The Illinois Football Coaching Search

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 17, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
There is a great deal of truth to this, but there's also the memory of Year 2 under Zook, which on Wikipedia is 2-10, but living through it was a moment in which everyone walked out of that Ohio State game knowing we were on the right track with light rapidly growing at the end of the tunnel. Not just recruiting, it was right there to see on the field too.

You can see it when it's going well. Buffalo WASN'T going well in Year 2. And then it was. That's EXTREMELY rare. There are basically no coaches, even at Group of Five dumpster fires, who were ever in the 110's -50% type area, especially after year 1, especially declining from Year 1, and survived to do anything. And yet.

We will know to a great degree of certainty that Leipold will fail if we're among the worst teams in the country in 2022. We should probably fire him in that moment if it's financially feasible. And yet.

This stuff is really hard.

I wonder how common/rare that Zook experience was. I'm sure it would take some digging, but that was during my time at U of I. We got absolutely destroyed year 1, and couldn't figure out how to win in year 2. But the recruiting was firing on all cylinders from day 1 at a level not common to a place like Illinois. The level of excitement, expectation, and anticipation going into and throughout year 3 had to be crazy rare for a program that won what, 4 games over the previous 2 years?

mhuml32 · Dec 17, 2020

TCTORNADO said:
Heard from a team manager that there is a team meeting @1:00 on Sunday.

Sunday announcement would make it hard to believe it's Bielema.

coryfor3 · Dec 17, 2020

Homecoming 2019 said:
I'm not sure there is a coach in the nation that turns this ship around in less than 2 years. My expectations for the next 2 years are very very low.

Yeah- it's gotta be more like year 3 to start to see a turnaround.

arude8 · Dec 17, 2020

TCTORNADO said:
Heard from a team manager that there is a team meeting @1:00 on Sunday.

Yep and presser around 4ish I would guess. Allows all illini media covering the bball game to wrap up press conferences and get their post game stories out before the zoom

The Sprouting Divot · Dec 17, 2020

TriangleIL said:
I was at my son's little league game yesterday evening. Anyways, one of his teammates dad's just happens to be a hot dog vendor. Of course, with no games going on, he still has to make money. He pushes a hot dog cart around Champaign. You may have seen him out there recently.

Anyways, he was pushing his cart last night and lo and behold, JW shows up to grab some food. Hot dog vendor dad see's JW with a few other folks, and chat's up JW to find out more about the coaching search.

JW divulges that he's interviewing some candidates for the job, and he has someone lined up. He is currently talking to a few unexpected names, and thinks we may still get a chance at one of them. JW wouldn't mention names, but he did say he was headed to Ohio Friday and then Charlotte on Saturday. Not sure what to make of it.

Does your son's teammate's dad have a license to sell hotdogs?

illini0440 · Dec 17, 2020

mhuml32 said:
Sunday announcement would make it hard to believe it's Bielema.

From my understanding the announcement was going to come after the Penn St. game no matter who the hire was.

TriangleIL · Dec 17, 2020

illini0440 said:
From my understanding the announcement was going to come after the Penn St. game no matter who the hire was.

So you are saying it's Miles Smith and Lovie will be the DC?

ChiefGritty · Dec 17, 2020

WINTer said:
I wonder how common/rare that Zook experience was. I'm sure it would take some digging, but that was during my time at U of I. We got absolutely destroyed year 1, and couldn't figure out how to win in year 2. But the recruiting was firing on all cylinders from day 1 at a level not common to a place like Illinois. The level of excitement, expectation, and anticipation going into and throughout year 3 had to be crazy rare for a program that won what, 4 games over the previous 2 years?

The dirty little secret is that a lot of what would end up being the reasons Zook failed were very visible in 2006. Kirk Ferentz goes 7-5 with that team, though of course he wouldn't recruit the class Zook did during that season. Alas.

Zook and that initial staff couldn't coach gameday to save their lives, but they had those kids believing in one another, dedicated to getting better, working their tails off in the weight room and in practice, and was bringing in a more talented new flight of players every year.

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 17, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
The dirty little secret is that a lot of what would end up being the reasons Zook failed were very visible in 2006. Kirk Ferentz goes 7-5 with that team, though of course he wouldn't recruit the class Zook did during that season. Alas.

Zook and that initial staff couldn't coach gameday to save their lives, but they had those kids believing in one another, dedicated to getting better, working their tails off in the weight room and in practice, and was bringing in a more talented new flight of players every year.

I actually disagree with this. Lockley was still learning OC but was doing pretty well. The spread run was very rare in the B1G at that time. Okruch I believe was the DC at least in 06 and 07, and that D was one of the reasons so many people were excited going into the Rose Bowl year. Keeping OSU at what 14 points in 06 and then winning there in 07.

