Best Big Ten football Coach this year

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Gold Rush

Gold Rush

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This year's Big Ten coach of the year has got to go to Bret Bielema at Illinois. I always thought of him as a good coach even back to the Wisconsin days but he has really turned it around for them. He has done an awful lot with Lovie Smith's cellar dwellars - I can't think of anyone who has done a better job.

Ryan Day at OSU and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan have the best teams but you wonder how much of that is from their savvy coaching moves or just from the talent they recruited.

Honorable mention should go to Mike Locksley at Maryland and Greg Schiano at Rutgers as both have improved a bit and taken a step forward. Also, Jeff Brohm at Purdue has them elevated a bit more than I thought.

So where does PJ Fleck fit in here? Losing to Purdue, Illinois and Penn St. knocks him down in the hierarchy but as usual, he does do some things very well. The Gophers may have been taken down but they are not out of this and could still very quietly sneak back into it and have a successful season with a run down the stretch. I think it will come down to how well the offensive line plays - if they play as they did vs. Rutgers and just hammer the other team they will do very well. If the Gophers were to end up 9-3 I think a lot of Gopher fans would be pretty happy (but definitely bitter sweet as they could have done even better)

I would put Franklin at PSU at about the same level, looking hot and cold and beating the teams he should while losing to the teams he should, too.

At the bottom end, Tucker at MSU has underachieved and two others (Frost at NU and Chryst at Wisconsin) have been fired and undoubtedly they finish at the bottom. Tom Allen at IU and Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern really have done nothing much with inferior teams are out of the discussion.

Lastly, I have always thought of Kirk Ferentz at Iowa as a very good football coach and he has enjoyed a very good run there. I wonder if he is in his last year or two of coaching. He still has that very good defense he is living on but the offense has been terrible and his son is under a lot of scrutiny to say the least.

Big ten coach of the year though has got to go to Bielema at this point. And this could still change over the next few games.
 

No question.

Coming in to this season Illinois scared me more than Iowa or Wisconsin. I watched the 2021 Illinois-Minnesota game; the Illini were physically dominant.

If Bielema doesn't leave for a 'better' opportunity (Iowa?) I'd say Illinois football is on the rise for the long run.
 

RememberMurray said:
No question.

Coming in to this season Illinois scared me more than Iowa or Wisconsin. I watched the 2021 Illinois-Minnesota game; the Illini were physically dominant.

If Bielema doesn't leave for a 'better' opportunity (Iowa?) I'd say Illinois football is on the rise for the long run.
Click to expand...
Would be interesting if his alma mater would come a calling, what he would do.
 




Gold Rush said:
This year's Big Ten coach of the year has got to go to Bret Bielema at Illinois. I always thought of him as a good coach even back to the Wisconsin days but he has really turned it around for them. He has done an awful lot with Lovie Smith's cellar dwellars - I can't think of anyone who has done a better job.

Ryan Day at OSU and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan have the best teams but you wonder how much of that is from their savvy coaching moves or just from the talent they recruited.

Honorable mention should go to Mike Locksley at Maryland and Greg Schiano at Rutgers as both have improved a bit and taken a step forward. Also, Jeff Brohm at Purdue has them elevated a bit more than I thought.

So where does PJ Fleck fit in here? Losing to Purdue, Illinois and Penn St. knocks him down in the hierarchy but as usual, he does do some things very well. The Gophers may have been taken down but they are not out of this and could still very quietly sneak back into it and have a successful season with a run down the stretch. I think it will come down to how well the offensive line plays - if they play as they did vs. Rutgers and just hammer the other team they will do very well. If the Gophers were to end up 9-3 I think a lot of Gopher fans would be pretty happy (but definitely bitter sweet as they could have done even better)

I would put Franklin at PSU at about the same level, looking hot and cold and beating the teams he should while losing to the teams he should, too.

At the bottom end, Tucker at MSU has underachieved and two others (Frost at NU and Chryst at Wisconsin) have been fired and undoubtedly they finish at the bottom. Tom Allen at IU and Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern really have done nothing much with inferior teams are out of the discussion.

Lastly, I have always thought of Kirk Ferentz at Iowa as a very good football coach and he has enjoyed a very good run there. I wonder if he is in his last year or two of coaching. He still has that very good defense he is living on but the offense has been terrible and his son is under a lot of scrutiny to say the least.

Big ten coach of the year though has got to go to Bielema at this point. And this could still change over the next few games.
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As long as Illinois wins the West I don't see how it goes to anyone other than Bielema.
 






Forget Iowa, Nebraska should be calling Bielema. That would be a great fit with their NIL potential and resources, and his organizational/coaching pedigree.
 

Why would he leave the fertile recruiting grounds in IL for NE?
Leonhardt is going to be the HC at WI as soon as the AD jumps through all of the administrative hoops.
2Bs played at IA and rumor has it he has a tat of a Hawkeye on his ankle but greybeard Ferentz is not leaving unless his son is the next HC.
 







Of course the award goes out at the end of the season and things could change over the games down the stretch. A real sleeper would be Jeff Brohm at Purdue. If they knock off Illinois next week and they win out the rest of the way and somehow win the West, he will get some votes. There is still a lot of football to be played but at this stage, it has got to be Bielema.
 


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