The Illinois Defensive Coordinator Search

mhuml32 said:

These statements are mutually exclusive.


If Leonhard wants, he can take a year off and he'll be just as hot of a DC candidate next year with the benefit of more time to pick his ideal landing spot. The risk is Illinois' defense is destined to regress next season, just a question of whether it will become a (a) good not great defense in '23 or (b) worse. Illinois will have to offer enough of a financial windfall, familiarity (Bielema), belief in the roster pieces, and comfort that taking the DC job at Illinois will quickly propel him to a HC position.

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My suggestion is not 100% serious, as I know it is an unlikely arrangement. But there is nothing that you are saying in that bolded statement that contradicts with what a co-DCship with Kane would provide.

I would disagree with any suggestion that Leonhard would be better served by sitting out a year and waiting for a desired job offer to roll in. We aren't talking about a 100% proven commodity like an elite head coach who can afford to sit out a year calling games on tv. I feel like you have to keep up the grind and coach somewhere if you want a shot to break through to the top in college football coaching.

As for a risk with coming to Illinois when there may be a regression next year? Well, sure yeah I guess there is a risk there. I'm sure a DC position at any of the top schools with 5 star talent returning would be more appealing than our DC job. But its not like 5 star talent is walking out the door here. We have a bunch of 3 stars that worked their butts off to maximize their potential. Nothing that Leonhard hasn't seen at Wisconsin just about every year. Not really sure how much arrangement is affected by this risk. Either he'd consider coming to Illinois with the roster we have or he wouldn't, and it seems like there is at least some consideration there.

Finally, there should be nothing about being a co-coordinator that will hold back future job prospects. Look at Josh Gattis. He had a co-OC in 2021 at Michigan, and parlayed that into a Broyles Award and getting his desired position at Miami. Frankly, I think he got all of the credit for the offense at Michigan that year when he was probably the least deserving compared to Sharrone Moore and Matt Weiss, further evidenced by Michigan's continued success on offense this year and Miami's struggles with Gattis. But the point remains that if you can still parlay a co-coordinator position into your desired position. If they did this and Illinois' defense was still a solid group next year, no one would be penalizing him, and he would get any NFL DC job or head coaching job he so desires.

I'm sure ego can play a lot into whether a coach would agree to such an arrangement. But I'd argue there's a chance that its a fine setup for a guy like Leonhard when he knows this is likely just a stopover on his way to a head coaching position where he can get all of the credit if things go well and less of the blame if things go poorly.

All this, along with the historic complete reload of the Hoops AC's, only furthers my appreciate for Josh Whitman and the decisions that he has made.

We have extremely competent CEO Head Coaches in Football and Hoops. Bielema is prepared and will make the best decision in managing his staff, just as Underwood did.

All in all, Illinois Athletics is on the most solid foundation in my memory (Graduated in '89).

Tough call for Coach B.......Hire Leonard as the hired gun for one season, hoping Kane doesn't bolt. Which is the superior product? Leonard alone vs Kane leaving for PU.

InDaAZ said:

Imo, Lovie’s glorious beard was one of his better coaching decisions at Illinois…

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Why does this GIF look like something good happened, but Lovie legitimately has no idea how it happened or how he got here.

How easy is it to sell Kane on tutoring under two of the hottest current DC's (Walters and Leonhard)? That along with learning from BB could make could make a huge jump in his future almost a certainty in his mind.

mhuml32 said:

These statements are mutually exclusive.


If Leonhard wants, he can take a year off and he'll be just as hot of a DC candidate next year with the benefit of more time to pick his ideal landing spot. The risk is Illinois' defense is destined to regress next season, just a question of whether it will become a (a) good not great defense in '23 or (b) worse. Illinois will have to offer enough of a financial windfall, familiarity (Bielema), belief in the roster pieces, and comfort that taking the DC job at Illinois will quickly propel him to a HC position.

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You're omitting the stick it to Bucky factor. May not exist, but I'm guessing it does. And the Bielema factor is most likely flippin' huge too (don't think he'd even consider the gig otherwise).

dbeaverfg said:

How easy is it to sell Kane on tutoring under two of the hottest current DC's (Walters and Leonhard)? That along with learning from BB could make could make a huge jump in his future almost a certainty in his mind.

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IF BB is seriously talking to JL, then those are some of the things BB is working on to keep Kane here.
Kane is just 38 years old.
Its not like he's way behind his peers in becoming a DC at a B1G school.

again, its been mentioned that he was told he was next in line for DC, so who knows how he would take it if JL gets it.
But one would think he would have been named by now if it was a foregone conclusion inside the Smith Center that Kane was getting it .

redwingillini11 said:

100% fool-proof plan to make everyone happy: Kane and Leonhard are named co-DCs, with Leonhard calling the plays. Kane is promised this is a one year arrangement, and that next year he will be the sole, play-calling DC when Leonhard gets the HC gig he ultimately wants next offseason. Everyone is happy, we keep almost the entire staff together, we get all of the recruits we want, and we have an even more dominant defense next year. Now, let's go get some burritos at Maize to celebrate!

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You spelled "La Bamba" wrong.

Mr. Tibbs said:

IF BB is seriously to JL, then those are some of the things BB is working on to keep Kane here.
Kane is just 38 years old.
Its not like he's way behind his peers in becoming a DC at a B1G school.

again, its been mentioned that he was told he was next in line for DC, so who knows how he would take it if JL gets it.
But one would think he would have been named by now if it was a foregone conclusion inside the Smith Center that Kane was getting it .

