During Bret Bielema's introductory press conference on Monday afternoon, a media member summarized the state of Illinois football in the most delicate of terms. He wondered how Bielema planned to win amid the Illini's "inconsistency and struggles the past couple decades."
That is certainly one way to put it.
Illinois hasn't enjoyed a winning season since 2011. Its last outright Big Ten title came in 2001, the last one before that was in 1983. During that span, Illinois has more 10-loss seasons (five) than 10-win campaigns (three).
So, yeah. As they embarked on the umpteenth reboot of Illini football since the likes of Red Grange and Dick Butkus wore the orange and blue -- the last six Illinois coaches left with losing records -- Illinois AD Josh Whitman studied other Midwestern schools who underwent successful rebuilds in order to avoid making Lovie Smith's successor the seventh straight Illini coach to leave Champaign with a losing record.
They look at Kansas State's rise under Bill Snyder. They studied Iowa under Hayden Fry. They glanced north, to examine Wisconsin's ascension under Barry Alvarez.
Turns out, those schools had one thing in common -- a three-time Big Ten champion coach. That coach happened to be an Illinois native. He was available, and he wanted the job.
"Some of the characteristics that were common were leadership, someone with unshakeable confidence," Whitman said. "It's not a directly upward path and you need someone who's not going to waver. Someone who's programatic, somebody who could create tremendous buy-in. Somebody who would attract and retain an exceptional coaching staff."
A native of Prophetstown, Ill., Bielema played defensive line for Fry at Iowa, then began his coaching career as a Hawkeye GA. He remained on staff as linebackers when Kirk Ferentz took over for Fry. Bielema then left to become Snyder's co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State, then left there to become Alvarez's defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. When Alvarez stepped down after the 2005 season, Bielema was his hand-picked successor.
In his first season as head coach, at age 36, Bielema led Wisconsin to a 12-1 season and a No. 7 AP final ranking. "You go 12-1 your first year, I thought I was Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Bill Belichick, everybody wrapped up into one," Bielema said. "I think I'll always be confident," he says. "I don't mind walking in a room and letting people know it."
He'd win three Big Ten titles in his final three seasons in Madison, then bouncing after the third to become the head coach at Arkansas. After going 3-9 in his debut, Bielema led the Razorbacks to three straight bowl appearances, but a 4-8 season in 2017 cost him his job.
"The things that really motivate me are the failures. When I left my previous institution, they fired me without cause because I didn't win enough games. I know what we did. That motivates me to this day," he said. "To walk out of there in someone else's terms motivates me to this day."
That failure motivated Bielema to take over a program that's finished last in the Big Ten West in three of the past four seasons.
"I was really struck by the depth and specificity to his plan," Whitman said. "It was obvious he had given a tremendous amount of thought into not just his next head coaching position, but being the head coach at the University of Illinois."
Whitman believes Illinois' roster will be better in 2021 than 2020, which is part of the reason he made the move to change head coaches when he did. "We'll return an experienced, strong roster. That makes this job attractive," he said. "We've been able to improve our coaching salary pool to bring it up to market standards."
Hiring Bielema allows Illinois to hit the ground in a dead sprint. In fact, Bielema said the COVID restrictions on recruiting will be a plus for his new staff; rather than chasing players throughout the Midwest, the staff will be able to huddle -- socially distanced -- between Zoom calls to hammer out their schemes in all three phases.
"The root of good football is very simple," he said. "We'll build a roster of smart, tough, dependable players. They'll understand how that plays into the offensive, defensive and special teams game plans."
And so now the active Big Ten coach with the most conference titles happens to be at Illinois. Bielema at 50, with a wife and two young daughters, is not the same man as the 36-year-old bachelor that bounded into the Big Ten a decade and a half ago -- motivated by his ouster at Arkansas, wisened by his years at Bill Belichick's feet in New England.
"When you're doing things right and get things going in the right direction, this place can be as competitive as any place in the country," he said. "A tremendous challenge, a tremendous opportunity in front of us and one I'm excited to get to."