RANTOUL â Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer said he will wait a few weeks before bringing up the subject the University of Illinois football team coming back to town for Camp Rantoul.
Started a few decades ago by former coach Ron Turner, Camp Rantoul was home to August practices each year in preparation for the season until it head coach Lovie Smith halted it in 2016.
With Smith gone and former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema now at the Illini helm, the question is whether the new coach will want to resume the camp.
If he does, it will likely be at new facilities.
Asmussen | Bielema would gladly accept these Christmas gifts
news-gazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-gazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
CHAMPAIGN â Bret Bielema spent the last three seasons working for somebody else. First, Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. Then, Joe Judge with the New York Giants.
Bielema, the new coach at Illinois, doesnât have a full staff ready to make the move to Champaign-Urbana.
And thatâs OK. The former Wisconsin and Arkansas leader knows what he is looking for when it comes to his 10 assistants. And how he is going to go about finding the right guys.
Heâs learned valuable lessons during a career that dates back to his time as an Iowa graduate assistant in 1994-95.
Michael Glasgow/University of Illinois Athletics via AP
CHAMPAIGN New Illinois coach Bret Bielema said Monday he hopes to have a staff in place by early January and is already concentrating on homegrown recruiting. “I called (the Illinois Department of Transportation) and told them to put up roadblocks so kids won’t be allowed to leave the state,” he joked at his introductory news conference. “Seriously, I can’t tell you how many Illinois high school football coaches I have talked to already. We are making Illinois kids a priority here.” Bielema, a native of tiny Prophetstown in northwestern Illinois, replaces Lovie Smith, who went 17-39 overall in his five-year tenure and posted a 10-33 Big Ten record. Bielema’s initial contract is for six years beginning with an annual salary of $4.2 million.
2020/12/22 06:46 CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) New Illinois coach Bret Bielema said Monday he hopes to have a staff in place by early January and is already concentrating on homegrown recruiting. “I called (the Illinois Department of Transportation) and told them to put up roadblocks so kids won’t be allowed to leave the state,” he joked at his introductory news conference. “Seriously, I can’t tell you how many Illinois high school football coaches I have talked to already. We are making Illinois kids a priority here.” Bielema, a native of tiny Prophetstown in northwestern Illinois, replaces Lovie Smith, who went 17-39 overall in his five-year tenure and posted a 10-33 Big Ten record. Bielema’s initial contract is for six years beginning with an annual salary of $4.2 million.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.