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Bret Bielema Hired as Illinois Head Coach

Former Wisconsin and Arkansas head coach named the 26th head coach in Illinois football coach in the 132-year history of the program.

Matthew Stevens

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- After being born in an Illini Hospital, Bret Bielema has decided to come home again after being named the next head coach of the Illinois football program.

Bielema, 50, originally from Prophetstown, Illinois but confirmed in his first national interview on ESPN’s College Gameday that he “was born in an Illini Hospital in Silvis, Illinois” played football at Iowa under Hayden Fry and can boast recent successful periods as a head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas.

Bielema was 68–24 in seven seasons after taking over the Wisconsin program from Barry Alvarez after he assumed the athletics director position. Bielema left Wisconsin to take the job at Arkansas where he went to bowl games in three straight seasons 2014-16 but expectations were he’d challenge Alabama and Auburn for the Western Division title during his tenure and a 4-8 record in 2017 doomed his future as the Razorbacks fired him after five seasons. Since being fired from Arkansas, Bielema was hired by the New England Patriots as a defensive consultant to head coach Bill Belichick and was promoted ahead of the 2019 season to defensive line coach. Currently, Bielema serves as the outside linebackers coach and senior assistant coach with the New York Giants under first-year head coach Joe Judge.

Bielema, who hasn’t been in college football since his termination from Arkansas three years ago, promised to build an elite coaching staff and increase the results of in-state recruiting efforts.

“We will build an outstanding staff for both player development and recruiting. The University of Illinois has incredible facilities and is known as one of the world’s outstanding academic institutions,” Bielema said in a university statement. “We will hold the young men on our team responsible both on and off the field while coaching them to be champions in life. Jen and I, along with our girls, are excited to get to Champaign-Urbana and get started on the journey.”

Bielema’s initial contract is for six years beginning with an annual salary of $4.2 million. He will begin his duties at Illinois immediately and will attend the game Saturday (Dec. 19) as a guest of Whitman’s when Illinois plays at Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania.

“Illinois and the Big Ten is home for me, and I can’t be any more excited about the opportunity in front of me with the Fighting Illini,” Bielema said. “We want to build a program that makes Illini Nation proud and regain the passion that I’ve seen when Illinois wins. We want the young men playing football in the state of Illinois from Freeport to Cairo and from Quincy to Danville dreaming of wearing the Orange and Blue and playing at Memorial Stadium. I look forward to reconnecting with the high school coaches around the state making it clear we intend to keep our players home.”

Bielema’s coaching pedigree and list of football mentors matches that of any coach in the nation. He played for and coached under Fry, helping the Hawkeyes share the 1990 Big Ten title with Illinois. After two years as a graduate assistant and six seasons as linebacker coach at Iowa, Bielema spent two years as Co-Defensive Coordinator at Kansas State under Bill Snyder, helping the Wildcats win the 2003 Big 12 Championship. Two seasons later, he was named defensive coordinator at Wisconsin under Alvarez and moved into the head coaching role of the Badgers in 2006 when Alvarez retired.

“Bret Bielema is a proven winner. With three Big Ten championships to his credit, few coaches can match his familiarity with, and success within, the Big Ten Conference,” Whitman said in a university statement. “In our conversations, it became clear to me that he is a life-long learner who is continually looking to grow and improve, and he has enjoyed unrivaled mentorship from some of the game’s most distinguished coaches, including Hayden Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Bill Snyder, Barry Alvarez, and Bill Belichick – all of them current or future Hall of Famers.”

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Matthew Stevens
MATTHEW STEVENS

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