Illinois fires coach, hires Lovie Smith

[ThaDude]

Funny you describe him as "an NFL coach who's been fired twice". Like that's such a grave insult....

Many recruits and their parents will see him for exactly what he is, and that's a strong black mentor and role model for their kids, who knows what it takes to play at the next level. Those old Bears players practically revolted when Lovie got fired, he was like a father to many. I don't expect National Championships. That's not the standard at Illinois. I'll take a bowl game every year and a program that's not in complete disarray.

 

[RunLeeRun]

I think we could make this a 50 page thread about the success or failure of Lovie Smith. But the fact is we really don't know what's going to happen. And neither does Illinois. They are taking a shot in the dark because they basically are a poor recruiting program that has few other options left. Based on the staff Lovie is bringing in, they could improve drastically. So the potential is there for him to do a solid job. But it depends on which Lovie Smith shows up. The one that coached Chicago was solid. The one that coached Tampa won't cut the mustard. I'm sure many said that Jim Mora wouldn't work out at UCLA. But so far he is. At least he's much better than the previous hires there. And I believe Jim Harbaugh, like Pete Carroll, is fully capable of coaching at both levels...It's all an individual thing. You can't judge one type of coach by another's success or failure...

50 pages, huh? Let's get started. As it's been so obviously pointed out (not by you) that it's location, location, location. That's the case whether it's a former NFL Head Coach or not (and by the way, again not your comment, but exactly how many former NFL head coaches are in CFB today? After naming the obvious success stories, I got Riley and Petrino, so......) I like the hire and continuing with location, and just like I pointed out before about the Big Ten West, there is exactly 1 team pushing for top-25 recruiting level over the last 5 years. The facilities suck and it's an uphill battle but come on, the competition makes is very doable. Win the West and you get a one-game shot at a big boy. Illinois produces some good talent. Now they need to upgrade facilities (and there were supposedly plans on the table with the last AD) and keep local kids at home. It's not like there isn't money coming in to do so. Even Northwestern is breaking ground on an upgrade and I can only assume they sold Lovie on the future. Plus the financial commitment does speak volumes . Play defense, play special teams. The Bear formula is tailor-made for a Big Ten program. In review, there is talent, there is money, the schedule isn't daunting and goddammit if the historical football cesspool in Oxford can overnight become a top-ten recruiter, Champagne can be a consistent top-30 recruiter.

 

[rolltide]

The name of the game in college football is recruiting good players. Illinois may
just have the worst facilities in the Big Ten

actually they just finished a $120M upgrade to facilities to include players lounge, recruiting area, football offices, training room, meeting rooms and by all accounts it is a pretty sweet facility

as far as recruiting they are in a talent-rich state for the B10. Only the states of PA (barely) and OH (2x the amount as IL but with 7 D1 programs) put out more D1 players per year than Illinois and the in-state competition, Northwestern and No Illinois, is marginal at best.

Don't be surprised if Lovie gets this turned around within 3 years

[FONT=proxima_regular]State Total and Average Number of D1 Recruits since ‘07[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]1. Texas (3,016) 377 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]2. Florida (2,664) 333 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]3. California (1,981) 247.6 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]4. Georgia (1,354) 169.3 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]5. Ohio (1,241) 155.1 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]6. Alabama (728) 91 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]7. Louisiana (678) 84.8 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]8. Pennsylvania (592) 74 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]9. Illinois (549) 68.6 [/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_regular]10. North Carolina (541) 67.6 [/FONT]

 

[CoachCB]

Lovie Smith has his coordinators at Illinois: Garrick McGee will run the offense, and Hardy Nickerson will run the defense.


McGee earned $850,000 as Louisville offensive coordinator in 2015, but didn’t call offensive plays. He is expected to get a raise at Illinois. Hardy Nickerson is another NFL coach making the move to college, after spending the past two seasons with Smith in Tampa and joining the 49ers as linebackers coach this winter.


Bobby Petrino said in a statement on McGee, “I know it was a difficult decision for him because he's had such a close relationship with Lovie Smith, and he feels like this is the right move for him. I wish him nothing but success and I am grateful for his dedication through the years.”


- Smith said he wants to dominate the home state, as every new coach says, but Pat Fitzgerald has heard it before.


“Not the first person I’ve heard that from,” Fitzgerald told reporters. “I’ve been here 17 years.”


Smith is Illinois’ fifth head coach Fitzgerald will have faced since Fitz joined the Northwestern staff in 2001, joining Ron Turner, Ron Zook, Tim Beckman and Bill Cubit. Fitz is friendly with Lovie from the latter's time with the Bears, but now, they're rivals.

 

[cloverleaf]

I agree with Northwestern's coach....same ole same ole.

A head coach who has failed two times in the NFL is all of a sudden going to come
into Illinois and get the top recruits.

I'm guessing Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin and others are
scared to death. Not to mention Northwestern..............get real!

He will be FIRED if he doesn't bolt for an NFL job in four years.

 

[MackDonald]

At least we now know that Lovie didn't leave the State of Illinois (Chicago) because of girl friend problems. We all know how those kind of "situations"
can effect male domicile......especially football coaches. We know of many coaches who had to take the late night bus to get out of town during the dead-of-night
because some woman/spouse was in hot pursuit. Charlie Strong comes to mind (that Trustee's wife in Louisville) ...I'll bet there is going to be "hell-to-pay" before that one plays out.

 

[rolltide]

- Smith said he wants to dominate the home state, as every new coach says, but Pat Fitzgerald has heard it before.


“Not the first person I’ve heard that from,” Fitzgerald told reporters. “I’ve been here 17 years.”

Fitzgerald might want to try owning the state of IL in recruiting before commenting on Lovie. He didn't get a single IL commit inside the top 20 of the state in 2016 yet Pitt, Iowa State, UNC, and Missouri picked some off (in addition to Mich St, Ohio St, etc). He did snag one player in the top 16 of IL in 2015 (btw Illinois signed 4 of them) so i guess that's dominating? fn dumbass

 

[mws]

I think we could make this a 50 page thread about the success or failure of Lovie Smith. But the fact is we really don't know what's going to happen. And neither does Illinois. They are taking a shot in the dark because they basically are a poor recruiting program that has few other options left. Based on the staff Lovie is bringing in, they could improve drastically. So the potential is there for him to do a solid job. But it depends on which Lovie Smith shows up. The one that coached Chicago was solid. The one that coached Tampa won't cut the mustard. I'm sure many said that Jim Mora wouldn't work out at UCLA. But so far he is. At least he's much better than the previous hires there. And I believe Jim Harbaugh, like Pete Carroll, is fully capable of coaching at both levels...It's all an individual thing. You can't judge one type of coach by another's success or failure...

Well said.

 

[5teamparlay]

Congrats on the Win over Wisconsin Lovie!!