Illinois Football Thread

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

Gustavus Adolphus said:
Or Derek Leonard.

Leonard would be a good choice to come in as QB coach or OC. No P5 is going to bring in a HS coach as the HC. Not Leonard. Not Holocek. They both would be great staff additions. Leonard is very adaptable to his talent. One could see Leonard as OC, if Rod Smith somehow became the IL head coach, but no one is going to do the Notre Dame Faust thing again, especially a school with a young AD who so far appears to have miserably failed in his first hire. He doesn't have the luxury of taking a risk with a hire of that nature. Next coach will bring the bulk of the staff he has had at other stops. Leipold at Buffalo or Babers would be examples of coaches one would likely find on that list. Perhaps there are younger coaches/staffs out there similar.

Illinois should have hired Babers when he was available. The interim AD had experience hiring coaches. He identified Kill for SIUC as an example.

Gustavus Adolphus · Nov 19, 2018

I say John Holecek tongue in cheek, but you're talking about a graduate who played in the NFL, and is probably the most successful football coach in Illinois over the last 15 years. Hell, the guy has to recruit to get kids into his program as it is, maybe he can do a better job at bringing the in-state talent. On the plus side: I'd be willing to bet the alumni associations at Mt. Carmel, St. Rita, Brother Rice, Providence, Fenwick, Marist, Joliet Catholic, and Montini could pony up some cash for this.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
Leonard would be a good choice to come in as QB coach or OC. No P5 is going to bring in a HS coach as the HC. Not Leonard. Not Holocek. They both would be great staff additions. Leonard is very adaptable to his talent. One could see Leonard as OC, if Rod Smith somehow became the IL head coach, but no one is going to do the Notre Dame Faust thing again, especially a school with a young AD who so far appears to have miserably failed in his first hire. He doesn't have the luxury of taking a risk with a hire of that nature. Next coach will bring the bulk of the staff he has had at other stops. Leipold at Buffalo or Babers would be on that list. Perhaps there are younger coaches/staffs out there similar.

Illinois should have hired Babers when he was available. The interim AD had experience hiring coaches. He identified Kill for SIUC as an example.

First off, Gus is being sarcastic.

Secondly, Leonard is a complete turd of a human being and if Illinois hired a frickin' HS HC to be the new OC..Holy hell. THIS is where the program is at. People being accepting of that?

Lastly...LOL. Babers is not leaving Syracuse for a step down to Illinois. Babers will sit there and wait for a marquee job to open up.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Gustavus Adolphus said:
I say John Holecek tongue in cheek, but you're talking about a graduate who played in the NFL, and is probably the most successful football coach in Illinois over the last 15 years. Hell, the guy has to recruit to get kids into his program as it is, maybe he can do a better job at bringing the in-state talent. On the plus side: I'd be willing to bet the alumni associations at Mt. Carmel, St. Rita, Brother Rice, Providence, Fenwick, Marist, Joliet Catholic, and Montini could pony up some cash for this.

You could maybe get away with this if you hired him to be a Quality Coach, A special assistant, or a LB coach..MAYBE...but hiring a HC coach to be an OC or DC...come on. Illinois isn't Alabama(regardless of what Parade thinks) and taking or even defending taking a 4A level HS football coach and making him an OC or QB coach and trying to spin that as a positive..holy shit.

Illinois needs to hire actual college coaches with actual college experience. Starting at the top. They need to hire a guy to fill his staff with actual college coaches. Illinois isn't in the position to get cute by hiring mid to low class HS head coaches to run an entire side of the football or coach the most important position in sports.

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

FirstTimer said:
First off, Gus is being sarcastic.

Secondly, Leonard is a complete turd of a human being and if Illinois hired a frickin' HS HC to be the new OC..Holy hell. THIS is where the program is at. People being accepting of that?

Lastly...LOL. Babers is not leaving Syracuse for a step down to Illinois. Babers will sit there and wait for a marquee job to open up.

LOL. You of all people calling someone else a turd of a human being. LOL. Leonard is well thought of by many in the state. He wins with different types of quarterbacks and personnel. And to show you how poorly you read, I didn't say Babers would be on the list. I said he was an example of a coach who would be on the list. A person who takes the bulk of his staff with him. This didn't happen with Turner, Zook, Beckman or Lovie.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
Leonard is well thought of by many in the state.

No he's not. People like him because he wins.

Parade_Rain said:
I said he was an example of a coach who would be on the list.

Bad example. Babers isn't a realistic coach. So Illinois' coaching list is full of guys with no realistic shot of being hired?

Let's review what you said:

"Next coach will bring the bulk of the staff he has had at other stops. Leipold at Buffalo or Babers would be on that list. "

LOL at you getting called out on your thought of Babers being "on that list"

You've already forwarded Leipold as a replacement for Smith.....

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

FirstTimer said:
No he's not. People like him because he wins.

People like winners? No way!

FirstTimer said:
Bad example. Babers isn't a realistic coach. So Illinoi's coaching list is full of guys with no realistic shot of being hired?

