The Illinois Fighting Illini football team is entering its fourth season under coach Bret Bielema.
The Illini, coming off a 5-7 season, are picked to finish 15th in the new-look 18-team Big Ten Conference in 2024, according to the USA TODAY Sports Network.
Bielema was one of the first coaches to speak Tuesday during Big Ten media days, taking the podium before noon Indianapolis time. Here is everything the coach said to the media:
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The changing face of college football
“Thank you. First, I want to thank the Big Ten Conference for putting this all together. This is my 16th year as a head coach, and a lot of great memories on this day coming over, but I thought I would take a minute at the front end just to talk about college football.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have college football be a part of my life since 1988 as I have evolved as a player, assistant coach to a coordinator to a head coach now for 16 years.
“Obviously, things have changed a lot. I think one of the most common questions I get is, ‘Coach, at this time in your career, how are kids different? How is the game different?’ There are so many things that factor into that.
“One of the obviously constants is the competitive nature, the environment, the things that make college football so special, and I think to be a head coach right now in 2024 is such a special time. I think a lot of people want to dwell on things or think about things in a negative light. I think perspective is everything.
“There isn’t a more exciting time for me in my life than to be the head coach at the University of Illinois in 2024, to have the conference, the expansion, the schedule, the world of college athletics with the portal, the NIL, the expansion and the coaching roles, duties, and responsibilities that just literally became a reality here in the last month.
“I just can’t express how awesome it is to have this job and to be in this opportunity and to make it be very, very special every day when I walk in that building, how awesome it is.
“I think college football, because of the way society is today, the players that we’re able to recruit from coast to coast, not just traditional high school players anymore, but now because of the portal, you’re literally — I know in the month of December, my first day I flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Never been there before. I was going after a tackle that was in the portal from New Mexico. I thought about that, right?
“Then I flew later that day to the East Coast to recruit a defensive lineman that we’re pursuing. Just a different perspective, but the same thing. We’re pursuing young men that we want to have in our program be a part of a special place and to be part of something special. That hasn’t changed.
Journey from Big Ten to SEC and back again
“Our conference, right, in the Big Ten Conference I think about first coming here and sitting in meetings. (At Wisconsin), I started with Jim Delany as a commissioner who obviously on the forefront of a lot of different topics, different issues. To sit in meetings with him and learn and see his view and to see that environment was pretty special.
“Then I transitioned to the SEC (and Arkansas), and I’ll never forget the first meeting I sat in with Mike Slive at the front of the room, and to hear a commissioner lead the meetings the way he did. He had a big old cigar in his mouth and called us all (on) a first-name basis and a different type of leadership. Obviously someone who was very, very talented.
“That transitioned to Greg Sankey and was able to be around Sankey several years as a head coach and to see the way he led and obviously still leads today.
“Came to the conference (and Illinois) and Kevin Warren was here. A little bit different time because it was in the beginning cusp of COVID and all the things that were going on, it was around Kevin.
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“Now the transition to Tony Petitti and to hear his words. For me as a head coach, I’ve been through five different commissioners, and to see the leadership he brings, to see the vision he brings. I remember the very first phone call, Zoom call, we ever had. We talked about the idea of technology, coach-to-player, and tablets on the sidelines. I remember him taking note of that, calling me afterwards, and was really the champion to get that through right now.
“I think in today’s world of college football, that’s a different storyline because no one is really talking about it, but I think the addition of technology in college football this fall is going to be huge. So I just immediately saw the impact that Tony can have not just for our conference, but our program and for football in general.
‘Excited’ about the Big Ten Conference
“Really, really excited for our conference. I know a lot of people have different views on expansion. Be for me as a head coach, I’m looking at a schedule this year where I play a game on the East Coast against Rutgers and Penn State, and then we play a game on the West Coast against Oregon. We play a game in Memorial Stadium against Michigan. 100-year anniversary game that is very, very special to have those type of games on our schedule, not only great for our players, but for our fans.
“Just a really neat time to have an environment such as this in the conference. (Illinois athletics director) Josh Whitman over there to sit as an active head coach, to have an…
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