Illinois Football: Bret Bielema has a legendary start with the Illini

Illinois football has been in a pretty dark place for much of the past two decades.

It was fun seeing the Illini in the Sugar Bowl in 2001. Those Kurt Kittner teams were a joy to watch. But what soon followed that great run was some of the worst football in program history. Everything bottomed out in 2003, just two years removed from making a BCS bowl, when Illinois finished the year 1-11.

A few years later, Ron Zook is hired. After a couple of seasons, he had the Illini back in a BCS bowl game. Illinois went on a magical run and made it to the Rose Bowl, but those good feelings ended just five years later when a bad athletic director fired Zook after making back-to-back bowl games.

After Zook was fired, Illinois football seemed to be lost. Then-athletic director Mike Thomas was eventually fired. In steps Josh Whitman. At first, he swung and missed on Lovie Smith. But, after some trial and error, I believe Whitman nailed it with the hiring of Bret Bielema.

Bret Bielema has given the Illinois football program a much-needed jolt.

As an Illinois fan, I felt the tides turning in year one of the Bielema era. The Illini used to get trounced by teams that were better than them, but in 2021, this program kept games close. Only three of our losses were by 10 or more points. The team also finished 5-7.

The Illini have now started year two of the Bielema regime 7-1. It has been a great start to the year with no end in sight. Illinois is playing some of the best football I have seen in a very long time. It is actually the best start since that Sugar Bowl run in 2001.

Whitman hiring Bielema is proving to be one of the best hires in program history as well. Bielema now has 12 wins as the head coach of the Illini. He managed to achieve that feat in just 20 games as the leader of this program.

If you compare Bielema’s start at Illinois to past head coaches, you will see he has had the best start in recent decades.

It took Lovie 43 games to get to 12 wins. Bill Cubit only had one season in Champaign, so he doesn’t register on this list. Tim Beckman coached 36 games before getting to 12 wins. It even took Zook and Ron Tuner, the two coaches who took Illinois to BCS bowl games, 34 and 35 games, respectively, to hit 12 wins as the head coach of the Orange and Blue.

Many Illinois fans who are alive right now have not seen a head coach start this well for the football program. Bielema was a home run hire.