Josh closed on Lovie. Lovie closed on Garrick and Hardy.
That’s how this new version of Illini football came about: Strong relationships built as a wunderkid athletic director, Josh Whitman, flashed super-salesman skills in attracting an NFL coach, Lovie Smith, who otherwise wouldn’t have considered it.
And then Smith brought top-level coordinators Garrick McGee and Hardy Nickerson, whose faith in the head man enticed them to leave teams with better chances of winning.
“Whitman is a football guy,” said McGee, who left Louisville where his freshman, Lamar Jackson, was one of the best two-way quarterbacks in the country.