CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Digging out from a scandal and weary of having its football program mired near the bottom of the Big Ten, Illinois made a splash Monday by hiring former Bucs coach Lovie Smith to lead the Illini.
The move came two days after athletic director Josh Whitman, in his first official day on the job, fired Bill Cubit after one season. He turned to Smith, who took the Chicago Bears to the 2006 Super Bowl and was fired as Tampa Bay's coach in January.
Smith said he intends to make the Illini a power in the Big Ten, home to such big-name coaches as Ohio State's Urban Meyer and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh.