The past few months have not been easy for the Illinois Fighting Illini football program. Last summer just before the start of the 2015 college football season, Tim Beckman was fired by Illinois as their head football coach after an internal report showed that he mistreated some of his players. Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit would then take over as the Illinois head football coach on an interim basis and he was able to get the program to a bowl game. The school then gave Cubit a two-year extension to be their head football coach, but he like most of us recently received a huge surprise.
Josh Whitman took over as the Illinois athletic director last month and it hasn’t taken him that long to shake things up. Last week Whitman fired Cubit as the timing of the move was extremely surprising due to the fact that most football programs are in the midst of preparing for their spring game. And if firing Cubit weren’t shocking enough, Whitman’s hire of Lovie Smith to become the next head football coach in Champaign definitely was.
Lovie Smith
Smith has had success in the National Football League and in the State of Illinois as he was the head coach of the Chicago Bears for nine years. During Smith’s time with the Bears, he led them to their second NFC Championship in franchise history. Smith was most recently the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he appeared to be building something until he was surprisingly fired in January. But the hire of Smith is a bit surprising due to the fact that he has not been involved in the college game in more than two decades when he was the defensive backs coach at the Ohio State University in 1995.
Smith has always been known as a defensive-minded coach with his variation of the “Cover 2” defense while also being a stickler for detail. Smith will look to bring that same philosophy to the Illini which will definitely take some time. A solid Cover 2 doesn’t happen overnight in the National Football League as it takes time to find the find the right personnel being that the strength of the system comes from the defensive tackles, middle linebacker, and free safety positions which means that Smith will need some time to not only find the right players, but to also have the ability to consistently recruit players that will fit that mold.
However due to the fact that Smith has a long background in the National Football League, it should immediately help him as far as bringing in recruits due to the fact that players want to play for a guy that can get them to the next level. Smith’s arrival at Illinois should see the Illini be able to get some of the best players that the Windy City has to offer being that he is still respected in the area from his time with the Bears. Smith is also the first African-American head football coach that Illinois has hired and his appointment will be vital for the school to recruit more African-American players from the Midwest region.
But the main thing that will hurt Illinois in the short-term is the timing of the hire. Typically schools want to have their new head football coach in place by mid-January which gives him the ability to get on the road for recruiting while also assembling his staff. Current Illini players also find themselves in a bind as whenever a coaching change happens, student-athletes want to weigh their options and possibly transfer to another school.
As controversial as it is, Whitman now has people talking about Illinois football which is the first time that this has been the case in a very long time. Illinois has not win the Big Ten Conference Title since 2001 while they’ve failed to secure a Rose Bowl victory since 1964. The Big Ten is littered with high-profile head football coaches such as Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer as the Illini don’t want to get lost in the wash being that recruiting now is more important than ever within the conference.
Illinois has an advantage being that they play in the Big Ten West as they regularly avoid meeting Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State who call the Big Ten East home. And now with Smith running the show, Illinois is hopeful that they’ll soon be on par with the big boys of the Big Ten.
Leave A Comment