If we're being perfectly honest, we need to give new Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman a ton of credit for having the guts (and the dollars) to can Bill Cubit months after signing him to a two-year contract. Likewise, we need to give him and the school a ton of credit for replacing him with a very well respected NFL coach in Lovie Smith.
For a football program that has more double digit loss seasons (3) than double digit win seasons (1) since 2000, going out and making an aggressive hire is a phenomenally low-risk, high reward investment.