CHAMPAIGN — His first two teams went 5-19 overall and lost 12 consecutive Big Ten games. It is not the start Lovie Smith had in mind when he took over the Illinois program.
Smith is following the recent pattern for Illinois football coaches. Tim Beckman was 6-18, Ron Zook 4-19 and Ron Turner 3-19.
And in their third years? They all went to bowls.
Will it happen again?
"The program needed to be overhauled and we've overhauled the program," Smith said. "Our record in unacceptable. But when you are playing a lot of young players, you have to crawl before you can walk.