Gotta say, these searches aren't exciting like they used to be, for me at least. I hope they find a guy with integrity and give him time to make it work. I've got complete faith in Whitman.
The Illinois Football Coaching Search
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Obviously, no announcement today for Bielema. If I were to wager its still him. I don't have a red phone to pick up and get new info, so if things changed or I was misinformed then my info is stale, and that's that. I'm definitely not trying to pose as an 'insider'.
Any way to confirm if he'll be at the Giants practice tomorrow?
I searched a bit and still don't understand what the big controversy is with him?
- Left WI for lesser SEC team which WI and BIG10 fans in general seemed to resent
- Wife had some sour grapes tweets about 'Karma'
- Had a legal battle over his buyout. Read he settled on $12mil out of original $15.4 mil buyout, and then Arkansas stopped payment on half of it because they claimed he wasn't trying hard enough to get another coaching job. Then Ark accused Belichick of conspiracy for intentionally underpaying him to avoid triggering a clause in his buyout.
Am I missing something?
Any way to confirm if he'll be at the Giants practice tomorrow?
I searched a bit and still don't understand what the big controversy is with him?
- Left WI for lesser SEC team which WI and BIG10 fans in general seemed to resent
- Wife had some sour grapes tweets about 'Karma'
- Had a legal battle over his buyout. Read he settled on $12mil out of original $15.4 mil buyout, and then Arkansas stopped payment on half of it because they claimed he wasn't trying hard enough to get another coaching job. Then Ark accused Belichick of conspiracy for intentionally underpaying him to avoid triggering a clause in his buyout.
Am I missing something?
Deleted member 29907
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Credibility?
Deleted member 747784
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Its been mentioned before , on here or the other board , and I don’t think we find anything out until the weekend or next Monday .
It’s quite likely JW has not decided yet & has it narrowed down to 2 or 3 guys, knowing all of whom would accept the offer if given.
He’s taking this week to kick the tires and do his due diligence , and line up donors to help pay the salary of the new hire .
I really think the new coach is a guy who has had head coaching experience at the D1 level and not some up & coming 34 year old . His job might not depend on getting this right , but his credibility does .
It’s quite likely JW has not decided yet & has it narrowed down to 2 or 3 guys, knowing all of whom would accept the offer if given.
He’s taking this week to kick the tires and do his due diligence , and line up donors to help pay the salary of the new hire .
I really think the new coach is a guy who has had head coaching experience at the D1 level and not some up & coming 34 year old . His job might not depend on getting this right , but his credibility does .
I wouldn't be happy with BB because of the things mentioned in the previous post. If he could turn a program around wouldn't he have been able to do it at Arkansas? Would Illinois be easier than Arkansas? I get he has midwestern roots etc. Was his success at Wisconsin a carryover of the past success there? He had some great players to work with. Would he get that player to come to Illinois because of him? Quite a bit different than Wisconsin. I say pass.
Gus made more going home than we'll be willing to pay him to leave the house. That alone most likely eliminates him from the conversation, which to me is sad. i'd love to get excited about Illinois football again.
and I see that my point is duplicate to so many others, but still rings true.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
I tend to agree. I did some background reading on Gus last night and he really held his own in the tough SEC West, having beaten Alabama three times, along with a 77-38 all-time coaching record (39-27 in SEC games) PLUS being the author of The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle: An Offensive Philosophy.
I, too, think Josh is aiming high. Hope that Gus is in his group of 3-4 finalists, along with Luke Fickell. Make them say NO. I'm one who refuses to settle for the fact that we're forever a bottom-feeding program. We will win again. Time to start the turnaround.
Deleted member 747671
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I'm with you on this. You have to at least call Gus. I just don't think Gus is in any hurry to take a new job and will wait for another good SEC job to come calling. I think Josh is aiming high too. I think he's doing everything in his power to get Fickell. I think if there's really not going to be an announcement until next week, that's a good sign of him getting his guy who I'm assuming is Fickell. If it's Liepold, Monken, Leonhard, Bielema, I would think they would be announced earlier, but maybe Liepold wants to officially win the MAC first. I don't know. I'm very intrigued by this search but have zero inside information and Josh is tough to read (which is a very good thing). So I guess my thinking is: if the announcement is this week, it's Bielema, Leonhard, Monken or maybe Liepold. If the announcement is next week it's Fickell, Liepold, or a surprise big name.