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This is undeniably a special, extraordinary circumstance type deal. Now, how that will be received by Kane (should it come to fruition), is obviously a big unknown. But, yeah, there seems to be a high stakes game afoot (otherwise Kane would have been anointed already).

the longer this takes, the more I have to think that discussions with JL are on going and serious

Mr. Tibbs said:

the longer this takes, the more I have to think that discussions with JL are on going and serious

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Or he could be preoccupied with trying to hold onto some assistants sitting on the fence and trying to make as many of them as possible happy!

illinibb76 said:

Or he could be preoccupied with trying to hold onto some assistants sitting on the fence and trying to make as many of them as possible happy!

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no doubt

the reality I perceive is often not what is really happening

its been said that the gentlemans agreement is typically a guy can take one assistant coach with him, and its 0440's guess that its Henry who is most likely to follow RW to West LaFayette. Hard to imagine why any other coach on defense would be leaving . We are assumed to pay B1G market salaries.

mhuml32 said:

Is this the most likely outcome:

DC: Kane
AHC (title & pay bump): Henry
CBs: Outside hire

?

Seems certain that bringing in Leonhard would shake up a lot of the defensive staff, as it would increase leverage for some of those guys to follow Walters to Purdue. Then again, it's easy to see the benefit of bringing in one of the best defensive coaches in the country.

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I would think Kane would still coach OLBs and Henry CBs in this scenario. The new hire could be a secondary/safeties since safeties is the position group RW coached.

Point-Illinois said:

Screen time!

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Or throw to TEs all day long.. .. easy peasy.

dbeaverfg said:

For those curious about Leonhard's seeming attachment to the state of Wisconsin. My in-laws lived less than a mile from his HS. Here's a pic of it. Literally a barn!

View attachment 22104

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Wait. Is that Flambeau field?

illinoistradition said:

It may be necessary to point out what should be the obvious:

Just because someone played a position at the college level does not mean they will be able to coach at the college level.

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yet he played for Marv Levy, and Ted Cotrell, Wade Phillips and was considered and on-field NFL coach (8 years) who has won natl HS coach of the year award, perhaps, just maybe he can coach

Mr. Tibbs said:

the longer this takes, the more I have to think that discussions with JL are on going and serious

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is there a mandatory posting period after a job becomes available?

886Illini said:

is there a mandatory posting period after a job becomes available?

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I dont believe there is for these positions . Therre are exceptions . They dont need to post and wait two weeks when time is of the essence and can be justified. JW has made some hires fairly quickly as I recall

Joel Goodson said:

This is undeniably a special, extraordinary circumstance type deal. Now, how that will be received by Kane (should it come to fruition), is obviously a big unknown. But, yeah, there seems to be a high stakes game afoot (otherwise Kane would have been anointed already).

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Would you be upset if you gave up an upper level management position, moved your family, took a new position with a company with an unknown future all based on a promise that you get to be the next division manager and then find out that the promise was hot air?

Kane wasn't a DC at some run of the mill FCS school, he was the DC at SMU. He may even regret leaving SMU. If he knew that Dykes would be leaving in a year, it may have made sense for him to stay. At the time he and Walters were hired, he had the better defense. He was also considered for the Kansas position that went to Leipold. Some felt that if Leipold had turned the job down, Kane would have been the head coach. Kane isn't some schmuck that happens to coach football, he has a future in college football.

RJK01 said:

Would you be upset if you gave up an upper level management position, moved your family, took a new position with a company with an unknown future all based on a promise that you get to be the next division manager and then find out that the promise was hot air?

Kane wasn't a DC at some run of the mill FCS school, he was the DC at SMU. He may even regret leaving SMU. If he knew that Dykes would be leaving in a year, it may have made sense for him to stay. At the time he and Walters were hired, he had the better defense. He was also considered for the Kansas position that went to Leipold. Some felt that if Leipold had turned the job down, Kane would have been the head coach. Kane Leoisn't some schmuck that happens to coach football, he has a future in college football.

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Am well aware of Kane's bona fides. If he doesn't get the job, I wouldn't be surprised if he bolts.

DaChief4ever said:

Tough call for Coach B.......Hire Leonard as the hired gun for one season, hoping Kane doesn't bolt. Which is the superior product? Leonard alone vs Kane leaving for PU.

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There's worse problems.

imo, this is not a slight to Kane
Bret may indeed promote him
but he might hire Leonhard for his own reasons

In Bret we Trust

JJE said:

There's worse problems.

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Please to explain?

RJK01 said:

Would you be upset if you gave up an upper level management position, moved your family, took a new position with a company with an unknown future all based on a promise that you get to be the next division manager and then find out that the promise was hot air?

Kane wasn't a DC at some run of the mill FCS school, he was the DC at SMU. He may even regret leaving SMU. If he knew that Dykes would be leaving in a year, it may have made sense for him to stay. At the time he and Walters were hired, he had the better defense. He was also considered for the Kansas position that went to Leipold. Some felt that if Leipold had turned the job down, Kane would have been the head coach. Kane isn't some schmuck that happens to coach football, he has a future in college football.

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We are with you, Coach Kane!

IMPE ALL STAR said:

Please to explain?

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2-10 or 4-8 records year after year