Lovie Smith out at Illinois

#1      

Dec 13, 2020

Ubermensch

BOOM! Feed my ego.

Ubermensch

Lovie = gonzo

 

#2      

Dec 13, 2020

wma500

wma500

Hearing Lovie is gone as well

 

#3      

Dec 13, 2020

alamocityillini

San Antonio

alamocityillini

 

#4      

Dec 13, 2020

Gregjacksonfan

G

Gregjacksonfan

It’s a good day to be an Illini. Maybe football can be fun again!!!

 

#5      

Dec 13, 2020

Ramrod2010

R

Ramrod2010

Oh you don't say.

 

#6      

Dec 13, 2020

Cook

Richmond, VA

Cook

who coaches the crossover?

 

#7      

Dec 13, 2020

illinihawk16

Chicago

illinihawk16

Cook said:

who coaches the crossover?

Click to expand...

Rod? Lovie is taking his DC with him.

 

#8      

Dec 13, 2020

the national

the Front Range

the national

Lovie is no longer the illini coach. Well, josh does have some stones.

 

#9      

Dec 13, 2020

IlliniCaboose

IlliniCaboose

My faith in Whitman has been restored a bit. Glad to see he was able to admit it wasn't working and pull the trigger. Now let's see how good of a salesman he is and who he can sell this job to.

 

#10      

Dec 13, 2020

Deleted member 747671

D

Guest

Deleted member 747671

JW did what had to be done. Now let’s get a guy that can win and recruit

 

#11      

Dec 13, 2020

IlliniReb

I

Dallas-Fort Worth

IlliniReb

While I desperately wanted to hire to work, I am feeling great relief that we are moving on and have an AD that won’t bury his head in the sand.

 

#12      

Dec 13, 2020

illiram11

illiram11

Are Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus and Mike White available for Head Coach and Assistant Coaches? None of them would take any garbage from lack of effort.

 

#13      

Dec 13, 2020

KnoxIllini2

KnoxIllini2

The Lovie Smith Era, started with such high hopes and then it only got worse. We need any offensive guy who will actually recruit and, I don't know, maybe communicate with Illinois high school coaches?
This season's "recruiting" had to of been the death blow.

 

#14      

Dec 13, 2020

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini

illiram11 said:

Are Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus and Mike White available for Head Coach and Assistant Coaches? None of them would take any garbage from lack of effort.

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We’ve already gone the fired Chicago Bear coach route.

 

#15      

Dec 13, 2020

pvaughn8

P

pvaughn8

A bit of bad luck for Lovie at the end, but he was given plenty of chances. If you repeatedly fail and are given one last chance, I don't care what the circumstances are, the results need to be there.

 

#16      

Dec 13, 2020

Illinifan533

Normal, Illinois

Illinifan533

I just hope this quells any future discussions of "Change needs to happen but I don't think Whitman's going to do anything." Of course hopefully we don't have to have that discussion for a long time.

 

#17      

Dec 13, 2020

Deep

Deep

This Move had to be made.

 

#18      

Dec 13, 2020

Ubermensch

BOOM! Feed my ego.

Ubermensch

The new coach will be the 10th since I started watching Illini football in the 1980s.

Amazing.

 

#19      

Dec 13, 2020

altgeld88

Arlington, Virginia

altgeld88

Personnel is policy, as they say. JW is the man to do his thing properly. Walking in the door when Cubit had just been installed as HC and it was already March was unfortunate timing to say the least. I have faith in him this time.

 

#20      

Dec 13, 2020

Illiniaaron

I

Geneseo, IL

Illiniaaron

Not that it matters, but I wonder when Whitman came to this conclusion. Was it after the Iowa game, or did he have an inkling that this would be necessary after the first three games.

 

#21      

Dec 13, 2020

Ball Press

B

Ball Press

Lovie is a good man. Sorry it didn’t work out. We need to get a young Coach that can bring energy and excitement to the program. I would call Coastal Carolinas Coach.

 

#22      

Dec 13, 2020

AutoPoster 3000

AutoPoster 3000

Two things about Whitman.

One, he's extremely smart. He graduated at the top of his class of U of I law. All along he saw what we all saw even if he couldn't come out and say so.

Two, he's an institutionalist and very conscious of image and perception. He would not risk a messy, drawn-out, chicken-with-head-cut-off Thomas-style coaching search during a pandemic year. I would almost guarantee he already has his man locked into place.

 

#23      

Dec 13, 2020

Gregjacksonfan

G

Gregjacksonfan

Lovie blowing off the virtual conference with all the Illinois HS coaches probably was the final straw

 

#24      

Dec 13, 2020

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL

Illwinsagain

AutoPoster 3000 said:

Two things about Whitman.

One, he's extremely smart. He graduated at the top of his class of U of I law. All along he saw what we all saw even if he couldn't come out and say so.

Two, he's an institutionalist and very conscious of image and perception. He would not risk a messy, drawn-out, chicken-with-head-cut-off Thomas-style coaching search during a pandemic year. I would almost guarantee he already has his man locked into place.

Click to expand...

I would be pleasantly surprised if he already has his guy. I hope you are right.

 

#25      

Dec 13, 2020

illinihawk16

Chicago

illinihawk16

AutoPoster 3000 said:

Two things about Whitman.

One, he's extremely smart. He graduated at the top of his class of U of I law. All along he saw what we all saw even if he couldn't come out and say so.

Two, he's an institutionalist and very conscious of image and perception. He would not risk a messy, drawn-out, chicken-with-head-cut-off Thomas-style coaching search during a pandemic year. I would almost guarantee he already has his man locked into place.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. Even with Lovie being a miss, I've always found comfort that Josh is leading the department.