Illinois
- Thread starter stpaulcat
- Start date
Well, he isn't going back to the SEC. Any other conference is a step down from the B1G.
As you can imagine I don't follow anything about IL, but explain why he loves it there? Not doubting, just interested.
He credits Josh Whitman (AD) for giving him a new shot as a college FB head coach, and those two have a great relationship. Whitman opened the checkbook to pay top dollar for assistant coaches. Whitman understands the school needs to have success at football to drive the rest of the athletic program train. BB is a culture guy, knows he only needs to win 7-8 games per year with a bowl game to make the fans happy. BB's three seasons in the NFL (two with the Patriots under Belicheck) opened his eyes to adjustments he had to make to be a successful college coach. You may notice that we play a much more diverse offense than the four yards and a cloud of dust style when he coached at Wisconsin. I was incredibly skeptical of the hire, but he quickly won me over. He understands the college game (especially how to win in the Big Ten west), works his *** off and embraced the culture at Illinois. I hope he can sustain it. Football Saturdays have become so much better when you have a competitive team.
Oh, I know that as well. You guys have suffered for a long time. Isn't it nice to have an AD you have faith in, we did in JP (minus his contract negotiation skills). The new guy at NU, meh.
On the Michigan-Ped St half time show, the crew referred to Bielema as being the best at developing an OL in the country, and I thought, mmmm, maybe Anderson was just letting Bert do the work.
They also declared that anybody could win the West, well, except Northwestern harharharhar we love ya Fitz.
He hung 47 on Fitz and JON last year, why not 60 this year? Our defense has not improved at all.
Fitz is a wealthy guy with a guaranteed contract until 2030. He has no incentive to have that attitude.
Had success at Wisconsin. As I understand it, got frustrated with certain W limitations, heard the siren song of $EC and left. Had unacceptably mediocre results at AR and was tossed. In exile for 3 years and hired by a long-suffering program and coach's graveyard. Quick turnaround. I am sure they are throwing roses at his feet ,(and ,$). Illinois has had ONE 10 win season since 1989.
Why WOULD he leave?
No it is not. Illinois athletic department receives no state funding.
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Exactly. Honestly, Illinois is a perfect job … tons of potential, we’ll pay you a ton of money and our expectations are super low!!
I think he'll be offered the Iowa job when Ferentz retires (I believe he played there). Whether he taks it - nobody knows. It'll probably boil down to how much Illinois will pony up to keep him, and also whether his sucesss is sustainable.
As I posted in another thread, he hired a very successful Illinois high school coach to cement relationships between U of I and the high school coaches in the state. I believe that move will bear fruit, and Illinois wil have increased success reucruiting this state. That does not bode well fo NU. When you look at his choices in hiring, so far, he's done a great job. Frankly, I didn't like him when he was at Wisconsin, and still don't like him, but you have to give him credit for what he's been able to do in just 2 years. At the moment, Illinois appears to be the best team in the West. They have a strong offensive line, a very good QB, an outstanding RB, good route running-sure handed receivers, a nasty DL, decent, aggressive LBs, and from my perspective, one of the better defensive backfields and better than average STs. Pretty much what you need to win the west.
Earlier in the year when they blew it against Indiana, I said they didn't have a chance (man, was I wrong about that). Now I don't know who can take it away from them.
As I posted in another thread, he hired a very successful Illinois high school coach to cement relationships between U of I and the high school coaches in the state. I believe that move will bear fruit, and Illinois wil have increased success reucruiting this state. That does not bode well fo NU. When you look at his choices in hiring, so far, he's done a great job. Frankly, I didn't like him when he was at Wisconsin, and still don't like him, but you have to give him credit for what he's been able to do in just 2 years. At the moment, Illinois appears to be the best team in the West. They have a strong offensive line, a very good QB, an outstanding RB, good route running-sure handed receivers, a nasty DL, decent, aggressive LBs, and from my perspective, one of the better defensive backfields and better than average STs. Pretty much what you need to win the west.
Earlier in the year when they blew it against Indiana, I said they didn't have a chance (man, was I wrong about that). Now I don't know who can take it away from them.
Hopefully this lights a fire under Fitz. I think Iowa is the only threat for him to leave.
Never say never but There are plenty of reasons why Bielema is here to stay. The most important is his desire to build a program and leave a legacy. People have always said he was riding the coattails of Alvarez and he wants to prove he is in the same light of Alvarez, Fry, Snyder….all guys who resurrected dead programs and left a legacy…..oh, and he absolutely loves the AD Whitman….
Sustaining success at IL is tough (just like NU) and other like programs. I was never impressed with Whitman but would take him over our guy in a minute.
I’d never say never but I’d say extremely unlikely that Bielema will be there 10 years from now.
You might be right, but it will be because he’s retired, IMO. He’s left for “greener pastures” once, and he failed. We’ll pay him literally anything he asks for.
This is it. If he wins the West 2-3 years in a row while others flounder, he could attract blue blood money, but Ill will pay up. I believe he learned his lesson at Ark.
Also 10 years as stated above, as a limit, is a LONG time in this era. If he stays 10 years and wins, say, 85 games, he will have transformed a long suffering program into a consistent winner, like, say, Iowa
Unfortunately the "West" is going away. I'm guessing we'll still be in a new "pod" with you guys but no longer a direct path to a title game.