Does Illinois' Bret Bielema really love this more than ever? Because there sure is lots more to do

INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois football coach Bret Bielema gripped the lectern with both of his meaty, powerful ex-defensive lineman’s hands and kicked off Big Ten media days with an ode to the constantly changing, ever-more-demanding college game.

“I think a lot of people want to dwell on things or think about things in a negative light,” he told hundreds of reporters at Lucas Oil Stadium. “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 expansion [to 18 schools], the schedule, the world of college athletics with the [transfer] portal and NIL, the expansion of coaching roles, duties and responsibilities. …

“I just can’t express how awesome it is to have this job and to be in this opportunity.”

An observer couldn’t help but silently wonder if Bielema, 54, was trying to convince himself of all that, too.

Later, in a much quieter moment, it was too tempting not to ask him that very thing.

The size and scope of recruiting alone in the current landscape makes the job of a power-conference coach at least appear to be more demanding and stressful than ever. And Bielema, heading into his fourth season at Illinois and coming off a deeply disappointing 5-7 campaign, needs to prove the Illini can win in a conference that just got even better with Oregon, USC, Washington and UCLA on board and has done away with divisions, the days of a weaker Big Ten West now over. So, for example, when Bielema recruited — on the same offseason day — in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then all the way out on the East Coast, it wasn’t just because he was willing to all that flying and all that hurried selling. It was also because he felt he had to.

“I’ve never been around another person who works the way that he does,” athletic director Josh Whitman said. “He’s more involved from a hands-on perspective in recruiting than any coach I’ve ever seen.”

But all of Bielema’s contemporaries — the ones who aren’t going to be left behind, that is — are grinding harder than ever to build and rebuild rosters, which, of course, leaves less time for everything else. Away from the media throng, Bielema, a 16th-year college head coach, insisted he’s enjoying all this as much as ever.

“I hear narratives out there, even people socially say, ‘Man, I don’t envy your job,’ ” he said. “I’ve never had anybody say that before. Most people, you’d think, would love to be in my job. But that [love] has never been stronger for me.”

Bielema’s first experience with media days came in 1992 in Chicago before his senior season at Iowa. He represented the Hawkeyes at the Hyatt Regency in the Loop along with coaching luminary Hayden Fry and All-American lineman Mike Devlin, who’d go on to play 100-plus games in the NFL, or 100-plus more than his teammate. Bielema, a former walk-on, was a plugger, an overachiever, a player with “future coach” written all over him. The first opposing player he met in the lobby was Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit. It was Bielema’s first time in the city, and he even took his first L ride and took in a Cubs game. Life was simpler then.

His first media days as a coach was in 2006, when he’d taken the reins from Wisconsin hero Barry Alvarez. The program’s architect prepped him before the trip, but Bielema was nervous. On his walk across the stage, he saw a table covered in Rose Bowl hats and almost grabbed one and put it on. That would’ve been quite the move.

Bielema was young and brash then but really isn’t any of one or much of the other anymore. He’ll still reveal that familiar old confidence, though, as he tries to get the Illini over the hump once and for all. Their over/under for wins on most betting sites is only 5½, a rather harsh indication of how they’re perceived even after winning eight games in 2022 and playing nothing but nip-and-tuck games during the second half of last season.

“We need to start winning more of those games,” Whitman said.

There’s no fooling around when it comes to Bielema’s boss, whose own profile is growing as the Illini men’s basketball program surges and the NCAA Division I Council sorts out vital plans — especially for college football’s future — with Whitman as its chair. For now, Whitman calls the expanded, 12-team football playoff “very much within [Illinois’] reach and something we talk about on a regular basis.”

Everybody wants more — that’s the college game in 2024 in a nutshell.

“As you get older, you should get better at what you do,” Bielema said. “I [tell] Josh all the time, ‘Hey, you’re getting the best version of Bret Bielema you’ve ever had.’ ”

We’ll assume he truly believes that, too.