Lovie Smith Reported as New Illinois Head Coach

I think lovie will really connect with parents, and will be a players coach, but he will need some good staff members to get players and deal with college kids.

 
Illinois was 3rd from last in attendance last year and I'm pretty sure they don't have the budget that your bigger name football schools have. While as a Bears fan I was never a big Lovie Smith fan for the college ranks and for a team like Illinois I think it's probably a pretty good hire for them and at least worth a shot. What do they have to lose? They won 2 Big 10 games last year. Amazingly/sadly one of them against us.

It's certainly not guaranteed success however. We all remember Callahan but Ron Turner who was the Bears offensive coordinator (twice actually) was hired by Illinois and lasted 8 years (he had 2 winning seasons) before he was let go as the Illini's coach.

For a team that has basically never been good at football and who has limited resources compared to the leaders of the Big 10 I'd say the Lovie Smith hire is a good one. To me anyway they basically have nothing to lose.

 
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suh_fan93 said:
Illinois was 3rd from last in attendance last year and I'm pretty sure they don't have the budget that your bigger name football schools have. While as a Bears fan I was never a big Lovie Smith fan for the college ranks and for a team like Illinois I think it's probably a pretty good hire for them and at least worth a shot. What do they have to lose? They won 2 Big 10 games last year. Amazingly/sadly one of them against us.

It's certainly not guaranteed success however. We all remember Callahan but Ron Turner who was the Bears offensive coordinator (twice actually) was hired by Illinois and lasted 8 years (he had 2 winning seasons) before he was let go as the Illini's coach.

For a team that has basically never been good at football and who has limited resources compared to the leaders of the Big 10 I'd say the Lovie Smith hire is a good one. To me anyway they basically have nothing to lose.
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All true. I think Lovie's success will largely depend on whether he's a better recruiter than Ron Turner. And I'd bet dollars to donuts that Lovie Smith's staff has more success in recruiting than the Melba toast personality that was Ron Turner. Illinois is a sleeping giant. A state with some of the best recruiting in the nation, but currently has nearly the leakiest borders. If Lovie can sign even 15% to 20% of the top 40 recruits in Illinois he'll be a force to reckon with.

 
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