There will be a friendly face waiting for Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning across the Wrigley Field sidelines come Saturday.

Koenning will be preparing an Illinois defense to play against a Northwestern offense led by offensive coordinator Mick McCall, who coached for Koenning at Wyoming for two seasons during 2001-02.

“I actually talked Mick out of getting out of high school coaching to come join my staff when I was the head coach at Wyoming,” Koenning said. “I haven’t stayed in touch with him as much as I probably should have, but that’s the nature of it. I have tremendous, tremendous respect for him as a person and as a coach.”

Koenning, who was the head coach at Wyoming from 2000-02, recruited McCall away from J.K. Mullen High School in Colorado, where McCall had led the program to a 68-17 record and a state championship. McCall served as both a running backs and quarterbacks coach for Koenning before the entire staff was let go in 2002.

“I felt bad that I pulled him out of a really good job for Wyoming for two years before we got fired,” Koenning said with a smile.

Their past coaching relationship, Koenning said, won’t give the Illinois defense any advantages.

After working with Koenning at Wyoming, McCall went to work on the offensive coaching staff at Bowling Green in 2003, where he began developing his offensive philosophy.

“That’s where he really got into the package of the zone reads with the quarterback, with Rich Rodriguez and all those guys back in the day,” Koenning said.

Koenning said he looks forward to having the chance to catch up with McCall and that he has long admired his work since their time in Wyoming.

“He’s done an awesome job,” Koenning said. “He’s a fantastic coach.”

Illini coordinators ready to return to Wrigley

Inevitably, conversations following practices this week have already begun to involve the opportunity to play football at Wrigley Field.

Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino has fond memories of the first and only time he’s been to Wrigley Field, when he took his wife and three kids to go watch a Cubs game.

“We were at Louisville at the time, so it had to be around 2005 or 2006,” Petrino said. “We went up for the Fourth of July to watch a game. We enjoyed it; it was a great day.”

Koenning, on the other hand, has not been inside the ballpark, only having driven by it at night “a long, long, long, long, long time ago.”

“It’s a good opportunity, but I haven’t thought too much about that,” Koenning said. “I’m worried a little bit more about Northwestern.”

Coaches have downplayed any concerns of the limited space between the endzone and the outfield walls on the right-field side of the playing field.

“You have to catch it inside the lines anyways,” Petrino said.

Defense hungry after back-to-back stumbles

After Illinois’ first set of back-to-back losses this season (Michigan and Minnesota), Koenning asked his players if a loss of confidence will be an issue. They assured him it wouldn’t be.

“Human nature is such where they probably don’t feel too good after losing two games in a row,” Koenning said. “Nobody likes losing. Losing begets losing, and winning begets winning. We just have to kind of shake it off and somehow, one way or another, we have to get the hunger back.”

Earlier in the season, the play of the defense was a strength, ranking in the top half of the conference in most defensive statistical categories. In the team’s last two losses, the Illini have given up a total of 105 points and 1,037 yards of total offense.

“We just don’t seem to be playing as fast as we’ve been playing earlier this year,” Koenning said.

Koenning, who led successful defenses in his last two coaching stops at Kansas State and Clemson, said he has never seen a lapse in play from a defense quite like the last two weeks.

“It’s the first time in my memory when I had a defense that hadn’t gotten better,” Koenning said. “Last year, every year I can remember, it seemed like we always finished strong. We’ve got to find a way. The coaches are working tirelessly trying to figure out a way.”