Should Illinois Coach Bret Bielema Move on From Aaron Henry?

Illinois' defensive struggles aren't new

Still, when held up to any reasonable expectations, the Illini defense has underperformed. Massively. It has held back the offense and is at risk of wasting the senior season of one of the program's best-ever quarterbacks in Luke Altmyer. Despite a few key injuries – and let's face it, this is football – the unit is working with a group similar to that of last season. But that may be part of the problem: The 2024 Illinois defense wasn't exactly Seal Team Six.

Last year's Illini gave up 49 points to Purdue, 31 to Rutgers and 28 to Northwestern – all in wins. The defense frequently did just enough to give the offense a chance. But even that dynamic has disappeared this season. Illinois has been passive, slow and – difficult as it may be to face – soft.

Yes, the Illini have faced a brutal schedule thus far – especially in Big Ten play. Even so, Illinois ranks No. 130 out of 134 FBS schools in third-down percentage allowed, No. 12 in red-zone defense and 89th and 85th in scoring defense and total defense, respectively. (These figures include the Illini's early-season shutdowns of mid-majors Western Illinois and Western Michigan.) The bend-but-don't break approach Illinois won with a year ago is now, quite simply, broken.

That shouldn't all fall on the shoulders of Henry. Players continue to take bad angles, miss tackles and blow opportunities to make big plays. But they haven't exactly been empowered to make things happen by Henry's scheme, either. We've brought it up more times than we can count in our pages that the Illini play too conservatively. blitz too little, attack to rarely. Henry even alluded to as much in his Monday presser.

"I have to do a better job in making sure things are clear and concise to our players so that can allow them to play faster again," Henry said. "I felt like we played with some hesitation on Saturday. Whether that means we've got to simplify calls or just make it a handful of things where they can go out and fly around, I can assure you that we're working endlessly and tirelessly to make sure that gets corrected."

Here's the issue: It's kinda late for that. We're in Week 10 of the college football season, and the cracks in the Illini defense – the system itself – should have been obvious to anyone paying attention as far back as a year ago. Adjustments should have already been made. The Illini have good players, not great ones – a fact that was never more obvious than in a loss to No. 1 Ohio State. Nothing wrong with that. That's where coaching and game-planning come in. But what did Illinois change a game later, even with the benefit of a bye week? We're still waiting ...

Can Illinois move forward with Aaron Henry?

Henry is a good, respected man, and Bret Bielema is a loyal boss who clearly has great affinity for his defensive coordinator. Firings can be tough, awkward stuff, and because hirings are just as hard to get right, letting people go should be carefully thought through. But not endlessly.

Bielema and Henry are in the results game, and both know it. That's a deal every college football coach makes with themselves going in. So where does that leave them? Henry – a successful defensive backs coach whose defense excelled in his first year as coordinator (2023) – has earned the right to try to turn things around against a lighter schedule down the stretch. But if both the numbers and the product on the field don't show demonstrable improvement over the next five games (including Illinois' bowl), Bielema owes it to the program to wish Henry well and find another way.