'I’m trying to be good now': Bret Bielema Believes Illini Football is an Instant Rebuild

New Illinois head coach Bret Bielema believes he can do what three Illini coaches since 1942 have accomplished: Produce a winning season in their first year.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- It would not be advisable for anybody to talk to Bret Bielema about approaching his new mission as a long rebuild of Illinois football.

He doesn’t want to hear it at all.

Despite having the University of Illinois trustees signing off on a six-year, $26.7 million contract last week, Bielema doesn’t believe his plan for the Illini requires long-term construction.

In his 45-minute media conference Wednesday, the new Illini football coach stated unequivocally that he believes his new program can do something next season that Illinois hasn’t accomplished in nearly a decade: a winning record.

“I’m trying to get the best players so we can have the best team we can have this season. I’m not going to skip a step to where we want to be but I’m trying to be good now. I don’t want to wait three years from now.” - Illinois head coach Bret Bielema

Bielema believes he has some of the tools available right now to put a winning product on the field for a 2021 season that projects to have a schedule much more difficult than the 2020 campaign that saw a 2-6 record and the eventual firing of head coach Lovie Smith.

Illinois is slated to begin the 2021 campaign with a game against Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland but due to the pandemic causing uncertainty for international travel, the date and location of that game is now to be determined later. The Illini are also slated to play at Virginia, a program that is 22-15 in its last three seasons under Bronco Mendenhall, in its non-conference slate. The league slate is supposed to contain road games at Purdue, Penn State, Minnesota and Iowa and home games against Wisconsin, Maryland, Rutgers and Northwestern.

Graphic courtesy of fbschedules.com

Bielema detailed his plan for an instant turnaround of Illini football including receiving return commitments from nearly a dozen veteran players on the 2020 Illinois roster. The new Illini coach said Wednesday his first priority was re-recruiting the upperclassmen to stay out of or, in the case of defensive lineman Owen Carney Jr., get out of the NCAA’s instant eligibility transfer portal.

In most cases for these veteran Illinois players, most or all they’ve seen in their college football careers is inconsistencies in leadership and losing. Over the last six seasons, Illinois football has had three different head coaches and produced a combined 22-47 record with just one bowl appearance.

“My day from jump to where we are now has been four phases. Recruiting our current roster, recruiting a future roster, recruiting a group of coaches and then relations within the university,” Bielema said. “I believe right now we have a lot of players who think right, act right, do right and we just have to all get on the same page.

By stating his in a win now mentality at Illinois starting with his first season, Bielema is trying to accomplish something historic in terms of Illini football history. Since 1942, only four Illinois head coaches have ever produced a winning record in its first season with the program (Ray Eliot, 6-4 in 1942; Pete Elliot, 5-4 in 1960; John Mackovic, 6-5-1 in 1988 and Lou Tepper, 6-5-1 in 1992). However none of those three coaches’ first season in Champaign followed a coach who was fired. The first two followed legendary Illini figures who retired and Mackovic replaced Mike White after he resigned in scandal involving recruiting violations. Tepper filled in for Mackovic after he left Illinois for the vacancy at Texas.

“I’ve said this a million times over the phone already to parents and players who we’re recruiting currently but I can’t control anything that Illinois has done or been in control of in the past,” Bielema said. “All I can do is control what we are in the future.”