Can't Wait For Saturday | First impression: new guys are a hit and ready to work
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Greetings from "Can't Wait For Saturday," your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He'll give you his views each day on the game he loves.
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With football assistant coaches, reporters never know what they are going to get.
During my time covering Illinois football, I have been fortunate to cover coaches who were fantastic storytellers, had great senses of humor and were friendly. The list of good talkers during my 35 years on the beat is a long one, with Bill Cubit, Dan Disch, Aaron Henry, Mike Locksley, Greg McMahon, Rod Smith and Lenny Willis ranking among the best from a reporter perspective. And there are many others on the good list.
Bret Bielema will have four new assistant coaches on his staff in 2024. Based on what I heard Thursday and last week, he is 3 for 3 so far from a media perspective.
Both Archie McDaniel (linebackers) and Justin Stepp (receivers) were easy to talk to and came up wth interesting and thoughtful answers in their first meeting with the local media.
They followed David Gibbs (secondary), who was equally comfortable with the press last week,
Some places, the assistant coaches never are allowed to talk to the media. But Illinois has always been willling to give us access to the staff, going back to the first head coach I worked with John Mackovic.
To me, it is a no-brainer to have the assistants talk. It allows them a chance to get their names out there and also impress potential employers. I have covered a handful of assistants who later became head coaches. The practice in front of the camera/microphone likely helped.
Bielema has one more hire to make and I expect the person will be media-friendly. Just like the boss.
