Illinois Football: Reaction to the Illini coaching changes on defense

The Illinois football team has their coaching staff set on the defensive side of the ball.

In the National Signing Day press conference, Lovie Smith announced some adjustments to the coaching staff on defense. He mentioned that he will be taking over the defensive coordinator role full-time. His second in command would be passing game coordinator and safeties coach, Gill Byrd. The Illini hired Keynodo Hudson to take over as the cornerbacks coach. And Miles Smith will be the linebackers coach.

The defensive coaching staff decisions by Lovie aren’t coming without scrutiny, though. When Erich Fisher of Rivals.com broke the news about the coaching decisions, I asked Illini fans their thoughts on the moves.

There were many different answers to the question. One fan said nope, another said mercy and there were some fans who gave long descriptions of how they feel. I also did a survey asking what people thought about the coaching hires as well. The results came back 11-percent for like, 27-percent for dislike and 62-percent for wait and see.

Honestly, and I know this isn’t going to be popular, but I am okay with the defensive coaching staff. Lovie is now in place as the defensive coordinator, which is his strength as a coach. It seems like he is going to be more hands-off when it comes to the offense. That is a good thing because I love what Rod Smith is doing as the offensive coordinator. I don’t want Lovie being too involved in the offensive play calling. I am excited to see what Lovie can do as the Illinois defensive coordinator.

The hiring of Hudson as the cornerbacks coach is okay with me as well. He has some experience on defense. He was the defensive administrative assistant with USC from 2011 through 2016. He was the Florida Atlantic cornerbacks coach the last two seasons as well.  I also like the fact that he has recruited both the state of California and Florida. That will help the Illini create a bigger pipeline to those two states.

I believe the big issue for most fans is the hiring of Miles as the linebackers coach. He is Lovie’s son and this has rubbed people the wrong way. There are some fans calling this nepotism, which they probably aren’t wrong here. That isn’t to say it won’t work out, though. It is a wait and see approach with how Miles will do on this staff.

Overall, I am okay with the coaching staff decisions on defense. I love that Lovie is going to be the defensive coordinator. I like the Hudson hire as cornerbacks coach. And Miles as the linebackers coach is just, meh. But, overall, I just okay with how things went down in regards to the defensive coaching staff.