Lovie Smith Is On Rumor List For Illini FB Coach

[LuteHawk]

With the firing of Illinois football coach today, the rumor
mill has former Chicago Bears coach on the short list.
Lovie Smith would be a good hire for the University of
Illinois. He would bring a big name to the program and
make an impression on future recruits.

 

[lucas80]

Why would he be a good hire? He hasn't coached in college since 1995. College is all about recruiting, and developing players with a limited staff. What kind of a staff would Smith be able to assemble? How much pull does a recently fired NFL coach have with 17-18 year old high school seniors deciding on a college? NFL coaches have a ton of power over their players. College coaches have to kiss ass and spend a lot of time on the road begging kids to come to their school. NFL coaches either draft of obtain players through via free agency, and if they don't work out they cut them. College coaches for the most part have to stick with a kid for four years.
I liked Lovie as the Bears head coach, but I think this would be a curious hire.

 

[cigaretteman]

Looks like they hired him!

Twitter photo can say it all.

It was clear Illinois has selected
former Bears coach Lovie Smith as its next football coach after athletic director Josh Whitman posted two photos on Monday morning with Smith at Memorial Stadium.




Whitman fired former coach Bill Cubit on Saturday on Whitman's first day on the job.

Super Bowl appearance.

He most recently was fired after coaching the Buccaneers from 2014-15.

Smith last coached in college in 1995 as Ohio State's defensive backs coach. He rose through the college ranks, starting in 1983 at Tulsa and made stops at Wisconsin, Arizona State, Kentucky, Tennessee and with the Buckeyes.

He has coached in the NFL since 1996.

Illinois is eager to enhance its reputation on and off the field after losing seasons and coaching scandals.

Whitman made a surprise move on his first official day on the job by firing Cubit. Cubit was promoted to interim head coach a week before the season started to take over for Tim Beckman and was hired with a two-year contract before the season finale against Northwestern.

Smith also has offset language in his Buccaneers contract, a source said. The Bucs owe Smith $10 million over the next two years but are obligated to pay only the difference in salaries if he takes another job, reducing the chance negotiations would hit a snag over money.

Salaries for assistant coaches were a point of discussion in Sunday's meeting between Whitman and Smith in Tampa.

The university will pay Cubit $985,000 as part of a buyout and also owe fired athletic director Mike Thomas $2.5 million for the remainder of his contract, which ran through 2019.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-lovie-smith-illinois-football-20160307-story.html

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

Why would he be a good hire? He hasn't coached in college since 1995. College is all about recruiting, and developing players with a limited staff. What kind of a staff would Smith be able to assemble? How much pull does a recently fired NFL coach have with 17-18 year old high school seniors deciding on a college? NFL coaches have a ton of power over their players. College coaches have to kiss ass and spend a lot of time on the road begging kids to come to their school. NFL coaches either draft of obtain players through via free agency, and if they don't work out they cut them. College coaches for the most part have to stick with a kid for four years.
I liked Lovie as the Bears head coach, but I think this would be a curious hire.

Ehh college coaches have to kiss ass to recruit the kids but afterwards they have a TON of power over them. It's their way or the highway and if you choose the highway then you either have to step down an play at a lower level or you have to sit out for a year. Plus since the scholarships are not 4 year deals they can still cut the player if they want.

NFL coaches don't have as much power as you say. First of all the cut decisions are made by the GM and very few coaches have GM duties. As far as obtaining players through free agency. . . If the player is good enough you might have to kiss ass to get him to come play for you. It is always just about the highest bidder.

A lot of times in the NFL the players can be making more money then the head coach. And often enough the head coach has to inspire those guys to want to play for them.

You will rarely see a college team up and quit on a coach towards the end of the season. However you see that in the NFL all the time. The season goes bad and the coach doesn't have a strong relationship with his players so the players quit on him. In fact it's often used as a factor in deciding to fire a coach or not based on if they players where still playing hard at the end of the year.

