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Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood on their 12-Game winning streak | CST Podcast
On this episode of CST Podcast, FOX Chicago sports anchor Cassie Carlson chats with Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood as he previews their Road Matchup vs. #10 Michigan State, their 12-game winning streak, and Freshman Sensation Keaton Wagler.
Illinois has tabbed one of the winningest head coaches in college football as its next defensive coordinator.
In a shocking move, the Illini have hired former Montana head coach Bobby Hauck as the team's new defensive coordinator. The school announced the hiring Tuesday evening.
Hauck stepped down as the head coach at Montana last week after a second tenure in Missoula that spanned eight seasons. Most recently, the Grizzlies lost in the NCAA FCS Semifinals and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the country.
"I have a great feeling about the players, the coaches, and the future of this program," Hauck said in a statement. "I will miss Montana dearly because of the relationships and the passion I have for the football program. I hope to bring some of that to the Illini. I can't wait to get started."
Hauck departed Montana as the eighth-winningest active head coach in all of Division I football with 166 career wins.
Hauck will replace Aaron Henry, who left Champaign to take over as the defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator at Notre Dame.
The backstory:
The shock of the hire comes because Hauck retired just last Wednesday.
After 14 seasons at Montana, spanning two different tenures, with 151 total wins, eight Big Sky Conference titles, four national championship appearances, 20 FCS playoffs wins and 13 playoff appearances under his belt, Hauck said the rampant changes coming to college football were too much for him.
"This is probably the most important thing I’ll say here," Hauck said in a news conference as he stepped down last week. "Dealing with what college football has become is not always enjoyable as a head coach."
After his retirement, not many expected Hauck to take another job shortly after, especially across the country in Big Ten territory.
"I just haven’t been enjoying it enough. I want to enjoy my career and my job," Hauck said during a news conference. "A lot of the head coach stuff in current day Division I college football is not enjoyable."
Big picture view:
Shocking move by the Illini aside, hiring Hauck will bring a well-rounded coaching resume to Illinois.
Hauck began his coaching career at Montana in 1988 and 1989 as the team's defensive backs and defensive line coach.
He was a graduate assistant at UCLA from 1990 to 1992 before coaching outside linebackers at Northern Arizona from 1993 to 1994. He coached safeties, outside linebackers and special teams at Colorado from 1995 to 1998.
Before taking his first head coaching job, Hauck was the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at Washington from 1999 to 2002.
He's coached nearly every position, and his defenses at Montana ranked in the top five of the Big Sky in scoring defense, total defense, and sacks every season for the last eight seasons.
What they're saying:
"I am excited to welcome Coach Hauck and his family to our Illini FamILLy," Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said in a statement. "Since meeting Coach Hauck early on in my head coaching career, I have had tremendous respect for who he is, what he stands for, and the program he has built. He is a family man with incredible attention to detail and a great ability to teach the game to both his staffs and players. Coach Hauck's aggressive defensive scheme, which he learned at San Diego State and developed at Montana, will be an exciting new style that has never been seen here at Illinois."
"I am grateful for the opportunity to join the Illinois football program," Hauck said in a statement. "Coach Bielema is one of the great head coaches in all of football and I am extremely excited to work for him and the student-athletes and staff here at the University of Illinois."