Once again, you failed to read the post. You pull sentences out of your ass, as opposed to leaving them in context. Babers is an example of a coach who takes the bulk of his staff with him. A coach like Babers is an example of who would be on the list. Illinois continues to fail to identify coaches like this, which is why I mentioned the previous 4 HC's assembling staffs.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
People like winners? No way!

And people around the state STILL hate Leonard. He's not well thought of as a human being.

Parade_Rain said:
Once again, you failed to read the post. You pull sentences out of your ass, as opposed to leaving them in context. Babers is an example of a coach who takes the bulk of his staff with him. A coach like Babers is an example of who would be on the list. Illinois continues to fail to identify coaches like this, which is why I mentioned the previous 4 HC's assembling staffs.

No. You're busted. You've mentioned Leipold before as a guy you want to replace Smith. You're now wedging Babers onto there and are now backtracking because you got called on it.

Gustavus Adolphus · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
Leonard is well thought of by many in the state. He wins with different types of quarterbacks and personnel.

I'm assuming you're referring to Ken Leonard with this comment. I'll leave it at that.

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

FirstTimer said:
And people around the state STILL hate Leonard. He's not well thought of as a human being.

No. You're busted. You've mentioned Leipold before as a guy you want to replace Smith. You're now wedging Babers onto there and are now backtracking because you got called on it.

I would take Leipold in a heartbeat. You should go back and look at my first post this morning that you stalked so quickly you couldnt even wait 10 seconds for the edit. You have issues. Go away.

Gustavus Adolphus · Nov 19, 2018

On a personal level, I used to work with Sean Lewis who is the head coach at Kent State. He's probably a little too green at this point to get a P5 job, but I'd like to see him do well with a P5.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
I would take Leipold in a heartbeat.

Duh.

FirstTimer · Nov 19, 2018

Gustavus Adolphus said:
On a personal level, I used to work with Sean Lewis who is the head coach at Kent State. He's probably a little too green at this point to get a P5 job, but I'd like to see him do well with a P5.

I love Neal Brown of Troy, but I think he's waiting for a P5 job in the south to open up.

Leipold from Buffalo seems like a good one...and at this point the "best"
Chuck Martin from Miami of Ohio would be a good choice as well. Illinois roots. Experience on both sides of the ball. Looking for a P5 jump too.
I think some of the shine is off Rod Carey from NIU.
Brock Spack would be a solid enough hire but not sure Illinois can get away with hiring an FCS coach.

Mike Elston of Notre Dame would be really interesting but too "out there" since he has no HC experience. Strong midwestern ties. Has coached every position on the defensive side of the ball. Recruiting coordinator experience. He knows how to build a program, he just doesn't have the gameday experience resume in a certain sense from the stand point of "W's and L's" after his name. He's likely the Head Coach in Waiting at Notre Dame at this point if Kelly left abruptly.

Rory Sparrow · Nov 19, 2018

Brock Spack was Hellisan's HC in his NCAA dynasty.

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

FirstTimer said:
I love Neal Brown of Troy, but I think he's waiting for a P5 job in the south to open up.

Leipold from Buffalo seems like a good one...and at this point the "best"
Chuck Martin from Miami of Ohio would be a good choice as well. Illinois roots. Experience on both sides of the ball. Looking for a P5 jump too.
I think some of the shine is off Rod Carey from NIU.
Brock Spack would be a solid enough hire but not sure Illinois can get away with hiring an FCS coach.

Mike Elston of Notre Dame would be really interesting but too "out there" since he has no HC experience. Strong midwestern ties. Has coached every position on the defensive side of the ball. Recruiting coordinator experience. He knows how to build a program, he just doesn't have the gameday experience resume in a certain sense from the stand point of "W's and L's" after his name. He's likely the Head Coach in Waiting at Notre Dame at this point if Kelly left abruptly.

Spack a defensive guy. OC is Beathard who use to be at Illinois as a QB coach. Offensive minded HC would likely be at top of the list, but Spack should get looks as long as OC is secured. I would tend to think Spack is near the top of the list for Purdue when/if Brohm moves on.

Rory Sparrow · Nov 19, 2018

Parade_Rain...EXPOSED!

Parade_Rain · Nov 19, 2018

Yes. I've been exposed to terrible posters.

bamainatlanta · Nov 19, 2018

I think Saban will come to Champaign. Book it.

FirstTimer · Nov 20, 2018

Parade_Rain said:
Yes. I've been exposed to terrible posters.

You control that exposure, you know that right?

Parade_Rain · Nov 20, 2018

FirstTimer said:
You control that exposure, you know that right?

Yes. Three of the posters are on my ignore list and you should be, too, barring a really headscratching choice made by forum ownership that a leopard would change his spots. If you asked the actual Illini people in this thread who provides appropriate discussion on the thread topic, you, Rory and GA wouldn't likely be included.

Oh, and, when a poster like Rory S makes a driveby post that is off topic and I respond in kind with a better driveby, you should respect the zinger instead of being a sourpuss first thing in the morning. A forum is a gathering place for the discussion of questions of interest. Are you aiding discussion? That was part of bringing you back as a poster and a mod. I seem to recall getting thanked by a poster in the other Illinois thread for actually answering a very simple question of which you, the moderator, showed no concern. Go try to win the internet against someone else.

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