altenberger22
- South Carolina
My brother-in-law is in the bag business. My contribution -- consider it done.
The Illinois Football Coaching Search
- Status
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Oh Gritty, don't ever change.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I don't think there's any secrecy about it, it's that he's a jerk to people, including his superiors, and he's been seen drinking and carousing with students while being a major authority figure at the school. He's been said to be an all-around bad guy at previous jobs.What's up with the all the innuendo surrounding this guy? Is this just a matter of BB having a bad personality and being an a** or is it something more? Or is BB some kind of made man in the mafia where if you spill the beans you get whacked?
Are Mr. "I Could Still Be The Coach And Probably Should Be" Barry Alvarez and just-got-burned-by-Bobby-Petrino Arkansas somewhat unreliable narrators in that regard? To an extent, but we know Bielema is abrasive, and any of the coed stuff is too much.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
In a year where transferring will occur at a record level, I do expect the new coach to bring with him some highly regarded talent (both on-field and coaches)!
Deleted member 380722
D
Guest
Drinking amongst other substances...
For me it is his character. I think I would have been ok with Leach. BB winning is ok. But not great either. But all him for me.
Who does Chief Gritty want? I haven’t read anything?
I see positives about lots of our most likely candidates. I still think it will be BB. But I like LL as an option. I don’t think it’s fair to call him a “goober” lol.
I see positives about lots of our most likely candidates. I still think it will be BB. But I like LL as an option. I don’t think it’s fair to call him a “goober” lol.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
All very valid. And I happen to agree.
Perhaps not a legitimate benchmark, but.......
I have this suspicion that Whitman has the Nancy Fahey hire (Women's BB coach) in the back of his mind. She had a similar resume at Wash U and I believe we've finished dead last in the Big 10 every year since she arrived. Her overall career winning percentage before arriving was 85% and she never had more than 8 losses in a single season.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And so there are two questions about that, right?
One is will it happen here? Because 2017 is not that long ago, but in terms of the 50 year old millionaire football coach being in any kind of compromising position with respect to teenage girls, 2017 might as well be the stone age. It cannot happen here, not once.
And the second, to be very frank, would be was it the lack of behavior control that brought some of the magic? Is a buttoned up Bielema going to be miserable, even worse to people, and lesser at his job?
Gotta be really digging into these questions. They all apply to Steve Sarkisian too by the way, it's not like we're the only ones that would find ourselves to be in a position to ask these things. Sark got burned and paid for it though. What made Bielema learn his lesson?
Curious, what accounted for his success at Whitewater (schemes, motivation, development, etc)? Does any of what made him successful there not translate to Power5?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
To put my cards on the table I have wanted Illinois to run triple option for probably over a decade and even thinking that I never imagined a candidate as perfect as Monken would come along. And with IW sitting right there too. The stars have aligned.
Plus, there is no doubt whatsoever that running any other offense he would have been at a bigger program than Illinois two years ago. It's an opportunity to get a resume and an objective track record of success Illinois does not otherwise have access to.
(I understand the downsides, it's not just pagan superstition that makes major schools leery of triple option. There are challenges. But it also drives me insane when people act like Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech never happened.)
Last edited:
Besides his age, I would have to agree. Between him or BB, he would be my preference.
Are you saying that jw has worked his magic indy?
I could get behind that too. I think we all know it’s almost certainly not going to happen though.
I 100% support Whitman so I’ll be all in on whoever he hires.
Nobody has the right to call anybody a goober. Sounds like those obnoxious social media kids.
Knowing Josh, nothing is off the table until a hire is made and the pen hits the paper...
By that measure, you'd have passed on Matt Campbell.
I wish for a winning football coach. That's all I want. Don't care about anything else. Just win.
Would be crazy not to at least to contact Fickell and see if he is interested. This year has made it obvious that Cincinati is not going to get the opportunities
the power 5 schools get. You can say he is waiting for a big time job but no guarantee one will come open and no guarantee he would get it. We would have
to pay but proven winner with strong midwest background who I believe could turn the program around quickly
the power 5 schools get. You can say he is waiting for a big time job but no guarantee one will come open and no guarantee he would get it. We would have
to pay but proven winner with strong midwest background who I believe could turn the program around quickly
sacraig
- The desert
I would amend that slightly. I want a winning football coach without NCAA sanctions or legal issues of any kind.
Maybe, but Auburn has a top target who hired strippers for their recruits and that to me is way worse ethically. Who knows, maybe the mad pirate thought he was actually doing something good medically for the kid. He is odd for sure, but it is funny SEC schools happen to look past the baggage when they hire head coaches.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Listen, I say that with the utmost affection for Wisconsin goobers in general.
Anyone who has spent any time in Wisconsin knows the kind of person I'm talking about, and I wish you all the pleasure of enjoying an evening of blackjack with a few of them at one of the state's fine tribal gaming establishments.
The guy's personality does not scream "elite college football coach", that's what I am trying to get across.
The case FOR Lance Leipold is as simple as watching one of his games. There's watching a good football team, and then there's watching a well coached football team, and every time I've seen his Buffalo teams in a weeknight MACtion game, it is dead stinking obvious they are really well coached.
We might not get the talent with Leipold, we might not always have the cutting edge tactically (though he's been very solid in that regard at the MAC level), but our teams are going to be out there looking like they know what they're doing, and we all know how seldom that has been the case at Illinois over the past 15 years.
My no way list is BB, PJFleck, Lane Kiffin, and almost forgot Mike Gundy
It seems like you are talking out of both sides of your mouth here. For one, Buffalo was pretty bad under their previous coach. He went 2-10, 3-9, 4-8, 8-5, and 3-4 (fired mid season). Leipold has elevated that significantly, and I find it unfair to dismiss him going 5-0 this season because of a pandemic. They have dominated their games, including against another coach being considered.
For those critical of the D3 success and comparing it to Fahey, she did not have that success at another school like he has. He has proven he can come in and build up a program. I’m sick of hires based on 2 or 3 years of success. That’s why people like Babers get hired. They have success for a couple years based off of someone else’s recruiting and then flop.
I’m all in with hiring him. People throwing out names like Bob Stoops or Luke Fickell are crazy. There is no way we will get anyone close to that level. Whitman can have his statue built already if he can pull that off. I’d be shocked if he could get Clawson to come here and would consider that a pretty big steal. Let’s remember: we have 4 winning seasons in 21 years of this millennium. 4. That will not draw in people without a ton of money or a substantial move up in status (G5 to P5).
- Status