Tate: Replace Koenning? Good luck
A dark, rainy Wednesday grew more dreary as it went along.
Vic Koenning, one of the few bright spots in an up-and-down Illini football season, is leaving. Unconfirmed reports have him moving to North Carolina after serving as interim head coach against UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Dec. 31.
The news arrived like a kick in the stomach. Past assistants Denny Marcin and Greg McMahon were among the more efficient and popular, but Koenning became a game-changer who struck a level of competence and likability unmatched during the Ron Zook years.
Blogs, message forums and Facebook participants engaged in a mad rush to express their disappointment Wednesday afternoon, with much of the unhappiness spilling into the lap of new coach Tim Beckman.
Some opinions can't be repeated here. Maybe they were best captured by, "Well, that sucks." Or, "Bummer, loved his defense."
Few would dispute this one: "Best coach we've had at Illinois in a long time."
Or, with pessimism boiling over: "Enjoy the bowl game. Will probably be our last for awhile."
Having produced the No. 7 defense (yardagewise) in the country, and with more than two dozen head coaching changes, Koenning was bound to be on several Most Wanted lists. It's an old story: do a good job at Illinois and better options will follow.
In this internal upheaval, Illinois finds itself with only one member of the Zook staff remaining, defensive line coach Keith Gilmore. Gilmore has produced topnotch NFL prospects in each of the last two seasons, Corey Liuget in 2010 and consensus All-American Whitney Mercilus this year. As of Wednesday, all the coaches except Zook and offensive coordinator Paul Petrino were scheduled to remain at Illinois through the bowl game. Gilmore departed for a quick recruiting trip and will apparently miss Thursday's practice.
Easy choice to make
Why would Koenning leave after being offered to stay in the same job he held under Zook?
Let's see now, why would Koenning want more money, greater control, a warmer climate, a preferred location for his family, and arguably a better chance for success in the less-powerful ACC? Yeah, why?
It is reported that Beckman's 4-2-5 system resembles the Koenning style. But, face it, no two minds think exactly alike. Somebody has to set the weekly game plan and call the plays, and Koenning was most comfortable doing that. Beckman clearly preferred to see the duties shared when he initially offered Koenning a co-coordinator's position. Then, evidently recognizing that Koenning was slipping away, Beckman changed that to full coordinator Tuesday.
If there was a standoff, it would logically have revolved around assistant coaches. The head coach always wants to make those picks. But the coordinators also want a say, and Koenning gave the impression that he wanted to keep Ron West and Mike Gillhamer, as well as Gilmore.
"I'm only as good as my staff and my players," Koenning said Tuesday, "but that's not my call. We discussed the staff, and I totally understand Bechman's position. He's the head coach."
Koenning was clearly struggling with his decision at that time, expressing his humbleness over the stunning level of support he was receiving here. He mentioned that Auburn had an opening, but only as a ploy to throw the media off track. By nightfall at home, he apparently had his mind made up.
Who's next?
Beckman won't be in a rush from this point. Recruiting hits a dead period late this week, and some of his potential hires won't be available until after bowl games in any case. Hot name on the defensive side is Mike Ward, who was assistant head coach and defensive run coordinator at Toledo. On the offensive side, all eyes have switched to Gregg Brandon, Wyoming coordinator who served under Gary Barnett at Northwestern and Colorado, was offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, and was head coach there for six seasons (2003-08). He was offensive coordinator for Virginia in 2009.
Beckman took a step forward with Gilmore. Due in great part to a lack of depth, and having lost NFL-level tackles Josh Brent and Liuget to early departures in consecutive years, the front four was projected as a weak spot in 2011. Not so. The Illini more than held their own up front.
"The defensive line was the strongest area of the team, and Coach Gilmore did a great job," Beckman said. "The improvement of Mercilus was obvious, and he was named an All-American by just about everyone."
Perhaps Mercilus was too outstanding for the UI's own good. He'll probably be the third straight defensive lineman to leave early.
Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com
Loren, such negativity..sure it would have been great to keep Coach Vic, but, c'mon...how much new coaches keep any holdovers from the regimes they are replacing? Give Coach Beckman a chance to put together a staff and recruit before leading the pack of naysayers. Let's be real as well about Coach Vic's defense...it tended to give up way too many big plays and failed miserably this year to keep teams out of the endzone after turnovers. How man fans were railing against Coach Vic's defense after Penn State's final drive in on October 29th?
