Lovie Smith new Illini HC

[Do Dah Day]

Gotta love Josh Whitman ... http://espn.go.com/college-football...is-fighting-illini-hire-lovie-smith-new-coach

Lovie Smith is returning to the state of Illinois, joining the Fighting Illini as their new coach.

Illinois announced that it has given Smith a six-year, $21 million deal to run its football program. It will be Smith's first head-coaching job at the college level. He will be paid $2 million a year in each of his first two seasons.

"[Athletic director] Josh [Whitman] approached me about this possibility, and I immediately seized on the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the young men who are part of the program today and in the future," Smith said in a statement. "I take this responsibility very seriously and can't wait to get a staff in place to start our move to make Illinois a contender for Big Ten titles."

The school will introduce Smith in a news conference at 3 p.m. ET.

On Saturday, Illinois fired coach Bill Cubit on Whitman's first day as athletic director. After coaching the team to a 5-7 record as an interim coach last season, Cubit had been signed to a two-year contract Nov. 29.

Whitman made the move to dismiss Cubit, saying immediate stability was needed in the program.

"The timing for this move was extremely tight, and we needed to move quickly," Whitman said in the statement. "A coach of Lovie's caliber would not have been available to us if we had waited until after the 2016 season."

 

[combes]

Lovie was also budgeted 4 million to hire assistants. That's second only to Michigan and Ohio State. Hopefully, that translates into some top guys.

 

[FirstDownB]

I was very underwhelmed at first when I heard this. Coaching retread, not a proven college coach, no real offensive identity. Then I realized that still puts him about two levels above DH2..

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Meh. I can appreciate the audacity but the result is nothing impressive. Lovie? How many flashy FB hires can Illinois hire that flame out? Zook. Malkovic. Turner. Now Smith. We tried that once with Akers. Same result. Illinois is the one B1G school with a worse track record than us hiring FB coaches.

 

[chitownUofI05]

Meh. I can appreciate the audacity but the result is nothing impressive. Lovie? How many flashy FB hires can Illinois hire that flame out? Zook. Malkovic. Turner. Now Smith. We tried that once with Akers. Same result. Illinois is the one B1G school with a worst track record than us hiring FB coaches.

Your history does not condemn you to repeat it unless you let it, my friend. Not saying Lovie will bring us to the promise land, but there's no reason a school with our resources can't be consistently competitive.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Your history does not condemn you to repeat it unless you let it, my friend. Not saying Lovie will bring us to the promise land, but there's no reason a school with our resources can't be consistently competitive.

Don't disagree. But you haven't been competitive for decades. You seem to let your past consistently become prologue. There's no excuse for it but it's the facts.

 

[lbodel]

Meh. I can appreciate the audacity but the result is nothing impressive. Lovie? How many flashy FB hires can Illinois hire that flame out? Zook. Malkovic. Turner. Now Smith. We tried that once with Akers. Same result. Illinois is the one B1G school with a worse track record than us hiring FB coaches.

I think we all can agree that coaching results in the NFL and college do not translate in many cases (Nick Saban had a losing record as a head coach in the NFL before being hired by Alabama).

Now, I'm not saying it's going to be some amazing hire. But I certainly wouldn't look at his job at the Bucs and say he's a failure because of it. Also, he has a fairly lengthy college background prior to going to the NFL at some pretty big name schools.

And as many have stated: the hire has spiked interest in the program. We could use a bit of a jolt ourselves, something Hazell never brought.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

I think we all can agree that coaching results in the NFL and college do not translate in many cases (Nick Saban had a losing record as a head coach in the NFL before being hired by Alabama).

Now, I'm not saying it's going to be some amazing hire. But I certainly wouldn't look at his job at the Bucs and say he's a failure because of it. Also, he has a fairly lengthy college background prior to going to the NFL at some pretty big name schools.

And as many have stated: the hire has spiked interest in the program. We could use a bit of a jolt ourselves, something Hazell never brought.

