The Illinois Football Coaching Search

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#826      

Deleted member 747671

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ChiefGritty said:
Right he'd had a big hand in building a winning roster (no mean feat at Northwestern in those days) and was a known quantity in-house. And of course they were put in a very tough situation with Walker's sudden, unexpected death in late June.

They did not name Fitzgerald an interim, they gave him the job in that moment, but one thing to remember is that Northwestern is a private school, they don't have to disclose anything about their coaches contracts. It would be fair to speculate that the contract Fitzgerald signed to get that job gave the school plenty of flexibility if it wasn't working out, a luxury a public school doesn't have.

Oh, and a million internet points to anyone who can name the OC on Fitzgerald's first staff.
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Wasn't it Gerrick McGee?
 
#827      

mhuml32

mhuml32
Cincinnati, OH
mhuml32
My Top 5 (in order):

1. Lance Leipold
2. Billy Napier
3. Jim Leonhard
4. Marcus Freeman
5. Tom Manning

Manning is more placeholder than #5, as I view a number of other candidates at his same level. I avoided any consideration for Campbell, Fickell, Malzahn, etc. because I don't believe they will consider our program.
 
#828      

AirNeezy

AirNeezy
Orange Krush '13 -'14
AirNeezy
FollowMeDontFollowMe said:
Get ready for a Bielema announcement today. I believe negotiations started a week ago in NJ, and deal was all but sealed yesterday. I also believe his family arrived in town last night.

(FYI, I do not have any connections to Illini administration)
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If this is true, can't be mad about getting a coach who went 37-19 in the B1G and to 3 straight Rose Bowls. Proven success at this level even if it didn't work out in the SEC (and honestly for most of the last 20 years Arkansas has been just an average program so it's not like he was historically awful there)
 
#831      

Keisersose

Keisersose
Keisersose
Posted way back that I’d be surprised if it weren’t Bielema and I was accused of trolling. I think he wants it really bad, “beating down the door” may not be too far off.
I’m not pining for him. I don’t care who we get, I trust Whitman and wouldn’t want anyone else making these decisions for the University I love.
Josh will get the best guy he can. And then he will be all in until he can’t.
 
#832      

Deleted member 747671

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I have 0 inside information, but I will say, I think Bielema is far more likely than Brian Hartline, whom one of our best/favorite insiders mentioned yesterday.
 
#833      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
WINTer said:
Wasn't it Gerrick McGee?
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Ding ding ding!

And the DC was Greg Colby, also with Illini connections.

Fitz went 4-8 and a weak 6-6 in his first two seasons. It was teetering a bit. Then he fired both coordinators, brought Mick McCall as OC from Bowling Green, and Mike Hankwitz who had just been fired by Wisconsin (by Bielema in fact) as DC, and they found the formula and never looked back.

That's what studying this stuff teaches you. There is every chance what makes or breaks the coach we're about to hire is a decision two years from now that isn't currently foreseeable and has nothing to do with what can been seen on these resumes.
 
#834      

Butters

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Butters
AirNeezy said:
If we hired a triple option HC, I could see fan interest for the program bottoming out. Not only would we lose for the first couple seasons while they try to install the system but we would lose in the most boring, mind numbing way of the kind that would kill recruiting for awhile.
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To me, the most important part of increasing fan interest is winning. I really don't think most people care about how pretty it looks (see Wisconsin basketball attendance).
 
#836      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
Question: if it is Bielema and assuming his offense looks like what he ran at WI, does that send anyone in the QB room heading for the door? I think of WI as big run team, but not necessarily QB running. Not a student of the game like many in here as far as particular O and D’s, so just wondering what thoughts are. Thanks
 
#837      

Deleted member 747671

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EyeoftheIllini said:
Question: if it is Bielema and assuming his offense looks like what he ran at WI, does that send anyone in the QB room heading for the door? I think of WI as big run team, but not necessarily QB running. Not a student of the game like many in here as far as particular O and D’s, so just wondering what thoughts are. Thanks
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I think there's going to be a lot of movement, regardless of who the new coach is or if Lovie was kept. The combo of the covid year and no sit-out year means it's going to be crazy this year. Strictly regarding BB, it depends who he brings in as OC. I imagine he'll keep a similar philosophy but the actual scheme could be different.
 
#838      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
VAIllini35 said:
Or, correcting people who misspell peoples' names. If you think of these as conversations/discussions rather than essays... you'll sleep better. ;)
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The Loyalty commenters apparently follow the same principle that we hope guides JW's coaching search: God is in the details.

Don't know about you but every time I see an "S"-apostrophe used correctly in the plural possessive among my brethren here my heart swells with Illini pride.;)
 
#839      

DaChief4ever

D
Urbana
DaChief4ever
Title said:
The new coach just has to be consistent especially in recruiting. The entire state and country should know what type of ball player the staff wants. In the last 10 years the type of recruits changed almost every year. This is a clear indicator that there wasn't a true system in place. Consistency equals success. The hire needs to be someone that knows where they want to go and how to get there. The name isn't as important as the ability to implement a system and be consistent.
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YES....we need alot more emphasis on recruiting ability....best coach in world can dream up schemes/plans but not have the players to execute. Some of the coaches mentioned are successful...BUT...with 4 and 5 star players., difficult to judge just how good a GOOD COACH is going to be with low talent.
 
#842      

Illini03

I
Illini03
MoCoMdIllini said:
Wasn't Pat Fitzgerald already on the staff when their HC died suddenly?

Checked. Yes, he'd been a position coach at NU since 2001 under Randy Walker.

So this wasn't a "grab a young guy from another staff" situation. More of an unexpected succession.
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But in Nate's defense he was on our staff, but actually landed in a better position at Iowa St. Not sure Nate is ready for the HC job, but the fact that he is not currently on our staff has nothing to do with it and his experience with Campbell is more of a positive attribute.
 
#843      

JJE

JJE
Bethalto, IL
JJE
It's only Tuesday, but I haven't seen any of the coaches that this board think we are targeting say they aren't interested in this job so far. Including Fickell. It's possible they haven't been asked, but that's encouraging.
 
#844      

Deleted member 747671

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Illini03 said:
But in Nate's defense he was on our staff, but actually landed in a better position at Iowa St. Not sure Nate is ready for the HC job, but the fact that he is not currently on our staff has nothing to do with it and his experience with Campbell is more of a positive attribute.
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Maybe an unpopular opinion, but if I'm Nate, I think I only come here if it includes a promotion to OC. Otherwise, I'm sticking with Campbell for the foreseeable future. This time next year, he may be co-OC at Michigan or Texas with the way Campbell is going.
 
#845      

saukee

S
saukee
I trust JW I believe he is a smart enough man to have his ducks in a row, I think his behind the scenes talking with candidates had progressed enough to pull the trigger on Lovie
 
#847      

Deleted member 747671

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Really when you look at the reaction to the idea of Bielema on here and twitter, maybe he should bring in Nate in a co-OC role to try to get that support back. Lots of Bielema haters out there.
 
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