Bielema leaving Giants, will be new head coach at Illinois
Bret Bielema has left the Giants to become the new head coach at the University of Illinois.
Bielema, 50, a senior assistant to Joe Judge coaching the Giants’ outside linebackers, landed a six-year contract with an annual starting salary of $4.2 million, the school said.
“Illinois and the Big Ten is home for me, and I can’t be any more excited about the opportunity in front of me with the Fighting Illini,” said Bielema, a native of Prophetstown, Ill., in a Saturday release.
He will join Illinois immediately and will attend Saturday’s game at Penn State as a guest.
Judge said he is completely supportive of Bielema’s career choice.
“We always want to be supportive of our coaches and players in terms of advancing their careers,” Judge said in a team statement. “We appreciate everything Bret did for this organization and our coaching staff. He did a great job with our outside linebackers and made a significant impact on our overall defensive effort. Bret is a great teacher, and he brings great perspective on how he sees the game. We wish him all the best at the University of Illinois. The Illini program is in great hands.”
Giants inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer will assume Bielema’s responsibilities and will be assisted by defensive assistant Jody Wright. That’s the second promotion this week for a lower level Giants assistant to a more prominent role.
Offensive quality control coach Bobby Blick is coaching the tight ends on Sunday because tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens is calling plays as offensive coordinator.
Kitchens was promoted this week because offensive coordinator Jason Garrett tested positive for COVID-19 and can’t coach in the game while quarantined.
Bielema’s departure in no way catches the Giants off-guard. He has interviewed for several college jobs throughout his first and only year on the Giants’ staff, and Judge has said in the past that he encourages everyone on his staff to grow and develop.
Bielema has 24 years of college coaching experience. He was 68-24 at Wisconsin from 2006-12 and 29-34 at Arkansas from 2013-17. He spent 2018 as the New England Patriots’ “consultant to the head coach” Bill Belichik. He coached the Patriots’ defensive line in 2019.
Then he helped Judge establish a foundation here in New York.
Bielema’s most obvious contribution has been the encouraging development of two late-round rookie picks: sixth-round edge Cam Brown (Penn State) and seventh-round edge Carter Coughlin (Minnesota). Brown has become a core special teamer, and Coughlin is making some impact plays on defense.
The most notable Bielema moment during his brief Giants tenure was a profanity-filled chewing out of Brown during training camp as Brown ran countless laps for mistakes he’d made.
Bielema delivered that tough love because he saw more potential inside Brown and wanted to see it on the field, though. And by midseason Bielema revealed that he’d shown even his veteran players a cut up of all of Brown’s good recent tape because of how much he’d improved.
Judge’s favorite Belichick quote “adapt or die,” meanwhile, continues to apply to his first season with the Giants.
Judge fired offensive line coach Marc Colombo during the bye week, replacing him with Dave DeGuglielmo. Now he loses Bielema before season’s end.
ASSISTANT BROWN TESTS POSITIVE
Giants offensive assistant Stephen Brown has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolated, according to a league source.
The Giants are working with the NFL regarding close contacts.
No Giants players tested positive Friday for a second straight day, but Brown’s positive is the second in three days on the Giants’ coaching staff.
Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett tested positive Wednesday and is quarantined and unable to coach Sunday night against Cleveland.
Garrett worked a full day in the facility on Wednesday before his morning test came back positive at night.
Brown spent the past four seasons on Garrett’s Dallas Cowboys staff from 2016-19 before following Garrett to New York to join Joe Judge’s staff.
The Giants’ Quest Diagnostics Training Center remained open on Saturday, and the team followed its normal practice and meeting schedule. That included a walkthrough and likely one last final evaluation of injured QB Daniel Jones.
Browns’ positive test means he must quarantine and stay away from the team for at least 10 days. That timeline could jeopardize his ability to coach in Week 16 at Baltimore, as well.
Judge’s coaching staff is in serious flux now with Garrett and Brown testing positive and outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema leaving to become head coach at the University of Illinois.
Tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens will be Sunday’s Giants offensive coordinator. Offensive quality control coach Bobby Blick is taking over the tight ends. Defensive assistant Jody Wright is moving up to help inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer coach the outside linebackers.
And this is all on the heels of Judge firing offensive line coach Marc Colombo on Nov. 18 and replacing him with Dave DeGuglielmo.