Illinois defensive coordinator Vince Okruch has left the Illinois football program on "temporary leave of absence for personal reasons," meaning [NAME REDACTED] has to promote Dan Disch and Curt Mallory to co-defensive coordinators for the Illini. "Personal reasons" is as specific as any comment or press release gets on the matter--it could be anything, really: alien possession, persistent case of scabies, Guillain-Barre syndrome, leaving to get that real estate license he always craved...unless you lock onto this key bit from Chicago Sports:
During the season there were rumors of friction between the head coach and defensive coordinator.
Hey! You excited and improving over there?
...fueling our hypothesis is that Okruch has a potential job waiting at Northwestern and and/or tired of [NAME REDACTED]'s endless pawing of his defenses. [NAME REDACTED]'s time at Florida was marked by a refusal to delegate to assistants, even in the most crucial of situations. Charlie Strong, a hyperaggressive DC, watched his defenses fall back into soft zones in the second half with doomed, eventually blown leads; Ed Zaunbrecher, offensive coordinator, watched as [NAME REDACTED] called for a double reverse pass to end Florida's potential comeback in the 2003 Capital One bowl against Michigan, placing the ball in poor Vernell Brown's hands to win it with Rex Grossman running a pass route downfield.
(We're very sorry about that hole in the drywall, Mom. If it makes you feel better, we just put a matching one in our own wall just remembering that game. Happy kitties make the rage go away, happy kitties make the rage go away...)
Yayyyyyyy happy kitties not 2003 Outback Bowl BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD AARRRRGGHHH!!!!
If we're in on this hand of blogger's bluff, we guess Okruch tired of the second-guessing micromanagement and took a hike to "explore other career options," leaving Illinois with two co-dcs with exactly no experience as DCs at the college level. This means [NAME REDACTED] now will attempt to mold the defense into a facsimile of his masterfully forgiving 2001 Saints defense. This means putting drywall repairman on speed dial, Illinois fans. Now.