Well, by now you’ve certainly heard the news. For the first time in his career as a head coach, Lovie Smith has been deservedly fired, this time from the University of Illinois.
Hopes that Lovie, in year five, could build on a five-game stretch of competitive football in the 2019 Big Ten season, were dashed by an 0-3 start, given a brief respite by two victories and then lowered into the ground by the fifth straight Illini losses to Iowa and Northwestern, both in decisive fashion.
The euphoria around Illinois when Lovie was hired, silly as it may seem now, was completely justified because even now, Josh Whitman’s decision to hire Smith holds up as a good one for the program.