ST. LOUIS, Mo- On the same day the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved contracts for Head Football Coach Bret Bielema and new members of his coaching staff, the school announced that it had filled the last positional coaching vacancy remaining. Kevin Kane, who had been the Defensive Coordinator at SMU the past three seasons, is coming to Champaign as Associate Head Coach and will also coach Outside Linebackers.
This is the second time Bielema has hired Kane. The first time was as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin.
“I’ve previously coached in the state of Illinois and worked for Coach B, and I know we will have success here,” Kane said in a news release from the school. “He has hired a great group of coaches and staff who know what it takes to recruit, coach and develop young men on and off the field. It’s a great time to be at Illinois and I’m more than excited to be a part of it.”
Kane, a Kansas City native who played Linebacker at Kansas, spent two stints coaching at Northern Illinois after his time at Wisconsin.
ESPN reported that he had ben in the mix for Missouri’s search for a Defensive Coordinator, which ended Thursday with the hiring of Steve Wilks.