Tate is right, Illinois new coach Beckman should have done everything possible to retain Vic Koenning. When you have a coach like Vic Koenning whose defense was ranked #7 (total yds) in the whole country you don't let him get away or terminate him unless you can replace him with an equal or better defensive coordinator like MSU's Pat Narduzzi, Alabama's Kirby Smart or LSU's John Chavis. If anything Koenning's performance may be even more remarkable than Smart and Chavis as Koenning did not have the quality of athlete (4-5 * recruits) that Alabama and LSU get or even other top ten defenses like PSU and MSU get. When your school is lucky enough to land and be able to afford one of the top coordinators in the country, you keep them, keep them happy and you pay whatever the market rate is to keep them. Beckman needed to sit down and talk contract with Koenning right after he was hired Friday, not wait until Monday and then hand Koenning a demotion to co-coordinator, take away his key assistants and not increase his pay to market rate. Don't blame Koenning for leaving at all (he has to look out for himself and his family first) and I know Beckman will most likely replace Koenning with coordinator(s) having record of success not even close to that of Koenning with his top 10 rated defense. If anyone believes that Illinois' defense will be as good as Koenning's was this past season or get to championship quality without someone of Koenning's caliber behind it, you are sorely mistaken and just as foolish as Beckman was, to allow Koenning to get away without equal or better replacement ready to sign. AS Illinois won't like have a top 10 defense anymore I guess Beckman is planning to just outscore everybody, including OSU, MSU, WIS, much less yearly national contenders with great defenses like LSU, Alabama. Right now have to give new coaching team of Fedora-Koenning at UNC a huge advantage in quality over UI's. They have proven BCS coaches on offense and defense. Who does UI have? : (
Coach Vic in two years has provided a very good defense and one cannot argue with his success this year as the number seven defense in country; at least no one except peterborich! Most would agree, if we had any offense the last 6 games, we would have won some of them so Mr. peterborich, please check your facts and game films.
Good luck to coach Vic.
In my opinion, Beckman is a loser. Why would you offer a sitting defensive coordinator a co-cordinator position? The world already knows Beckman has been turned down by his first two offers: his own offensive coordinator from Toledo and coach Vic. So much for being being a good salesman/recruiter.
We will all wait and see who Beckman hires. He better hit some home runs with his coordinators.
7th best defense in the country speaks for itself.
The proof will be in the pudding.
The questions Loren raises are valid and not negative. The fact is this, Beckman has a lot on the line and will need to prove his worth. I'll wait and see, trying to remain optimistic, but realizing it's an uphill battle. There's yet another 5-year cycle fans will need to wade through.
I fear this old illini fan will never see the day when Illinois football meets the fan's expectations. Come to think of it, with such unrealistic expectations, that wasn't possible anyway. In the meantime, I'll wish both the old and the new staffs the best of luck.
What a huge loss for the football program and us fans. Not only did he and his staff produce the #7 D in the nation, he clearly has the ability to coach up his players and he would have provided some stability moving forward with recruiting. I'm not surprised he's leaving, but I wonder how this would have played out if Beckman hadn't completely mishandled the situation. Now Beckman's a man on an island after his vaunted OC at Toledo said "no thanks" to the Illinois OC job. So we have a "CEO" with no staff and no reported candidates. God help us if he tries to bring in a MAC DC. I thought Thomas said the program just needed "a few tweaks." Now we're looking at a full-on rebuild. What a joke. My disappointment in this program continues. Dear DIA, please cancel my season tickets.
GOOD POINT OSKEE:
I am begining to think Thomas is way over his small head. So much for the "tweak" theory. This program is going the wrong way, and losing VIC and the absolutely stupid way it was handled only makes the pain a lot more to bear. Look for a lot of empty seats for this sideshow.
C.mon . .Coach Vic has been a nomad his entire coaching career . .he was not going to stay here forever and probably will not stay at North Carolina more than three-to-four years . .it is his track record . . .
Wonder why as well why more major programs weren't knocking down doors to try and hire Coach Vic? What was North Carolina really the best he could do? You would think that with his credentials, programs would have been lining up to take Coach Vic away after Zook's firing.
Don't get me wrong. .I wish Cach Vic were here and would have remained for a long, long time, but everyone is acting like he cannot and will not replaced with a strong defensive coordinator.
