Back to the Illinois Fighting Illini Newsfeed

Local and National Media Reaction to end of Lovie’s tenure

Josh Whitman has finally pulled the trigger, effectively ending Lovie Smith’s tenure as head coach at Illinois.

Now comes the reaction.

Lovie Smith did an outstanding job of building a foundation for a program that didn’t have one, and helped bring the facilities into the 21st century, but the results on the field were just never good enough.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 13, 2020

If I'm Illinois, I absolutely call Jeff Monken.

An aside: It would save his parents — who in normal times drive from Illinois to Army games each week — a lot of time on the road!