Deleted member 380722 · Dec 17, 2020

ILL_INI said:
Agreed. People want to excuse his record at Arkansas because of being in the SEC West, which is fair, but he didn't recruit well at Arkansas at all. He doesn't "check all the boxes" for me.

I hate Bielema but his recruiting at Arkansas wasn’t bad at all.

RedRocksIllini · Dec 17, 2020

illini0440 said:
Heard he was in an igloo outside guidos downtown last night.

Seems like 0440 gave us all the clues we need right here. Igloo is clearly a reference to Hugh Freeze. And guidos is shorthand for guido tuxedo, aka, tracksuit, aka Bret Bielema. And downtown last night? That part had me stumped at first. Last night as in yesterday which is ayer in Spanish. Downtown...obviously Urban. Downtown last night points right to Urban M-ayer. Put it all together and what do you get? It's so very clear now. Pepe Silvia will be our next coach!

ChiefGritty · Dec 17, 2020

WINTer said:
I actually disagree with this. Lockley was still learning OC but was doing pretty well. The spread run was very rare in the B1G at that time. Okruch I believe was the DC at least in 06 and 07, and that D was one of the reasons so many people were excited going into the Rose Bowl year. Keeping OSU at what 14 points in 06 and then winning there in 07.

I guess what I'm getting at is Indiana and Wisconsin that year were a couple of the most slapstick losses I've seen out of us. And there were others we had no business losing that year too.

We were a much better football team, at that point of course with mainly Turner's players, but we couldn't get out of our own way in the same way we would see in 08-09.

TCTORNADO · Dec 17, 2020

MadIllini4 said:
I hate Bielema but his recruiting at Arkansas wasn’t bad at all.

Not sure he would be able to pass Whitman's compliance class.

ChiefGritty · Dec 17, 2020

TCTORNADO said:
Not sure he would be able to pass Whitman's compliance class.

Star pupils Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman

Deleted member 747671 · Dec 17, 2020

ChiefGritty said:
I guess what I'm getting at is Indiana and Wisconsin that year were a couple of the most slapstick losses I've seen out of us. And there were others we had no business losing that year too.

We were a much better football team, at that point of course with mainly Turner's players, but we couldn't get out of our own way in the same way we would see in 08-09.

True. As a college kid, I pretty much just wrote it all up being the growing pains of a new staff, because of the flashes of good. But yeah it got ugly in 08-09.

TwoElevenEastDaniel · Dec 17, 2020

So if Matt Campbell is too much of a longshot (which, duh) and Nathan Scheelhaase is too young/inexperienced to take on an entire staff (which, I can accept), is there any consideration for the guy in between? I know the talk has focused on Monken and LL, which both make logical sense. But at any point has Tom Manning been a legitimate candidate?

KevinC · Dec 17, 2020

CurbeloYourEnthusiasm said:
First, its hard to beat Alabama, LSU, Auburn in regular years. Then during his time at Arkansas - Ole Miss/Miss State were also really really good. People don't realize that in 2014, Miss State was ranked #1 in the country, and Ole Miss #3 for part of that time. Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze coached those teams. Mullen is now at Florida, and Freeze is being sought after by Auburn. The SEC West is where the very best college football coaches/teams compete. That Bielema couldnt raise Arkansas level to compete with those teams isn't a negative as far as whether he can still be successful in the Big 10. It just means he's not the very best college coach in America. But that's ok. Illinois doesn't need nor will ever get the very best coach. We just need competent coaches that know what they are doing. It's like a student failing out of Harvard. Just because you fail in the Ivy League, doesn't mean you can't be successful in the Big 10. And the SEC West is the Ivy League of football.

NOT!!!

ILL_INI · Dec 17, 2020

IllinoisOKC said:
Are you meaning in recruiting rankings or what he tried to recruit to Arkansas? He had top 30 classes but he failed in the fact that Arkansas cannot play the same style of smash mouth football as bama or lsu at the time.

I'm going by the general consensus of the Arkansas fans and more specifically his efforts, which were perhaps unfair. Expectations are much higher there.

Mike55 · Dec 17, 2020

I'm hearing either LL or BB. Let me clarify that this person specifically said this is their guess. They do however currently work in the Football department.

Alfonz24 · Dec 17, 2020

illini0440 said:
The bigger question is does Stoops really want this job. WHile his wife does like Chicago she is very happy in Norman, and their son is at OU.

When his son is done at OU, then he could come here and be the DC.

AirNeezy · Dec 17, 2020

mhuml32 said:
I am absolutely not saying Bielema is Petrino but when the motorcycle incident happened: Petrino was 51, had been married for 27 years, and had two sons + two daughters. Simply being a married man and father does not mean you are a "family man". If you don't like that comparison, you can easily search and find a number of others. Bielema could be in a better place, but being married and a parent doesn't guarantee anything.

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