Believe it or not, on the fourth play from scrimmage in 2012, Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Lankford to give Illinois a quick 7-0 lead over Western Michigan. 

It was the highest moment of excitement all season of just what the Illini’s offense might look like under a new coaching staff that was supposed to bring a spread offense and help reverse a lackluster Illinois offense in years past.

Those aspirations would quickly fade away and reality would set in, as Illinois struggled to a 2-10 record.

Who would have thought then that 24-7 victory would be Illinois’ lone win over an FBS team in 2012?

Or that Western Michigan would struggle to a 4-8 record that cost head coach Bill Cubit his job? 

Or that now Illinois is putting the task of fixing its offense in Cubit’s hands? 

Cubit was officially hired as Illinois’ new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Monday, making him the Illini’s fifth offensive coordinator since 2008. 

“I’m very excited to have the opportunity join (head coach) Tim Beckman here at Illinois,” Cubit said in a statement. He will be introduced in a news conference Wednesday.

“I have a lot of respect for him and his teams. I’m enthused about joining a great staff and being a part of the Illinois football tradition. I look forward to getting to work immediately and competing for a Big Ten championship.”

Cubit will have that work cut out for him. Illinois finished 119th out of 120 NCAA Division-I programs in total and scoring offense. The 24 points in Week One turned out to be a season-high score against an FBS program for the Illini, and that included an interception returned for a touchdown by the defense. Illinois raced out to a 17-0 lead in that opening game, but the offense looked sluggish after that and never rebounded. Granted, Scheelhaase would leave the game with an injury that limited him for much of the first half of the season. And the offense had its share of injuries, to Scheelhaase and to all five starters on the offensive line.

However, Illinois’ offense looked dysfunctional and inept and rarely threw the ball down the field or often was too far down in the scoreboard to run the ball.

That led to the dismissal of co-offensive coordinator Chris Beatty, who was fired last week, even though he was coaching players recruited by former Illinois head coach Ron Zook’s staff who may not have fit in his system. 

Billy Gonzales served as the other co-offensive coordinator in 2012 but will remain on staff as wide receivers coach. 

Beatty and Gonzales split play-calling duties in 2012, with Beatty selecting the plays on first and second down and Gonzales calling on third down, a process that drew criticism but was defended by Beckman as something he’d done in the past.

Illinois also lost offensive line coach Luke Butkus when he left for Florida International to join former Illinois head coach Ron Turner.

Beckman now brings in Cubit, who led Western Michigan to arguably its best offensive season ever in 2011.

The Broncos set school records for points, touchdowns, passing yards, total yards and first downs.

“I am very excited to have an experienced coach like Bill Cubit join the Illini football staff, as he has always been known to have an outstanding football mind,” Beckman said in a statement. “I’ve known Bill and coached against him for several years. 

“He has had many extremely productive offensive teams during his career. Bill has called plays for many years as an offensive coordinator and as a head coach and has developed several outstanding quarterbacks.”

Cubit spent eight seasons as a head coach at Western Michigan, leading the Broncos to a 51-47 record and three bowl appearances. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Stanford in 2003, when the Cardinal were ranked 28th in the NCAA in passing yards. He has also been an offensive coordinator at Rutgers and Missouri and was an offensive coordinator with Western Michigan before becoming the team’s head coach. 

He worked with quarterback Tim Lester during his first stint with the Broncos, and Lester went on to finish fifth in NCAA career passing yards and seventh in career touchdown passes.

Jamal can be reached at [email protected] and @JamalCollier.