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Lovie Smith new head coach at University of Illinois

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Wish him the best; should be interesting seeing how he handles being back in the college ranks after 20 years in the pros.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...pected-to-become-next-head-coach-at-illinois/

Lovie Smith expected to become next head coach at Illinois
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Two months after he was fired as head coach of the Buccaneers, Lovie Smith is on the verge of getting another head-coaching job.

Smith is expected to be named head coach at Illinois, CBS Chicago and FOX Sports are reporting.

The Illinois football program has gone through a tumultuous year: Coach Tim Beckman was fired just before the start of the 2015 season after he was accused of mistreating players. Interim head coach Bill Cubit led the Illini to a 5-7 season and was told at the end of the year that he’d be permitted to keep the job, but today new Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman fired Cubit.

Now Smith, who knows the state well from his time as head coach of the Bears, is poised to become the third Illinois head coach in the last eight months. For the 57-year-old Smith, it’s another opportunity to serve as a head coach after being fired in his two previous jobs. But it’s an odd fit, as Smith hasn’t coached in college since he was the defensive backs coach at Ohio State in 1995. And Smith has never been a college head coach. Smith likely wouldn’t take the Illinois job if he thought he had a chance at another NFL job.
 
Break down what was going on in Tampa....the good and bad.....that firing was some bs.
Even with the Bears.....they never gave him what he needed (on offense) to get over the top...until late in his tenure.
Bears were stuck in that "defense only" mentality for 25+ years.....that wasnt Lovie's fault.
Anyways.....GL to him.
 
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As long as he can recruit and find a decent OC he should be okay. He seems to want control and you get more control coaching a college team
 
Good luck... Illinois athletic department has been shit for the last decade. Also Northwestern is decent now and it's gonna be hard to sell people wanting to stay home on that cow pasture of Champaign when they can go to school on the North shore and play on a better team...
 
sherminator said:
I hope he actually recruits Chicago, so much talent leaves our state, but I feel he has quite the task with Osu, Msu, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin, in fighting for talent and having winning seasons, wish him luck
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Every coach not at those schools does. He needs some quick bowl-eligible win season in succession to lay some groundwork for future recruiting.
 
Mt. Yukon said:
Good luck... Illinois athletic department has been shit for the last decade. Also Northwestern is decent now and it's gonna be hard to sell people wanting to stay home on that cow pasture of Champaign when they can go to school on the North shore and play on a better team...
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The campus is in Evenston they do have some spots in the city but for all intents and purposes you are in Evenston, not exactly in the city, actually about an hour away, but evenston is nice, but expensive and unless you are looking for a business degree, or pre-med and are academically inclined, you will not be eligible majority kids don't want to go to northwestern, so they will always get there type of players but you not about to slug it out with northwestern for recruits
 
hope he does well there. illinois been trash for a long time. if he can get them to a bowl game a few years he'll have great job security. he got screwed in chicago and tampa and never had an opportunity to build a finished product
 
Complex said:
He can't get another NFL job :confused: He wasn't bad with Tampa Bay.
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As a head coach nah... this one of those cases where you gotta go back to the college ranks like Pete Carroll or take a coordinator job, and I don't think he wants to work under anymore, unless they're from that Duny coaching tree.

You're right though it's bullshit. He had the Bucs going in the right direction and they canned him for fuckin Dirk Koetter.

I wish him well though. He's loves to coach, he's a good teacher and his guys always played for him. He's going to have a positive impact on those young men.
 
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This is good news for my Fighting Illini and Coach Lovie.

There seems to be a huge disconnect between Chicago athletes and Champaign/Urbana

in the past years of recruiting.

Hopefully, he can developed a good rapport with the high school players from the Chicago area and make Fighting Illini at least respectable program throughout the college season.



 
sherminator said:
The campus is in Evenston they do have some spots in the city but for all intents and purposes you are in Evenston, not exactly in the city, actually about an hour away, but evenston is nice, but expensive and unless you are looking for a business degree, or pre-med and are academically inclined, you will not be eligible majority kids don't want to go to northwestern, so they will always get there type of players but you not about to slug it out with northwestern for recruits
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Oh, I thought Evanston counted as Northshore???... Nothing against Illinois, but they haven't been relevant in football since they had Juice, Mendenhall and Benn. You're right as far as the types of players they should recruit, but traditionally you haven't had the instate pressure at that job to be good. I think this may be their last shot to get that football program on track for awhile.
 
The thing about Illinois is the major talent will go to a notre dame, Michigan, osu, but there is a lot of decent talent in the city schools that largely goes unrecruited, and a few outliers in the burbs... What up Treadwell, that end up some where else, he has to rope in chicago, and get a major freshman class two years in a row and in like year three them boys will compete and make noise, he will have to grow his talent like wake forest did a couple years back, redshirt hella boys and coach them up
 
that is a terrible college job. Gotta eat though I guess. He smart not to take another NFL job, make the BUCS pay him EVERY cent of that contract. Fuck the Glazers
 
A coach that was going in the right direction with a team,but got fired,because the ownership got impatient...

Somehow,Jeff Fischer gets to keep his job.
 
sherminator said:
The campus is in Evenston they do have some spots in the city but for all intents and purposes you are in Evenston, not exactly in the city, actually about an hour away, but evenston is nice, but expensive and unless you are looking for a business degree, or pre-med and are academically inclined, you will not be eligible majority kids don't want to go to northwestern, so they will always get there type of players but you not about to slug it out with northwestern for recruits
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It's spelled "Evanston" it its not "an hour" away from Chicago. It borders the city (Howard Street). Just sayin'...
 
Boarders the city by a 36 minutes from Evanston to the heart of downtown.. Just saying....
 
Damn. At least he got a coaching job somewhere this might be better for him, NFL teams don't know what the fuck they got sometime until it's gone.
 
I know it's not a great college coaching gig to take, but somehow I'm glad Lovie Smith landed here to bring some type of respect back to this team and state as far as major college athletics are concerned. We do know that the players will be playing hard, regardless of the outcome.
 
DaddyDiesel said:
I know it's not a great college coaching gig to take, but somehow I'm glad Lovie Smith landed here to bring some type of respect back to this team and state as far as major college athletics are concerned. We do know that the players will be playing hard, regardless of the outcome.
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After thinking about it and hearing Illinois grads perspectives on it, I think it's a good hire. He'll bring respectability, stability, and hopefully consistency to the program. Lovie said he's in it for the long haul so hopefully they give him the time it takes to bring that program back to where it was in the early 90s.
 
sherminator said:
The campus is in Evenston they do have some spots in the city but for all intents and purposes you are in Evenston, not exactly in the city, actually about an hour away, but evenston is nice, but expensive and unless you are looking for a business degree, or pre-med and are academically inclined, you will not be eligible majority kids don't want to go to northwestern, so they will always get there type of players but you not about to slug it out with northwestern for recruits
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Evanston is an hour away from the city these days?
 
Is he not from Texas? If he can recruit Texas with Nick Sabans of
this world, watch out
 
Why Lovie, why???

Unless hes using this to employ his people and help them build their resume i see no benefit here.
 

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