Almost immediately after newly-installed University of Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman made the surprising decision - with only a week or so to go before spring practices - to jettison the Illini football program's long-tenured head coach, Bill Cubit, talk began to build that former Chicago Bears head coach and NFL mainstay Lovie Smith could potentially be in the running to fill Cubit's shoes.
Smith spent the last 11 years of his professional career as a head coach in the National Football League. He's been to the Super Bowl with several franchises, the Bears included, and he's employed his Tampa 2 defense to great effect during that span.
Now, Smith will be bringing his Chuck Taylor's and defensive aptitude back to Illinois, as he has officially been named the next head coach of the Fighting Illini football program.
#ILLINI pic.twitter.com/OULEpiGgjS
— Josh Whitman (@IlliniAD) March 7, 2016
"I am extremely excited to be named head coach of the Fighting Illini," the 57-year-old Smith said in a statement announcing his hiring. "Josh 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. 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. We will play an exciting brand of football that will make our fans, alumni, student body and members of the University community extremely proud."
Smith brings a track record of significant success with him from the NFL, but he'll have questions to answer in Champaign, like how well can he relate to college kids and whether or not his recruiting skills, which he honed for a time at Ohio State over two decades ago, can be dusted off.
Fortunately, Smith also brings certain attributes that few other applicants likely could. Having coached the Bears, he almost assuredly will have a strong pull with Illinois and Chicago-based players. It won't be easy to our-recruit schools like Notre Dame and Michigan, but if Smith can bring some success to the program early, his job selling top athletes from the area will be exponentially easier.
Smith's full deal with Illinois is for six seasons and $21 million. He's set to make $2 million in each of his first two seasons, $3 million in 2018, $4 million in 2019 and $5 million in each of 2020 and 2021.
