One of the best coaches in the recent history of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and a former Washington Huskies coach will be joining one of the Dawgs' Big Ten rivals.

Bobby Hauck, who stepped down from his position with FCS powerhouse the Montana Grizzlies this offseason after 15 seasons, was hired as the defensive coordinator by the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Illinois will be looking to improve a defense that ranked 56th in the country in points per game allowed (23.6), and Hauck will bring a lengthy pedigree.

Hauck was the head coach at Montana from 2003-09 and '18-25. During those two respective stretches, he won eight Big Sky conference titles in the FCS and made it to the FCS Championship game four times. He made the FCS playoffs every single year as a head coach with the Grizzlies except for two, one of which was plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic ('20-21). 

This past season, Hauck's last coaching Montana, he led the team to a 13-2 record and a semifinal berth in the FCS playoffs.

Hauck's first stint with the Grizzlies was his first try as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level. Before his second tenure heading the program, he was the head coach at UNLV from '10-14 and coached special teams for San Diego State from '15-17.

Before Hauck's first turn at the wheel of Montana's football program, he had several stops at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, including one at Washington.

Hauck was a graduate assistant at UCLA from 1990-92, a safety/outside linebacker/special teams coach with Colorado from '95-98 and coached defensive backs and special teams for the Huskies from '99-2002. He was hired by the Grizzlies after his stint in Seattle.

During Hauck's tenure at UW, two defensive backs from Washington were picked in the NFL Draft.

Strong safety Hakim Akbar was selected in the fifth round of the 2001 draft by the New England Patriots, and cornerback Omare Lowe was picked by the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round of the 2002 draft.

Akbar had a six-season NFL career and won the Super Bowl with the Patriots in '01. He played mainly special teams for New England.

Lowe went on to have an eight-season career, in which he was also a Super Bowl champion with the Patriots in 2004. Similar to Akbar, most of his impact as a professional was on special teams.

The Huskies won't have to worry about facing the new Hauck-led defense for the near future. Washington and Illinois aren't scheduled to play each other until 2028.

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