SPRING PRACTICE VIDEO: Illini OC Tony Petersen

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois offensive coordinator Tony Petersen discussed several topics during his Zoom conference with statewide and local media.

Spring practices are scheduled to begin Tuesday, March 23.

Petersen, 54, Petersen has directed offenses during his 30-year college coaching career at Marshall, Minnesota, Louisiana Tech, East Carolina and Appalachian State. However, it is a three-year period that Bielema references that led him to give Petersen this opportunity at Illinois.

From 2000-2006, Petersen worked under Minnesota head coach Glenn Mason as the co-offensive coordinator and passing game coordinator but was not the Gophers offensive play-caller. During his time working with the Minnesota passing attack, Petersen’s quarterback (Bryan Cupito) set the school's all-time career passing yardage mark of 7,446. During those seven seasons in Minneapolis, Bielema’s Wisconsin defenses had to face Petersen’s passing attack from 2004-2006 (04-05 with Bielema as a defensive coordinator and 2006 with Bielema as the Badgers head coach).

“After competing against Tony and his offensive style and game plan I have had tremendous respect for him as a coach,” Bielema stated in a university release. “Throughout his career he has blended the roster and skill sets of the players to maximize the results. Here at Illinois, we will build an offensive identity that will provide balance, use tempo, and play with a physicality that will make Illini Nation smile. No matter from playing on the road in a hostile environment or here at Memorial Stadium, we will execute and maximize our players’ talents to build a sustained winning culture.”

Petersen spent the 2020 season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Appalachian State, when the Mountaineers finished 9-3 overall with a 56-28 victory in the Myrtle Beach Bowl over North Texas on December 21. App State averaged 452 yards in total offense (26th in Football Bowl Subdivision), including 264.9 rushing yards (7th in FBS).

Petersen was Marshall’s quarterbacks coach for five seasons (1993-95, 1997-98) and the signal callers at his alma mater collected first-team all-conference honors four times. Headlining this list of quarterbacks is Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington, who earned first-team All-Midwest Athletic Conference honors in 1997 and 1998 and was a finalist in 1998 for the Davey O’Brien Award, which annually honors the nation’s top quarterback.