Historically, the University of Illinois football program has been a launching pad for future head football coaches. Former Illini assistant coaches who left Champaign-Urbana to seek head coaching jobs include Glen Mason, Lloyd Carr, Joe Novak and Bob Sutton, who all served as key aides to Gary Moeller during the late 1970s.
Dick MacPherson, who was a graduate assistant coach on Ray Eliot’s 1959 squad, went on to success at Massachusetts and Syracuse, then had a two-year stint as head coach of the New England Patriots.
Besides MacPherson, four other former Illini assistants — Sean Payton, Bill Callahan, Leslie Frazier and Brad Childress — also eventually became NFL head coaches.