're working with the sorts of genetic freaks (a term I use in the most complimentary way for those so athletically blessed) who make it into such programs at age 18, it's difficult to gauge S&C results when they reach 21-22 as these sorts of guys are going to get stronger no matter what is done.

The question is how much stronger can they get and what program should they use? And why should they be doing anything in an S&C program other than the four main lifts and a little supplemental work? (COVID-19 ridiculousness aside, of course.)

bigmike · Dec 30, 2020

Mike55 said:
COVID or no COVID, Lou didn't do his job and Josh knew it. Lots of employees at the U of I were proactive/creative at their job during the pandemic. Others weren't & some of those were shown the door.

I agree that a change needs to be made at the strength and conditioning level, but I was just commenting on him not being around. Sadly In the world of lawsuits and litigation, strength coaches now must bow down to the athletic training staffs and in many cases have to have their weekly strength programs approved by the team physicians.

bigmike · Dec 30, 2020

altgeld88 said:
Am curious, given the talk about Lou here, what you guys want to see from an S&C coach and program. I know nothing about Lou's regimen, just that generally S&C coaches in D-1 tend to do a lot of "silly b---s--t" regardless of the sport. When you're working with the sorts of genetic freaks (a term I use in the most complimentary way for those so athletically blessed) who make it into such programs at age 18, it's difficult to gauge S&C results when they reach 21-22 as these sorts of guys are going to get stronger no matter what is done.

The question is how much stronger can they get and what program should they use? And why should they be doing anything in an S&C program other than the four main lifts and a little supplemental work? (COVID-19 ridiculousness aside, of course.)

For years most football strength programs were a disaster. In the modern times I think the training principles are very similar and not overly impactful from one guy to the next. But, the coach himself...his personality, his ability to motivate his players, etc. is very important. I think this is probably true in many professions. You need a baseline level of technical knowledge to do your job, but after that it's about the soft skills that make people good at what they do, or not good.What makes the S&C so important is that he has access to the players all year round. No other coach develops the bond that the strength coach does, for that reason the psychological aspect is more acute. I have worked with many strength coaches who were not very knowledgeable but got a lot out of their athletes from being master motivators.

Poe's Law · Dec 30, 2020

CubsIlliniFan said:
Watch him coach and you will see. I have watched him drive Texas into the ground. Texas does have high expectations but this HC will never lead them to anymore than a middle bowl

Hasn’t UT’s trajectory improved since Herman took over? I mean he doesn’t have them back in Big XII title hunt but it’s been an improvement from Smart.

doltmanns · Dec 30, 2020

Poe's Law said:
Hasn’t UT’s trajectory improved since Herman took over? I mean he doesn’t have them back in Big XII title hunt but it’s been an improvement from Smart.

You're mixing your apples with oranges. Smart, Shaka currently is the UT men's basketball coach. Herman took over for Charlie Strong, who succeeded Mack Brown.

Deleted member 186590 · Dec 30, 2020

Given how big of deal BB made about the importance of the S&C coach I’m a little surprised he hasn’t announced one yet.

I don’t know if Herbert from UM is still in play, but it would seem BB would have the budget to offer a raise and staff allowance to give him what he wants- UM is a bit of a dumpster fire right now so there could be some appeal to leave

Chukwuwumba · Dec 30, 2020

GForce said:
Funny, every opening people on here clamor for Holocek, Nate, or some other lightly experienced former player. Meanwhile, a former standout player and total pro who bleeds O&B and was probably our best positional coach the last few years, also just happens to be on staff right now and may be retained. And yet it's all yawns and questions about his ability.

By the way, when spitballing new HC possibilities on his podcast, Dudek threw out Bellamy's name, pointing to his football IQ and how liked and respected he was by players and staff.

Great point. That was good insight on the field pass podcast that was not aware of.

Chukwuwumba · Dec 30, 2020

This is the type of staff I was hoping for the first time around with Josh, that did not come to fruition with Lovie.
Experienced Power 5 HC. Experienced OC. Hopefully experienced DC. Fill it up with a mix of young motivated and bright football minds (hopefully).
That way the top guys know how to setup a successful administration behind the scenes, and Josh can learn for future years. Program needed a reset after beckman/cubit as well. Although some things moved ahead, football development did not, as it appears.

Chukwuwumba · Dec 30, 2020

General comment, pressers have been going real well for BB and staff. Turned the tide positive for the most part for those on the fence for BB.
If a Iowa alumni with a Hawkeye tattoo and coaching ties to Wisky can charm the fan base, I really hope that correlates well to recruiting!!!

The Illinois Coaching Staff Search

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bigmike

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GForce

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ProfessorQC

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Mike55

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