A position has unexpectedly opened up on the Illinois football coaching staff. According to a press release from the program, linebackers coach Tim McGarigle will be leaving Champaign to become the Green Bay Packers’ new Defensive Quality Control & Linebackers Coach. McGarigle, one of the few holdovers from Bill Cubit’s regime, joined the Fighting Illini in January of 2016.
Under McGarigle’s guidance in a new defensive scheme, Illinois linebackers Hardy Nickerson Jr. and Tre Watson both earned recognition as All-Big Ten Honorable-Mentions.
"Coach Lovie Smith and the rest of the coaching staff will have the Illini football program doing great things in the near future.