Illinois coach Bret Bielema didn’t publicly reveal who will take over as interim defensive coordinator in the wake of Bobby Hauck’s departure Sunday.
Bielema met with reporters in Champaign on Monday after the Illini and Hauck “mutually agreed” to a change in defensive leadership. He said that the public would be able to see their transition plan Saturday when the Illini (2-2, 0-1) host Purdue (1-3, 0-1) at Gies Memorial Stadium in a homecoming game.
Illinois defensive coaches and players will not hold media availability this week before Saturday’s game so they can “concentrate on the task at hand,” he said.
“We’re going to do what we do this week in the building and out there on the practice field, and then Saturday you’ll see the answer to what we put in place,” Bielema said.
Bielema said he didn’t go into Sunday planning to part with Hauck, but he had an inkling what might be coming when Hauck contacted him early Sunday morning after a 42-19 loss to now-No. 5 Ohio State on Saturday.
Hauck, whose 3-3-5 defense had multiple tackling and communication issues in the first four games, told Bielema it wasn’t working for him. After they asked each other for suggestions, Bielema said he knew it wasn’t going to work to have Hauck continue in his role. Hauck, 62, who was a head coach over 19 seasons at Montana and UNLV, lasted just four games at Illinois.
“He just felt it wasn’t working for him, which then in by-product affected the staff and affected our results,” Bielema said. “But more than anything, what I loved about him is his final comment to me when I knew we were going to have to do something was he just felt that the players deserved to be their best and to have the best opportunity to win. And he didn’t think that could be obtainable the way things were going.”
Bielema met with the coaches first Sunday to discuss the news and then with the team at 4:30 p.m., when Illinois made the announcement of Hauck’s departure. He then met separately with the defensive coaches and players to talk about their plan.
More Top Picks Best Photo Printer
Since Bielema arrived in Champaign following the first COVID-19-affected season, he has always had conversations with his second choices for play-callers should the primary play-callers have to miss a game.
So in that way, Bielema was prepared with the transition plan.
Bielema doesn’t anticipate bringing in extra help during this season but noted “never say never.” He said where he goes long term with the defense depends on how the next eight games go.
Illinois brought in multiple new defensive assistants this offseason after making the change from Aaron Henry, who is now at Notre Dame, to Hauck. If Illinois is looking for experience running Hauck’s defense, secondary coach Ronnie Bradford and inside linebackers coach Roger Cooper both previously worked as defensive coordinators under Hauck. Defensive ends coach Mike Linehan, defensive line coach/run game coordinator Jordan Thomas and assistant defensive backs coach Robby Hauck, Bobby’s son, also were new this season.
“I think the players identified immediately that there’s enough things to do within the packages that we already have to stay where we’re at,” Bielema said. “But I do think that there’s moving pieces to this, and I’m really excited about the opportunity for someone to kind of guide this thing.”
Illinois has allowed 391 yards and 26.5 points per game this season, ranked 111th and 101st. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had career highs with 12 catches for 217 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday against an Illinois secondary that was expected to be the team’s strength going into the season.
Communication issues also came up multiple times in the first month, including when the Illini at one point against Ohio State only had nine players on the field on defense. Bielema stated there were a couple of times Saturday when he didn’t think the Illini put their players in the best position to have success before the ball was snapped. And he has pointed to third-down execution issues.
Four games into the season, Bielema said he didn’t know what the defense’s identity was, and that was a problem.
He said the unit’s goal moving forward is “to maximize our player strengths, minimize our weaknesses, but also just have really good communication.” He also wants to build up their confidence.
“I do believe there’s still some really good things that this package could bring,” Bielema said. “I just think that we can do probably a better job of executing what we can do to help us win and play to the strengths of our defense than maybe play to the strength of a call.”