Bret Bielema Takes Reins of Illinois Football

#426      
Joel Goodson
BexleyIllini said:
I wasn’t going to be thrilled with any coach we reasonably could’ve expected to get. I think BB does check a lot of boxes, and his abrasive style will annoy other BIG schools. Maybe an abrasive, obnoxious personality will work? Nothing else has worked for us.
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Nothing to do with it. We need someone who can coach and recruit. Lovie couldn't/wouldn't recruit. I'm not in love with Bielema, but I definitely think he's an upgrade over Smith. Having a big chip on his shoulder should fuel his grind.
 
#428      
illini80
ChiefGritty said:
And yet it still may very well happen. It's a tough job, our roster is in shaky at best shape, and Bielema is someone who had a bit of a negative reputation EVEN WHEN WINNING for a reason. This whole thing could look like a disaster in a year on all fronts.

That said, the Lovie era was truly a road to nowhere, and this hire has a surface-level plausibility in addressing what those problems and needs are. The proof will be in the pudding.
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Agree to disagree. That would have him winning even less games than Lovie in conference. Seems incredibly unlikely.
 
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#430      
illini80
illini80 said:
You are being very kind today. 🙂 I didn’t finish the job but was looking at the 247 rankings since Lovie was hired and on average we are either last or very close to it over that period. Lovie was able to bring in some bandaid transfers to cover up the worst of it, but I think it’s fair to say even the bulk of transfers were players that never lived up to their potential as recruits for whatever reason.

I think the potential is there to get some better coaching and see an immediate bump in performance on the field. A lot will depend on who fills out the staff obviously. I’m hopeful, if not confident we are in a better place.
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To finish the recruiting comments, I took the average recruiting classes from 247 for the 5 classes Lovie recruited and compared it to same classes for Indiana, Purdue, Northwesrtern, and Rutgers (The other bottom dwellers recruiting wise). We are dead last and it’s not close.
 
#432      
trtl
dbeverly26 said:
Can’t say I know enough about football to give the hire an up or down based on anything that matters, but spending the morning grinding my teeth at Wisconsin fans patting us on the head and saying we don’t have enough tradition to deserve anything other than one of their rejects hasn’t done much for my mood.
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They didn’t reject him. He rejected them. Remind them of that.
 
#433      
Ubermensch
Bielema was probably the least-risky hire JW could have made in football terms. He gives IL a new, higher floor. I have to give JW a ton of credit. He proved me wrong. I didn't think there was any way he'd work with Bielema. He has made 3 hires I never could have imagined. The guy is willing to take chances.
 
#435      
DocMorgan
whatahack said:
Indy too I think....
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Correct. I would like to hear if they have any info about how this shook out. In my mind, JW was all in on LL until about the 3rd quarter of last nights game. Then, he decided to make a call..Hello, is Brett there?
 
#438      
trtl
the Castle on Daniel said:
We could have spent the year tempting head coaches at P5 schools that are consistent but underpaid. We'd have some post-pandemic clarity on the reality of our situation. This whole season has been a wash. There was no rush to part ways with Lovie. I'd rather be set back one year than 4+. At best, Bret will give us what Lovie was. He's not the guy for the job, but we're stuck with him for at least four years.
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Name one that we didn’t pursue this time.
 
#441      
lexwaldez
I'm trying to look at this a little differently. Josh probably tried to talk to a couple home run hires and couldn't get the time of day. Back to the little black book of coaches and on to the next three. So is Bert an upgrade from Lovie? The only way you really screw this is up is firing Lovie and hiring a downgrade. Bert has some issues... you've got rumors of past drinking problem, off the field problems with alums, players, and reporters... but then again that was then and this is now. He's spent some time in the NFL, he's probably learned and matured. On the plus side his wife is smokin hot, he's looking at a 3-4 defense which would be worlds better from where we are today. The big question marks for me are staff (addressed over the next week or two) and recruiting. So a mixed bag all around with recruiting the biggest issue (it's always the biggest issue). I can't hate the hire. We were never going to get the Fickel or Monk. Bert has every reason to put his all into this and succeed. I'm looking forward to a NORMAL fall school year in 2021 (not a given but I can dream) with a normal football schedule. I can get behind this hire with a little effort.
 