The reason that coach Vic was succesful is the fact that Zook turned the entire defensive scheme and planning to Vic. Not many head coaches would do that, Zook was desperate. The fact that coach Vic was so successful in his 2 years is a testament to his ability to run his scheme. Moving forward, it was not going to be his scheme, he was going to have to change the way he coached to match coach Beckman's style and scheme. It is not easy to change your plan or scheme as a coordinator. Coach Vic will continue to be succesful when he is able to run the entire defense his way. I am sure that he will get that opportunity in NC and I wish him the best of luck in that endevor.
Coach Beckman is doing everything that he must do to be successful with what he knows works. He is looking to put together coaches that will do things his way. Coach Beckmans success will be determined by how well his coaches are able to coach and execute the schemes and plans he develops. Now we must all wait to see who the next coordinators will be and how well they are able to implement the new schemes in the spring.
Go ILLINI!!
Well said Eugene, although I'll be more interested in how well they are able to implement the new schemes in the Fall.
We've heard about how only "tweaks" are needed and that "it's not broken". Coach Beckman is not inheriting the trainwreck that Coach Zook was getting in taking over a team that had won only one Big Ten game in it's two previous seasons.
I think that many of the optimists, myself included, were hoping that we could largely keep the defensive staff in place and that Coach Beckman would bring his OC and staff. That at least looked like the underpinnings of a program that would immediately compete in the Big Ten. Well, we now know that that's not how the staffing is going to play out.
Being successful as a HC at Illinois has its challenges. I think it's just become more so for the new coach.
We still need to give Coach Beckman a chance to get his staff in place and see how the team performs in the Fall though.
I'll be cheering for the Illini in San Francisco and wish Coach Beckman the best!
Go Illini!
Moses Saint Tate left out the best reason of all for Koenning to leave Illinois: no more Moses Saint Tate.
Another dumb and arrogant column. Apparently Koenning is the only coach in the universe now -- because Moses Saint Tate decrees it, it has to be so -- and Beckman can never never never find a replacement because Moses decrees it. Ho, hum. All is well in Moses Saint Tate World -- a 1950s bubble.
PieFace...SETTLE down their cowboy/cowgirl...hold them horeses there please. Tate
is not as stupid as you make him out to be. He has an opinion, but it does not come across
as mean spirited as you, and you have the same opinon right also.. just easy up in the saddle
tenderfoot. Sit back and watch what happens with the Kraft boon doggle. It will be a disaster, as
uncle Vic is already alluding to. Just wait and see how changing is not easy to do.
Hey, DaisyJ, old friend.
Moses Tate is just so arrogant and I have suffered his columns for decades. It's just so silly for him to imply that losing Koennning is somehow something that can't be corrected. Plenty of terrific coaches Beckman can hire. Some better, too. Moses just thinks he 's the only one who knows anything. Always has. For Moses Tate it always starts with absolutely hating fans who disagree with him.
You are exactly right, I think they were hoping that Illini fans were not smart enough to figure out how this was really a let go, it seems from reading some comments that it has worked on some. How they went about it was kind of pathetic I thought, trying to apease the fan base this way. I also agree with some that Beckman should have manned up and just said I do not want you here. It was clear from the beginning that Beckman did not want to be overshadowed by Vic, he is a proven coach at this level, Beckman is not. Am sure that no team has scored 63 against Vic's defense ever let alone 2 weeks in a row, and this is the defensive mind we end up with? Beckmans defenses have never ranked as high as the lowest of Vic's. I was hoping that Vic was hired to take over when Zook got fired. The experience he has gotten since Wyoming has made him a much better coach.
Beckman looks good on paper and won because of his OC, certainly not because of the defense, unfortunatly for us that will come out into the light now. Everybody says how hard he works, working hard does not equal success, I want someone who can work smart.
I am a die hard Illini fan but also a realist. Illinois is a great school and should not have losing programs. It seems that this program should take a lesson from the girls on mental toughness, desire and how to win.
Koenning will be missed, for sure, but I think the impressive numbers were a little misleading this year. Don't get me wrong, I believe he did an amazing job, considering expectations, but we were also given a soft schedule to start, faced Ohio State on a windy day where they only dropped back to pass a total of 8 times. Our defense was successful on 7 of those 8 times, but the 1 they got won the game. Not to mention how well they were running the ball and didn't need to pass. Penn State's offense was/is pretty pathetic as well. Monte Ball ran all over us and we managed to give up 27 points to Minnesota. MINNESOTA!!
