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May 17—MACOMB — No need to tell Western Illinois coach Joe Davis directions to Memorial Stadium. Or the best places to eat in Champaign-Urbana.
While he lives and works at Western Illinois, second-year Leathernecks boss Davis still owns a home in the area. Actually Tolono, which is 8 miles from where Davis will be on Aug. 29.
FCS school Western Illinois opens the 2025 season at Illinois. The game was originally scheduled for Aug. 30 but will be played one day sooner on a Friday. While no TV provider has been set, BTN in prime time is the likely destination.
Back to Davis. Why does he have a home in Tolono?
Multiple reasons. First, before taking over at Western Illinois going into the 2024 season, he spent the previous two years on the staff at Eastern Illinois. He served as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, helping the Panthers to eight wins in 2023.
The Davis family — Joe, wife Whitney and daughters Zoey and Jolie — found a place in Brian Cardinal's hometown.
C-U is home territory for Whitney, an Urbana High School graduate and an Illinois alum.
"We've spent quite a bit of time in the past decade or so in and around Urbana-Champaign," Davis said.
The Davis family is looking forward to the game.
"It will an exciting opportunity for us as a football program to take another step," Davis said. "But certainly personally to have a lot of family and friends around will be a big positive."
The family will be decked out in Western Illinois' purple.
Davis has been to Memorial Stadium for Illinois games in the past, often during visits to see Whitney's family at the holidays.
"Tons of respect for Coach (Bret) Bielema," Davis said. "He has built the program the right way. Him and I have developed a really positive relationship over the last three or four years."
Making progress
Detroit metro native Davis was born in Ann Arbor. Mom is a Michigan alum and dad went to Michigan State.
"I've got a lot of Big Ten roots in me," Davis said.
Davis inherited a challenge in Macomb. The two seasons before he arrived, the team went 0-11 and was 4-47 from 2019-23.
Davis' first Western Illinois team won four games, the most for the program in six years.
"A lot of positivity, a lot of optimism last year," Davis said. "Like I told our team, 'You set the bar at a certain level. Now you've got to keep raising it.'"
The Leathernecks witnessed the early part of Indiana's shocking rise to College Football Playoff contender, losing via a 77-3 rout in Bloomington the second week of the season.
"As a new staff, we were still trying to get our feet underneath us," Davis said. "We had 65 new players and still trying to figure out what pieces of the puzzle fit where."
During the game, Davis noted the change in the Hoosiers under first-year coach Curt Cignetti.
"I got on the headset and I said, 'Guys, this is not your ma and pa's Indiana. This is a different beast.'"
The blowout loss didn't discourage the Leathernecks.
"One of the things I'm most proud about our program is we were a very different football team in Week 13 than we were in Week 2," Davis said. "We continued to improve."
The Hoosiers weren't ranked going into that game. Illinois will be this time.
"We're certainly aware of Illinois' strengths as a football team and what they have returning," Davis said. "It's a great opportunity for us."
It is the first of back-to-back games against the Big Ten for Western Illinois, which plays at Northwestern the following week.
"The cost of doing business in Division I football continues to rise," Davis said. "This fall, in the history of FCS football, it's the most teams playing two FBS games than there's ever been. We lean on those games for fiscal stability."
In 2026, the Leathernecks travel to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State is on the schedule in 2027.
"The Power Four level has really gone to a whole other stratosphere when it comes to resources and finances and staffing and player acquisition," Davis said. "Although Illinois and Western Illinois share Division I classification, it's two pretty different programs when it comes to resources."
The plan for Davis and the Leathernecks is to prepare for Illinois like it would any other team on its schedule.
"I can promise you, our kids will play hard," Davis said.
Davis is excited about the potential of the offensive line. Wide receiver is another strength.
He's looking for more consistency on defense.
A former college quarterback, Davis has had success with his offense at multiple coaching stops.
Chris Irvin finished spring drills as the team's No. 1 quarterback, but will be challenged during training camp. Davis doesn't expect to name a starter until a few weeks before the opener.
"I feel real good about that room right now," Davis said.
Long road back
While the past two decades have been rough in Macomb, the school has had some winning runs. From 1996 to 2000, coaches Randy Ball and Don Patterson went a combined 47-15, earning four berths in the FCS playoffs.
Davis focuses on the positives.
"There's been 35 NFL draft picks out of this program and there's been multiple championships and playoff appearances," he said. "I would not have taken this job if I didn't believe we have enough resources to win. And I believe no one on our staff or around our team is ever going to make excuses about anything. We have the resources. We have the talent. We have the mindset. We're going to continue to get better every single day."
Getting back to that level of success starts with recruiting. The team had 30 players from Illinois on its first roster.
"I said, 'That's not enough," Davis said. "That's just not what we're about here. We've almost double that."
The home-state guys can't wait for the Illinois game.
"I'm sure there are kids on our team at one point or another that had aspirations to be at Illinois," Davis said, "They'll be excited to play that game."
A Western Illinois win would make national headlines.
"We're absolutely going to prepare to win this football game." Davis said. "I do believe in this era, when you report to fall camp and as you've trained in the summer, you're really focused on yourself. How can we develop our players to their maximum ability?"