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
Going from Lovie to Gundy sure would be something. Not interested.
Deleted member 747671
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Agree on all that. He seems to always flirt with leaving and is a good coach. I can definitely see him leaving or retiring (not permanently, like 1-2 years maybe) in the next couple years. He already makes like 5 mil. We'd need to pony up even more. I don't think he'd leave for a rebuild though. I could see him leaving for a different P5 job after a successful coach retires or takes a bigger job though.
Big no on Gundy. I’d prefer BB over him.
For what its worth, Malzahn's contract had language that future earnings do not impact the money owed if fired by Auburn. He could sign a new big contract at Illinois and still receive every penny owed from Auburn.
Watch which team chokes this weekend, then you will know from where our coach comes.
Deleted member 747671
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That's wild. Every coach should hire his agent and whoever wrote that contract for Auburn should be fired lol
malzahn or fickell, i'd be happy to have either one!
KrushCow31
Former Krush Cow
- Chicago, IL
Well at least you're keeping it realistic
Mack Brown won a NC, and got Texas to another. Not to mention his other successes. He lost steam at one of the most demanding schools in the country. Brown had UNC humming in the 90s. He's probably a top 25 all time coach.
Bielema had some great success at Wisconsin, but he is not on Mack Brown's level. Heck, I'll give him credit for those Rose Bowl's (though back to back to back losses isn't something to smile about) and I actually think sustaining success after a legend coaches somewhere is as challenging as almost any situation. Fact is, if I had to chose, I'd take Brown 6 days a week and twice on Sundays.
Illinois could do a lot worse than Beilema, but comparing him as a coach or situation to Brown, other than them being out of the spotlight a few years before getting a new HC gig is laughable.
You needing an offensive coordinator? I'm available, I coached two years of JV football 30 years ago.
I love this line of thinking.
You are overvaluing Brown. He has a championship, but it was under his “leadership” that Texas got run into the ground. The last several coaches have been trying to get them back on the map.
I don’t disagree with him being a CEO, but if you mention the good, you have to mention the bad too.
Also, he was responsible for starting the UNC paper classes system for athletes...
BZuppke
- Plainfield
These are good questions and cannot be answered unless he were to be hired. The transition to the SEC and his lack of success there could be an indication he doesn’t have the ability to turn around a program or an indication that his lack of SEC experience and connections made it impossible to succeed. Either conclusion could be true.
Well first off, allegations. Not saying there's no chance he did start that scandal, but please share where they vacated wins or got punished in any way for it. Fact is, it hasn't hurt them (yet). I'll agree once he's show caused or UNC vacates wins and Brown is implicated.
I'll be the first to admit if a coach wins us a natty, then proceeds to never win another, and has one losing season in 8 seasons after it, I'm going to consider him the greatest hire in Illini history. He had Texas competing for a shot at the title for what, a solid decade, maybe decade and a half? That is all time stuff, regardless of where you coach.
Speaking of that, I'll admit Texas is one of the easier places to win at. And Brown did start a downturn, but he left that team in a spot that wasn't far off from where he found it, and I would argue better. It isn't his fault they hired Strong.
Mack Brown has coached 31 years and has 5 losing seasons to his name, 4 of which coming in his first 5 years as HC. He's an all timer if there ever was one.
I don't think Beilema is a bad coach, but I cannot put him near the ranks of Brown.
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AirNeezy
Orange Krush '13 -'14
Obviously Mack Brown is a better coach than Bielema. My point was responding to another post which had concerns about BB not having the fire for college ball anymore and I was saying that a lot of the national discourse was the same about Mack Brown at a similar juncture and now its worked out splendidly for UNC.
So there is at least some track record of success for "retreads" who had a down period but got a fresh start.
A coach with a proven history of success with a chip on their shoulder would a great grab for us. If we did land BB, I'd hope he has the same fire as when Mack got tossed by Texas.
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