Beckman is off to a rough start, but as a fellow die hard Illini fan, I'm putting blind faith in him and where I think he will take this program. Maybe he's only here 3-4 years wins 8-10 games each year and all of you will all be begging him to stay and not take the job offer at whatever big name school is trying to lure him away. Stranger things have happened.
Yes, stranger things have happened.
Why, I remember a coach that took over a Big Ten program that in its previous two years was 4-19 and (1-15 Big Ten) and in his 3rd season had the team at 9-4 (6-2 Big Ten), beat #1 ranked OSU in Columbus, went to a BCS Bowl Game and was named National Coach of the Year!
Whatever happened to that guy?
Replacing will not be that hard. Vic was good, but he started like others somewhere
and we will get by. After all, what is really expected next year. Looking back on this
year, with all the home games and all the easy early marks, Zook was living on thin
air all along and we just did not realize it till the collaspe.
I suggest the #7 rating is understated… when you have a 3 and out offense, and that’s when they didn’t turn it over, keeping Vic’s guys on the field all game..… and maybe the worst special team play in recorded history consistently giving us HORRIBLE field position that ranking is remarkable. Whether he can be replaced shouldn’t even be an issue.. why wouldn’t you do whatever was needed to keep the D staff intact?? so on one side we know what we got… and the other, let’s go find someone who must be starting out somewhere who may or may not work.. I don’t get it.. a confident, not paranoid person would have been comfortable keeping a SURE thing and focusing on the areas needing focus.. like offense and special teams .
At the very least, he could have took an open minded approach and put Koenning's staff in consideration with all the other available staffs, no more, no less consideration, and if he could look himself in the mirror and truly say he found a more competent staff, then so be it. And that’s not even taking into consideration keeping some continuity. I understand he wants to pick his own staff, but if what you already got is the best available, why not keep it… obviously Fedora at NC feels Vic is the best available.
Exactly, have posted this same thing 2 or 3 times. Beckmans ego was not going to allow someone to overshadow him, Vic's D is the best out there that is available, we had it in place already. He kept the D lines coach and acting like the success came from him. Why everybody says he has a defensive mind is beyond me, he might of been a DC but that does not make you a defensive mind. to be a defensive mind means you are very successful at it.
One of these day's Beckman is going to have an oh crap moment, when he figures out that he screwed up.
What you're seeing is the culture of football, not a specific trait of Beckman. New coaches sweep clean (good or bad). It has to do with loyalty. New head coaches feel an obligation to those who got them there. You want the new coach to watch out for the abandoned (imposed or not) staff? He can't. He's got his former staff to care for if the change was imposed (in this case, Beckmans' OC promotion screwed him). A new coach treats coaches they've worked with as "referred leads" and familiar commodities (and often the most expedient solution to a vacancy). Once the new coach remains loyal to a coach he knows, the favor is extended down the road. It really doesn't have anything to do with who's the best for the job. It totally has to do with "who you know," not "what you know" and timing. Sometimes it's simply easier to hire someone you're obligated to, especially when you need to hit the ground running. This not only happens all the time, it's the culture.
Regarding Beckman's problem....he's going to be taking coaches with less experience and expertise and moving them into a higher level program and making Illinois the testing ground. This is going to impact the entire program. Yes, some weaker areas could get better, but in general the odds are that a less experienced person will take over and the quality of what's good will decrease (i.e., defense, conditioning), at least initially.
I understand that logic, but that is not happening in NC or with Meyer at Ohio State. The reality is that winning coaches look for and find high quality talent, period. There have been several cases where coaches have been kept on.
It seems water under the bridge now, we are stuck with losing for a good while longer. Thankfully other programs do not follow this loser mentality.
Thomas has taken for him what he thought was the safe route (Mac) in hiring a coach this will blow up in our face, sometimes you have to step out on a limb and go for it. Maybe the next AD will get it right.
I do agree with you that loyalty does play into it with some people, however history has shown that it rarely works out long term. Also agree things are going to get a lot worse, overall.
I'm not sure about NC, but articles on OSU indicate the only Florida coach to agree to go to OSU was the strength coach (Meyer).
You and I agree. It's not the way it should be. It's the way it is. Head coaches that are most successful will hire the best, regardless. BUT, the reality is it's the path of least resistance to hire the "familiar."
In the past year UNC football has been busted for NCAA violations and even this fall its chancellor got jacked for improper recruiting.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6837872/north-carolina-ch...
It has a new head coach coming in. The situation there is worse than Illinois' -- and they never get on TV. Please pay attention, Lauren.
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