UPDATED – Phil Dodson Hired as Head Coach at Illinois
By Tim Haslam
Hot off the heals of former Illinois Head Coach Joe Dodson leaving, Phil Dodson, Joe’s brother, has been put in charge of the Fighting Illini.
Phil had spent the last few years as an assistant coach on the team and is looking forward to finally take the reigns.
“By far the thing I am looking forward to the most is being able to talk to officials,” said Dodson. “Without fail before every game Joe would come up to me before the opening face-off and tell me ‘take it easy today, the refs were very specific about chatty assistants, they don’t want to hear a word from you.’”
Before joining the coaching ranks, Dodson played defense at Illinois from 2005-2009. Dodson was a captain for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Dodson was selected to the MCLA All-American teams in 2008 and 2009.
Phil looks forward to calling the shots, but admits it won’t be much different than last year.
“Last year, Joe and I called the shots equally, he was in charge of the offense and I was in charge of the
defense,” said Dodson. ” But the biggest difference not having him around is not having someone to keep me in check. Last year Joe and I disagreed on almost everything and as a result we forced each other to think about the decisions we were making more intensely. Also we are so competitive as brothers when the Defense or Offense didn’t perform we let the other know about it. So to get back to the question I don’t think calling the shots is going to be much different but not having someone to question my decisions or bounce ideas off of is going to take some getting used to.”
Phil will hope to carry momentum from last season which saw the Fighting Illini winning the GRLC conference, winning the GRLC conference tournament before losing in the first round of the National Championship to Chapman. The Fighting Illini were 12-2 last season and undefeated in conference play.