 

[cigaretteman]

Trib column todaya:

think it’s so cute the way some people are so excited about Lovie Smith coaching Illinois.

I think it’s so cute that they believe it will make a difference, nearly as cute as the Twitter pictures of Smith standing next to Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman and holding a sign reading "#WEWILLWIN'' with the Illinois logo underneath.


Illinois is a basketball school. A bad basketball school. If it can’t win with a comparatively small program, how will it get a massive football program to compete?

I’ll hang up and listen for mediocre coaching and condescending answers.

NFL coaching record of 89-87, about as mediocre as it gets. After coaching the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006, Smith has gone 60-68, which is worse, but when you’re coming off Tim Beckman’s clown act, I guess mediocrity and condescension is considered a step up in Champaign.

Same goes for availability, apparently. Smith lands in Champaign after being fired from his last two NFL jobs.

The Bears canned him for not making the playoffs enough, and Smith acted like he couldn’t believe it. This, mind you, from the coach who fired defensive coordinator Ron Rivera after losing the Super Bowl and wagged the big verbal finger at Chicago to “trust me.’’

That trust resulted in one playoff berth the rest of his Bears career, his only career playoff berth since 2006.

The Rivera thing reminds me that Smith fires a lot of assistants. So many, in fact, that you’d think his motto was “I confess, it’s their fault.’’ The more power Smith collected, the less success there seemed to be.

I don’t see how that changes now. I also don’t see how that helps a program’s stability.

Speaking of instability, let’s get back to Smith’s recent employment history. He was fired by the Bucs, who are the Illini of the NFL. I mean, just look:

The Bucs hired Smith as coach and then let Smith hire his boss, the new general manager. Compare and contrast with the morons at Illinois who gave Bill Cubit a contract before Cubit had an AD, and when the new AD was installed, his first act was to whack Cubit.

Smith thought he’d chosen a GM who would stay loyal to him because Smith values loyalty to a paranoid end.


Illinois hires Lovie Smith as next football coach
Shannon Ryan
A Twitter photo can say it all.

Illinois has selected former Bears coach [URL='http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sports/football/lovie-smith-PESPT008481-topic.html']Lovie Smith as its next football coach after athletic director Josh Whitman posted two photos on Monday morning with Smith at Memorial Stadium.[/URL]

Smith agreed to a six-year deal with payments of $2 million annually for 2016...

A Twitter photo can say it all.

[URL='http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sports/college-sports/illinois-fighting-illini-15007122-topic.html']Illinois has selected former Bears coach Lovie Smith as its next football coach after athletic director Josh Whitman posted two photos on Monday morning with Smith at Memorial Stadium.

Smith agreed to a six-year deal with payments of $2 million annually for 2016...

(Shannon Ryan)
But no. Smith’s hand-picked GM used one of those hands to stab him in the back and fire him. So, yeah, Smith picks GMs as well as he picks assistants.

Another lesson is just because Smith constantly seems paranoid doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

From there, you have to wonder about all the cheating required to win in college football. How will Smith handle that?

And what about the criminals you need to win? Turns out, that’s where Smith can compete. He always has had criminals on his teams, whether it was a SWAT team circling Tank Johnson’s house or drafting Jameis Winston. Yeah, Smith can do the criminal thing, even if he has some catching up to do when it comes to the master, Urban Meyer.

Speaking of Meyer, he’s a rock star. Same goes for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Mark D’Antoni at Michigan State stands as the best garage band in the Big Ten. Those are the biggest names Smith has to overcome.

Smith should be able to close some deals. He has some charisma amid the condescension. He can win some living rooms. He will talk some parents into sending him their kids. Some. But not like the number of parents who want to send their kids to Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.

If nothing else, Smith has brought attention to Illinois football. But then, the only way Illinois football has gotten attention for years is by firing the coach.

And here we are again. And of course some people think this is the time the Illini get it right. Finally. At last. That’s just so cute.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/ct-lovie-smith-illinois-rosenbloom-20160307-column.html[/URL]