#443      
lexwaldez
illini80 said:
To finish the recruiting comments, I took the average recruiting classes from 247 for the 5 classes Lovie recruited and compared it to same classes for Indiana, Purdue, Northwesrtern, and Rutgers (The other bottom dwellers recruiting wise). We are dead last and it’s not close.
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That really was THE issue with the Lovie era. That's a good metric to look at. Thnx for posting.
 
#444      
Deleted member 186590
Ubermensch said:
Bielema was probably the least-risky hire JW could have made in football terms. He gives IL a new, higher floor. I have to give JW a ton of credit. He proved me wrong. I didn't think there was any way he'd work with Bielema. He has made 3 hires I never could have imagined. The guy is willing to take chances.
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I agree with this- it’s hard to argue BB isn’t an upgrade as a Big Ten head coach. He can restore the program to be competitive again and that was really the goal for this hire.

taking a swing at another Mac coach to see if we can hit a home run would not have made anybody happy. The Beckman hire was so bad by Skeletor, because at the time it was widely know Matt Campbell was the real rising star at Toledo and instead we hired the lame duck head coach blocking him.
 
#445      
Keisersose
DocMorgan said:
Correct. I would like to hear if they have any info about how this shook out. In my mind, JW was all in on LL until about the 3rd quarter of last nights game. Then, he decided to make a call..Hello, is Brett there?
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No. Bret was the first choice and had been for a long time.
 
#447      
ChiefGritty
illini80 said:
Agree to disagree. That would have him winning even less games than Lovie in conference. Seems incredibly unlikely.
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It COULD be that Bielema's comments about changing his style and his eyes being opened by the NFL mean that he's going to fill out his staff with a bunch of lightly credentialed NFL guys, galaxy brain himself into playing a style of football he doesn't have the expertise in he thinks he does, be brashly overconfident in his ability to recruit and end up decimating the already thin roster chasing guys away, and then John Groce himself plowing all his energy and resources into in-state recruiting battles he's never going to win.

That COULD happen, that's completely plausible with everything we know now, and the results on the field would be catastrophic.

I don't think that's the most likely outcome, and I think it's more likely that Bielema will hire a high quality staff with some recognizable overlap from where he's been previously, he'll evolve in his system outlook somewhat and be flexible to best suit his players, he'll be opportunistic about using the Covid rules to have the best roster he can right away and then really hit a four hour radius around Champaign hard with a credible staff of real deal college recruiters and show real improvement there.

Whichever outcome happens, everyone will claim in four years that it was obvious all along. And that will be a lie. The outcome is not obvious in this moment. The story is still to be written.

lexwaldez said:
That really was THE issue with the Lovie era. That's a good metric to look at. Thnx for posting.
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I'd call it a subsidiary issue of THE issue which is that from Day 1 until last Sunday Lovie never felt he had to run his program up to the industry standards of college football. One tendril off of that was that he never built a coaching staff capable of success on the recruiting trail, but there were others.

Remember how many practices Lovie just called off during that first spring ball, satisfied that enough work had been done? It wasn't just one, it was like 3 or 4. There were flashing red lights all along the way.
 
#448      
Pennsy
I get a strong sense of the energy level rising for U of I football already, and have heard BB speak 3 times, seen at least 3 photos. He's already called Underwood and the head of the Illinois HS football coaches assn. Spending 2 years with Belichick certainly will have strengthened his foundation. I'm sure he will get camera shots during the PSU football game today.
 
#450      
hermie1985
So how many roster spots do we have available to fill with kids from the transfer portal? Talent will be stacking up at all levels of talent with extra Covid eligibility. This should be fun to watch as BB gets to work. Short time to put together a staff and glean what he can from the portal.
 
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