Giants Defensive Assistant Coach Bret Bielema Named Head Coach at Illinois
Giants senior defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema has been named the head coach at the University of Illinois, the school announced.
According to the university's announcement, Bielema received a six-year deal worth an annual salary of $4.2 million. He will begin his duties at Illinois immediately and will attend the game between Illinois and Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania.
"We always want to be supportive of our coaches and players in terms of advancing their careers," said head coach Joe Judge in a statement issued by the team.
"We appreciate everything Bret did for this organization and our coaching staff. He did he a great job with our outside linebackers and made a significant impact on our overall defensive effort. Bret is a great teacher, and he brings great perspective on how he sees the game. We wish him all the best at the University of Illinois. The Illini program is in great hands."
Bielema, who was earning $400,000 per year from the Giants, has long been linked to various college head coaching jobs since joining Giants head coach Joe Judge's staff.
Bielema is the former head coach at the University of Arkansas, where he had a 29–34 record. He also served Bielema also served as head football coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2006-12, where he had a 68–24 record.
Giants inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer will assume Bielema's former duties with the team for the rest of the season. Sherrer will be assisted by Jody Wright.
Another Giants Assistant Coach Tests Positive for COVID-19
The Giants announced that offensive assistant coach Stephen Brown has tested positive for COVID-19.
The team is scheduled to hold a walkthrough practice Saturday ahead of its game Sunday night against the Cleveland Browns. The Giants say that their main headquarters, the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, is open, and the team will still hold its scheduled walkthrough and meetings, the latter of which will presumably be conducted virtually.
Brown, who is not believed to have been a high-risk, close contact of Garrett's, is the second member of the Giants coaching staff to test positive this week, joining offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who will not coach Sunday's game against Cleveland.
The Giants said in their statement that they are currently conducting contact tracing to identify if there were any high-risk close contacts of Brown's. A high-risk close contact is defined as someone who was close for at least 15 minutes or who may have been exposed to respiratory droplets such as through coughing or sneezing.
