Western Illinois Head Coach Out

[JackJD]

I don't think this subject has been mentioned on SDSUFans.com yet: Western Illinois announced November 9 that its head football coach, Jared Elliott will finish the 2021 season and the he's out.
Link to the WIU announcement on November 9:
https://goleathernecks.com/news/2021...am-update.aspx

The 'Necks have one game left: Nov 20 at UNI. Elliott has been the 'Necks head coach since 2018 and his record is 9 - 30 in four seasons.

[jakejc795]

I was going to say that I'm rooting for them against UNI, but a UNI loss could potentially impact Jacks' rankings/playoff seed.

UNI was actually one of the two "top 25" wins mentioned in the 'Necks' release, the other being the Grizz (both in 2018).

It'll be interesting to see whether they make another internal hire and elevate someone like Pat Shepard or opt for a DII coach like Stugart. Can't see many FCS coaches jumping to move to WIU, given 'Necks' budget concerns.

[Grizzled_Jack]

I've heard Stugart and other Lindenwood coaches muse about taking Lindenwood into the OVC, a conference that might be hungry for new members. Problems with getting rack rate paying Chinese students in, plus Covid may have halted those plans. I notice that the enrollment has dropped into the mid six thousands. I've asked Lindenwood coaches and GLVC officials about chances of WIU going D2 and they're not enthusiastic about making that trip. Assume they'd be travel partners with Quincy or UI-S, but that's not an easy town to get to from any place.