Audacious? Absolutely. I admire that. My point is that there's no guarantee it will be successful and Illinois' track record of hiring football coaches over the past 30 or so years is one of the few P5 schools even worse than us. Illinois should have a solid program with the resources they have, but have never turned the corner. I can't explain it but I'm not convinced Lovie Smith is the savior to turn around decades of ineptness. But bold move, no doubt. And Illini fans are clearly energized about it.

 

[combes]

Audacious? Absolutely. I admire that. My point is that there's no guarantee it will be successful and Illinois' track record of hiring football coaches over the past 30 or so years is one of the few P5 schools even worse than us. Illinois should have a solid program with the resources they have, but have never turned the corner. I can't explain it but I'm not convinced Lovie Smith is the savior to turn around decades of ineptness. But bold move, no doubt. And Illini fans are clearly energized about it.

As you know, so much of what a head coach does depends on the staff he puts around him. Today, Lovie convinced Louisville's offensive coordinator/assistant head coach to take the OC job at Illinois. Garrick McGee was making $850,000 at Louisville. Lovie just made him the highest paid assistant in the BT.

Last year, McGee turned down a $1,000,000 offer from Stoops to be the OC at Oklahoma.

Lovie appears to be putting together a heck of a staff.

By the way, John Mackovic was a very good hire for Illinois. He was 33-16 at Illinois before taking the Texas job. It does take the right guy to turn this around. Mackovic was an NFL guy, too, so maybe there is hope.

 

[lbodel]

Audacious? Absolutely. I admire that. My point is that there's no guarantee it will be successful and Illinois' track record of hiring football coaches over the past 30 or so years is one of the few P5 schools even worse than us. Illinois should have a solid program with the resources they have, but have never turned the corner. I can't explain it but I'm not convinced Lovie Smith is the savior to turn around decades of ineptness. But bold move, no doubt. And Illini fans are clearly energized about it.

Taking a risk is something programs like Purdue, Illinois, IU, etc. have to do.

You can't be bland and mainstream and think you're going to be successful in the Big Ten. Heck, the Tiller hire, the offense he brought, etc. - THAT was the last time we took a risk. Literally.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

Taking a risk is something programs like Purdue, Illinois, IU, etc. have to do.

You can't be bland and mainstream and think you're going to be successful in the Big Ten. Heck, the Tiller hire, the offense he brought, etc. - THAT was the last time we took a risk. Literally.

Agreed. Again, I admire the intent. Just not sold on the choice.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

As you know, so much of what a head coach does depends on the staff he puts around him. Today, Lovie convinced Louisville's offensive coordinator/assistant head coach to take the OC job at Illinois. Garrick McGee was making $850,000 at Louisville. Lovie just made him the highest paid assistant in the BT.

Last year, McGee turned down a $1,000,000 offer from Stoops to be the OC at Oklahoma.

Lovie appears to be putting together a heck of a staff.

By the way, John Mackovic was a very good hire for Illinois. He was 33-16 at Illinois before taking the Texas job. It does take the right guy to turn this around. Mackovic was an NFL guy, too, so maybe there is hope.

I'm very impressed with that hire. I agree if he's hiring that caliber of AC, his odds of being successful skyrocket.

 

[George Utley]

Taking a risk is something programs like Purdue, Illinois, IU, etc. have to do.

You can't be bland and mainstream and think you're going to be successful in the Big Ten. Heck, the Tiller hire, the offense he brought, etc. - THAT was the last time we took a risk. Literally.

Iowa's about as bland as it gets, and I'll put our success the last 35 years up against just about anyone.

 

[lbodel]

Iowa's about as bland as it gets, and I'll put our success the last 35 years up against just about anyone.

Iowa has won 5 Big Ten championships in the last 35 years and been to bowl games 27 of the last 35 years.

Not sure I'd quite put Purdue on the same category of program as Iowa.