Illinois announced it is hiring Bret Bielema as its next head football coach on Saturday. The school’s announcement comes less than a week after it fired coach Lovie Smith.

Bielema, whose contact with the Illini will be for six years, currently coaches with the New York Giants. He previously spent two years with the New England Patriots, but recently began seeking a return to the college level.

Bielema was reportedly a candidate for openings at Michigan State and Colorado last season and at Southern Miss last month. He hopes to help turn things around for Illini football, which went 17-39 in five seasons under Smith.

“Illinois and the Big Ten is home for me. I can’t be any more excited about the opportunity in front of me,” Bielema, a Prophestown, Illinois native, said in a statement via the school’s press release. “We want to build a program that makes Illini Nation proud and regain the passion that I’ve seen when Illinois wins.”

Bielema has had success at the college level. He won three consecutive Big Ten championships with Wisconsin from 2010 to 2012. His Badger teams finished in the Top 25 in five of seven seasons. He left for Arkansas after the 2012 Big Ten championship game, but was fired after going 29-34 in five seasons.

Other candidates for the Illini position included Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said in the release that Bielema’s track record as a “proven winner” created separation.

“With Big Ten championships to his credit, few coaches can match his familiarity with, and success within, the Big Ten Conference,” Leonhard said. “In our conversations, it became clear to me that he is a life-long learner who is continually looking to grow and improve.”