CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Aaron Henry enters his fifth year with Illinois football, and his third as the defensive coordinator, in 2025.

Henry’s group showed improvement from his first year to the second. In 2023, Illinois allowed 29.4 points per game, third-worst in the Big Ten. That average was down to 21.7 points per game in 2024.

It all began with honesty from the Florida native after his first year with the new, bigger and better title didn’t go as planned.

“If anybody knows me, you guys know I’m pretty transparent,” Henry told reporters on Thursday.

The transparency showed up in his willingness to tell players, the spring following the 2023 season which saw Illinois miss a bowl game, that his performance as the DC was not good enough.

“I think it’s good for players to hear that because oftentimes they think it’s just about them – and to a degree, it is,” Henry said. “But, as coaches we take ownership as well. I’m just as good as the players I coach and vice versa… I just think it’s a level of accountability in this profession that you have to take. You have to be transparent with your players.”

He says that attitude can be contagious, leading to accountability within the roster.

Henry doesn’t believe in ‘fake it until you make it’, nor does he try to pretend everything is wonderful when it’s not.

“I think we live in a society now that’s fabricated by [the idea that] everything has to look good and be good,” he said. “I don’t operate in that in that factor, in that notion. I’m a real dude. I can be transparent when I make mistakes or when I think something isn’t good enough. I always try to relay that to our guys.”

Can his defensive assistants learn from that, too?

“We got some really transparent guys in the room, that’s what I love about our staff,” Henry said. “…We have really close relationships which allows those guys to step out and say those kind of things. It starts with our staff and the relationships we have…”

While the other coaches in the room with Henry might often be willing to take blame, he knows it starts with him on that side of the ball – and isn’t afraid to wear that responsibility.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to always protect my staff, I’m going to always protect my players,” Henry said. “No matter what happens this season I can tell you guys I’m going to bear the blame and I’m going to deliver all the praise. That’s just how I operate.”

He says the ‘protector’ personality comes naturally because he grew up with nine sisters.

The transparency, accountability and vulnerability could be one reason why many of Illinois’ best defenders have stuck around.

The Illini return a bulk of its starting group on both sides of the ball from 2024. Defensively, that squad is headlined by guys like Gabe Jacas and Xavier Scott, who have both landed on national award watch lists ahead of the 2025 season.

Henry’s secondary looks especially exciting on the tails of that 10-win season, as Xavier Scott is joined by Miles Scott, Matthew Bailey, Mac Resetich and other experienced players.

“They’ve been through some some trials and tribulations, which is always good when you talk about handling adversity,” Henry said of his experienced defensive back room. “And things may not go initially right. They know how to fix things. They know how I think. Coach [Bielema] always says when when your players can start finishing your sentences for you, you got a pretty, pretty special group. And those three cats [M. Scott, Bailey, Resetich] I mean, they can literally finish the words that are coming out of my mouth. They know exactly what I want. They know the expectation of the room.”

Henry hopes to take the Illinois defense to new heights in 2025.

“Instead of allowing a team to linger around, let’s put them out,” he said. “