CHAMPAIGN — Essentially every November this decade has signified talk about who the next Illinois football coach will be.
Even while the current one, be it Ron Zook, Tim Beckman or Bill Cubit, still occupied the head coach’s office tucked inside the second floor on the northeast corner of Memorial Stadium.
Such speculation was supposed to end with the hiring of long-time NFL coach Lovie Smith in early March.
It hasn’t.
An ESPN report on Sunday from Adam Rittenberg indicated that Smith was “miserable,” in Champaign and might leave after only one season with the Illini.