Illinois Football Shakes up Defensive Staff

Illinois Football Shakes up Staff

Illinois Football is in the midst of a very important offseason. Most recently, Bret Bielema has announced that he has dismissed defensive coaches, Antonio Fenelus and Andy Buh. Fenelus and Buh were the DB’s and linebackers coaches respectively. Antonio Fenelus was hired last year after Ryan Walters took Kevin Kane with him to Purdue. Andy Buh has been with Illinois since Bret Bielema was first hired. There is a good amount of angst heading into year four of Bret Bielema. Year one showed some signs of promise. Year two showed mixed emotions. That year was the best Illinois Football season in years. Retrospectively, however, Illinois Football may have underachieved with the amount of talent and momentum they had.

Year three was a roller coaster of a year and a very disappointing one. Bret Bielema has his flaws, however, he has never shown hesitation in making difficult decisions.

Bret Bielema is a decisive coach

After year one, Illinois Football had a putrid offense. Bielema did not hesitate and fired Tony Petersen after just one season. This past year, Illinois Football had struggled on both sides of the ball, however, the Defense was the biggest Achilles heel and disappointment. Bret Bielema showed support for his first-year defensive coordinator, Aaron Henry, however, has just shown that he is trying to make changes to a struggling group that loses top-end talent. Cornerbacks were a huge struggle of the team last season so it is not surprising to see some change in that department.

Bret Bielema likely has some names in mind. Given the amount of autonomy that Bret Bielema gives his coaches, the Illinois defensive coaching jobs should be wanted by many. It will be interesting to see who takes over these positions.

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