Bret Bielema Shows Urgency With Bobby Hauck Decision

Bret Bielema made a gamble when he hired Bobby Hauck to lead the Illinois defense.

Four games into the experiment, Bielema was willing to acknowledge it was not working.

And just four games into the Bobby Hauck tenure, he was gone.

There will be plenty of time to evaluate why the Hauck experiment failed so abruptly. What also needs to be acknowledged however, is what Bielema's willingness to make such a drastic change says about the urgency surrounding Illinois' season.

Bielema hired Hauck. The decision belongs to him.

Hauck was an unconventional choice to replace Aaron Henry, who left Illinois after three seasons as defensive coordinator to become Notre Dame's secondary coach. Bielema believed Hauck's experience and unusual defensive approach could make Illinois difficult for opposing offenses to prepare for.

Instead, Illinois never developed the disruptive identity the coaching staff envisioned.

Through four games, Illinois ranks No. 100 nationally in scoring defense at 26.5 points per game. The Illini are No. 111 in passing-efficiency defense, No. 128 in sacks, and No. 122 in takeaways.

Bielema deserves criticism for a hire that very clearly did not work out. Hauck was Bielema's choice, and moving on after four games is unmistakably a disaster.

But recognizing a mistake quickly has value, too.

It would have been easy for Bielema to give Hauck more time. Most coaches would have chosen to ride the elite offense the Illini have shown thus far and hope it got you to an eventual Bowl game, and then made a defensive change during the offseason.

Instead, Illinois acted after four games.

At this point, the season remains salvageable.

Illinois is 2-2. Its losses came by four points against Duke and on the road against Ohio State. Eight regular-season games remain, beginning with Purdue at home.

This is not a program making a desperate coaching change after its season has already collapsed. Bielema is attempting to prevent that collapse from happening.

Whatever that plan ends up being, Bielema has attached himself to it.

That is the other side of making such a dramatic change this early. There is no longer much room for ambiguity about where responsibility falls.

Hauck is gone. If Illinois' defensive problems continue, the attention will have to be pointed in a different direction.

Still, there is something to be said for refusing to allow pride to prolong a mistake.

Bielema took a significant gamble by hiring Hauck. Four games provided enough evidence for Illinois to determine the gamble had failed.

Rather than spending the remainder of the season hoping the situation eventually corrected itself, Bielema acted while Illinois still has most of its Big Ten schedule ahead of it.

Whether the decision saves Illinois' season will be determined over the next two months.