Former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Lovie Smith could be the next University of Illinois Head Football Coach per CBS Chicago.
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Smith was sacked after a 6-10 season with the Buccaneers in early January, about six weeks after IL chose to remove the interim tag from coach Bill Cubit and sign him to a two-year contract as head coach.
IL athletics director Josh Whitman made the announcement Saturday morning, which, not coincidentally, was his first official day in that capacity.
“I am extremely excited to be named head coach of the Fighting Illini”, Smith said.
In a news release, Smith said he did not hesitate to take his first college head-coaching job. After being fired in Champaign in 2004, Turner returned to the Bears under Smith’s staff and helped the Bears to Super Bowl XLI in the 2006 season.
Welcome to the Lovie Smith era, IL fans.
Smith’s plans for this upcoming weekend, before he was approached by IL about trying to resurrect a languishing program, focused mainly on attending former player Brian Urlacher’s wedding in Arizona.
IL athletic director Josh Whitman didn’t have any doubts about Smith’s ability to positively affect IL recruiting in the future, a stagnant area for a program since the midway point of Ron Zook’s tenure a decade ago.
This may turn into a great deal for IL, and I hope it does.
“Oh, my God, Lovie Smith shook my hand!” freshman Matt Hogan of Elmhurst said, flabbergasted. Beckman hired Cubit in 2013 after he was sacked as Western Michigan’s head coach.
Yet Smith never considered returning to the college football classroom a possibility when Whitman first contacted him February 22.
Smith hasn’t coached in college since he was an assistant at Ohio State in 1995. Cubit settled in for a 5-7 record during his stewardship and the program then hired him to the full job at the beginning of the year.
Cubit joined IL as the offensive coordinator in 2013 after being fired by WMU after the 2012 season. Also, NFL Hall of Famer and legendary Bears linebacker Dick Butkus went to IL as well, so things have worked out well when IL and the Bears work together in the past.
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Whitman was meeting with the players Saturday and the start of spring practice will be delayed until a new head coach is in place and can coordinate a schedule. He was sacked after two seasons in Tampa Bay after he’d gone 8-24.