Continue reading...
While he lives and works at Western Illinois, second-year Leathernecks boss Davis still owns a home in the area. Actually Tolono, which is 8 miles from where Davis will be on Aug. 29.
FCS school Western Illinois opens the 2025 season at Illinois. The game was originally scheduled for Aug. 30 but will be played one day sooner on a Friday. While no TV provider has been set, BTN in prime time is the likely destination.
Back to Davis. Why does he have a home in Tolono?
Multiple reasons. First, before taking over at Western Illinois going into the 2024 season, he spent the previous two years on the staff at Eastern Illinois. He served as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, helping the Panthers to eight wins in 2023.
The Davis family — Joe, wife Whitney and daughters Zoey and Jolie — found a place in Brian Cardinal's hometown.
C-U is home territory for Whitney, an Urbana High School graduate and an Illinois alum.
"We've spent quite a bit of time in the past decade or so in and around Urbana-Champaign," Davis said.
The Davis family is looking forward to the game.
"It will an exciting opportunity for us as a football program to take another step," Davis said. "But certainly personally to have a lot of family and friends around will be a big positive."
The family will be decked out in Western Illinois' purple.
Davis has been to Memorial Stadium for Illinois games in the past, often during visits to see Whitney's family at the holidays.
"Tons of respect for Coach (Bret) Bielema," Davis said. "He has built the program the right way. Him and I have developed a really positive relationship over the last three or four years."
Making progress
Detroit metro native Davis was born in Ann Arbor. Mom is a Michigan alum and dad went to Michigan State.
"I've got a lot of Big Ten roots in me," Davis said.
Davis inherited a challenge in Macomb. The two seasons before he arrived, the team went 0-11 and was 4-47 from 2019-23.
Davis' first Western Illinois team won four games, the most for the program in six years.
"A lot of positivity, a lot of optimism last year," Davis said. "Like I told our team, 'You set the bar at a certain level. Now you've got to keep raising it.'"
The Leathernecks witnessed the early part of Indiana's shocking rise to College Football Playoff contender, losing via a 77-3 rout in Bloomington the second week of the season.
"As a new staff, we were still trying to get our feet underneath us," Davis said. "We had 65 new players and still trying to figure out what pieces of the puzzle fit where."
During the game, Davis noted the change in the Hoosiers under first-year coach Curt Cignetti.
"I got on the headset and I said, 'Guys, this is not your ma and pa's Indiana. This is a different beast.'"
The blowout loss didn't discourage the Leathernecks.
"One of the things I'm most proud about our program is we were a very different football team in Week 13 than we were in Week 2," Davis said. "We continued to improve."
The Hoosiers weren't ranked going into that game. Illinois will be this time.
"We're certainly aware of Illinois' strengths as a football team and what they have returning," Davis said. "It's a great opportunity for us."
It is the first of back-to-back games against the Big Ten for Western Illinois, which plays at Northwestern the following week.
"The cost of doing business in Division I football continues to rise," Davis said. "This fall, in the history of FCS football, it's the most teams playing two FBS games than there's ever been. We lean on those games for fiscal stability."
In 2026, the Leathernecks travel to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State is on the schedule in 2027.
"The Power Four level has really gone to a whole other stratosphere when it comes to resources and finances and staffing and player acquisition," Davis said. "Although Illinois and Western Illinois share Division I classification, it's two pretty different programs when it comes to resources."
The plan for Davis and the Leathernecks is to prepare for Illinois like it would any other team on its schedule.
"I can promise you, our kids will play hard," Davis said.
Davis is excited about the potential of the offensive line. Wide receiver is another strength.
He's looking for more consistency on defense.
A former college quarterback, Davis has had success with his offense at multiple coaching stops.
Chris Irvin finished spring drills as the team's No. 1 quarterback, but will be challenged during training camp. Davis doesn't expect to name a starter until a few weeks before the opener.
"I feel real good about that room right now," Davis said.
Long road back
While the past two decades have been rough in Macomb, the school has had some winning runs. From 1996 to 2000, coaches Randy Ball and Don Patterson went a combined 47-15, earning four berths in the FCS playoffs.
Davis focuses on the positives.
"There's been 35 NFL draft picks out of this program and there's been multiple championships and playoff appearances," he said. "I would not have taken this job if I didn't believe we have enough resources to win. And I believe no one on our staff or around our team is ever going to make excuses about anything. We have the resources. We have the talent. We have the mindset. We're going to continue to get better every single day."
Getting back to that level of success starts with recruiting. The team had 30 players from Illinois on its first roster.
"I said, 'That's not enough," Davis said. "That's just not what we're about here. We've almost double that."
The home-state guys can't wait for the Illinois game.
"I'm sure there are kids on our team at one point or another that had aspirations to be at Illinois," Davis said, "They'll be excited to play that game."
A Western Illinois win would make national headlines.
"We're absolutely going to prepare to win this football game." Davis said. "I do believe in this era, when you report to fall camp and as you've trained in the summer, you're really focused on yourself. How can we develop our players to their maximum ability?"
Continue reading...