University of Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema Monday named Andy Buh (BOO) to his staff as linebackers coach.
Buh brings 23 years of collegiate coaching experience to Champaign-Urbana including four different stops as defensive coordinator in three Power 5 conferences.
In a statement Coach Bielema expressed his confidence in Buh as a special teams and linebackers coach based on his experience in the Big Ten.
Bielema and Buh spent the 2012 season together at Wisconsin helping the Badgers win the Big Ten Championship. He makes the move to Illinois after spending the 2020 season as outside linebackers coach at Arizona.
Buh also spent time in the Big Ten as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Rutgers in 2019 and three years as defensive coordinator at Maryland from 2016-18. He also served as a coordinator earlier in his career at California, Nevada and Stanford.
Bielema Sunday named Ben Miller his tight ends coach.
Miller moves to Illinois after 14 seasons as an assistant coach at Air Force. A 2002 Air Force Academy graduate, Miller spent the 2006 season as the offensive graduate assistant at Illinois under Ron Zook before returning to the Academy. He spent nine seasons as the running backs coach and 13 years coaching the specialists, including the last 10 as the special teams coordinator.
Bielema says Miller will help the Illini in their recruiting efforts from coast-to-coast.
Miller's nine years working with Falcon running backs was highly successful. He oversaw the progress of first-year starter Cody Getz, who rushed for 1,248 yards in 2012. Miller also coached Jacobi Owens, who posted back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2014 and 2015, while topping 3,000 yards in his career.
Miller was an all-conference offensive lineman for the Falcons, starting at left tackle as a junior and senior. After completing his collegiate career, Miller signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns, where he was used as a fullback/tight end/long snapper.
Last week, Bielema announced the addition of Ryan Walters as the Fighting Illini Defensive Coordinator. One of the nation's top young coaches, Walters comes to Illinois following six seasons at Missouri, including three years as the Tigers' defensive coordinator and two years as co-defensive coordinator.
Walters has had an impressive run at Missouri where he has overseen an impressive transformation of the Tiger defense into one of the SEC's top units. In 2019, Walters' defense ranked in the nation's Top 20 in several major categories, including total defense (14th NCAA/3rd SEC – 312.0 avg) and scoring defense (17th NCAA/6th SEC – 19.4 avg.), while excelling as a Top 10 pass defense (eighth in passing yards allowed NCAA/2nd SEC – 179.3 avg.).
Prior making the move to Missouri in 2015, Walters coached at Memphis where he spent the 2014 season as cornerbacks coach and oversaw a defense that was among the most improved in the nation when the Tigers went 10-3.
A native of Aurora, Colorado, Walters played collegiately at Colorado, where he was a standout safety for the Buffaloes (2004-08).
A 2008 team captain for the Buffaloes, Walters was voted that season as team MVP by his teammates.
