Lovie Smith gone

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Not sure where they go from here. Should be a decent job I would think.
 




Ogee Oglethorpe said:
DAMNIT!!!! Lovie was the gift to the entire B1G, particularly the West, that just keeps on giving and giving and giving. One of the most incompetent HC's to ever walk the sidelines.

I truly hoped he would make it another several years at Illinois.
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It was amazing how everything you said could seem to be true...but then he would randomly beat Wisconsin or Nebraska
 



mkAz said:
Illinois should take a run at Lance Leipold from Buffalo.
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Great minds think alike!

MAC hires certainly seem to have worked out well for Iowa State and Minnesota, recently ....
 

Some guy said:
It was amazing how everything you said could seem to be true...but then he would randomly beat Wisconsin or Nebraska
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Lovie forgot his playbook from his time with the Bears; surround yourself with really, really good people. People love to point to his success with the Bears but forget that when he was with the Bears, he had THREE NFL Head Coaches on his staff holding him up. Maybe he just had a hard time getting quality staff under him at Illinois, whether it was the job or the salary.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Lovie forgot his playbook from his time with the Bears; surround yourself with really, really good people. People love to point to his success with the Bears but forget that when he was with the Bears, he had THREE NFL Head Coaches on his staff holding him up. Maybe he just had a hard time getting quality staff under him at Illinois, whether it was the job or the salary.
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I actually think he did okay at Illinois.
Was a total rebuild. Has essentially the same record as frost in the same time. Has a signature win and a bowl appearance.

people within the athletics department just might not believe.
make the wrong hire and Illinois becomes the new Rutgers because nobody in the west is terrible.
 



Some guy said:
I actually think he did okay at Illinois.
Was a total rebuild. Has essentially the same record as frost in the same time. Has a signature win and a bowl appearance.

people within the athletics department just might not believe.
make the wrong hire and Illinois becomes the new Rutgers because nobody in the west is terrible.
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I think if he beats Northwestern once or twice then he probably holds onto that job. The bar isn't particularly high at U of I, but he lost to their in-state rival 5 years in a row.

Kinda a similar situation to MN. If you beat one of Iowa / Wisconsin every other year and stay bowl eligible then you can hold down the MN job for a long time. Lose those games 4 years in a row then you'll probably be on the outs no matter what else is going on in the program.
 

hello-world said:
I think if he beats Northwestern once or twice then he probably holds onto that job. The bar isn't particularly high at U of I, but he lost to their in-state rival 5 years in a row.

Kinda a similar situation to MN. If you beat one of Iowa / Wisconsin every other year and stay bowl eligible then you can hold down the MN job for a long time. Lose those games 4 years in a row then you'll probably be on the outs no matter what else is going on in the program.
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Yeah I get it. For some reason I thought he had only been there 3 years.
 

hello-world said:
Kinda a similar situation to MN. If you beat one of Iowa / Wisconsin every other year and stay bowl eligible then you can hold down the MN job for a long time. Lose those games 4 years in a row then you'll probably be on the outs no matter what else is going on in the program.
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Well, I only have been watching Gopher football continuously since the 2013 season. In those 8 years we are 1-7 against Iowa and 1-6 against Wisconsin so I don't think the first criterion is enforced. Although we are 2-13 against those two teams over that time period, we are 20-9 over the rest of the western division.

The Gophers have made a bowl game in 7 of the 8 years prior to this one so the program has been successful on that dimension. Another plus is the current 4 bowl game winning streak.
 

Heard from someone in the know back in October that Lovie did very little in the community to promote the program and didn’t want to be bothered by public appearances like most HC’s do. I’m sure that didn’t help and his record wasn’t very good.
 



MplsGopher said:
Great minds think alike!

MAC hires certainly seem to have worked out well for Iowa State and Minnesota, recently ....
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I wonder if Leipold would take the job, would think he will have some good offers, but I’m guessing there won’t be a ton of openings after this year, and he I does have ties to that region, so Illinois could luck out.
 

gregbrady said:
Heard from someone in the know back in October that Lovie did very little in the community to promote the program and didn’t want to be bothered by public appearances like most HC’s do. I’m sure that didn’t help and his record wasn’t very good.
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In the Champaign, IL community?? Would imagine a ton of fans make the ~2hr drive down from Chicago each weekend.
 

Native son Sean Lewis would be an excellent hire for them as well.
 


I'm going with Leipold.
I wish Leipold would land somewhere outside the Big Ten, but if he is in the Big Ten, Illinois would be a good spot.
 

Some guy said:
I actually think he did okay at Illinois.
Was a total rebuild. Has essentially the same record as frost in the same time. Has a signature win and a bowl appearance.

people within the athletics department just might not believe.
make the wrong hire and Illinois becomes the new Rutgers because nobody in the west is terrible.
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I would have given him another year. Last year looked promising and this year you can’t really judge accurately.

I think Lance Leipold would be good there. I’d go for Luke Fickell and see if you could pry him away from Cincinnati. Jay Norvell would be a decent choice. Or Jim Leonard might be worth a shot.

Anyone who can recruit Illinois and Missouri well should have good success there.
 

SJUgopher said:
I would have given him another year. Last year looked promising and this year you can’t really judge accurately.

I think Lance Leipold would be good there. I’d go for Luke Fickell and see if you could pry him away from Cincinnati. Jay Norvell would be a decent choice. Or Jim Leonard might be worth a shot.

Anyone who can recruit Illinois and Missouri well should have good success there.
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I am opposed to the trip option because I don’t think it’s diverse enough, but if they can steal monken they should.

I think their freshman QB could run it. And I think it’s strange enough that the frustrating times of it would be there but in an odd year you could compete. A big ten Georgia tech.

They got their ass kicked in the motor city bowl by us...but they also played in two New Years 6 quality bowls. Georgia Tech was never a perennial power but they were .500 or better in conference playoff all but one year of his tenure. I think Monken is as good or better than Johnson
 


Looks like he leaves having earned around $20 million. Tough place to win.
 

So much for no one losing their job during a pandemic season.

I wonder if Illinois can land a coach the caliber of Matt Campbell, Luke Fickell, or Jeff Monken. Seems unlikely.
 


Some guy said:
I actually think he did okay at Illinois.
Was a total rebuild. Has essentially the same record as frost in the same time. Has a signature win and a bowl appearance.

people within the athletics department just might not believe.
make the wrong hire and Illinois becomes the new Rutgers because nobody in the west is terrible.
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Smith had 5 years, Frost 3. That is not remotely a comparison to me. Frost has maybe 8 guys of his own that are upperclassmen. Not a fan but he needs time to see what his guys do.
 

Lovie may have had a tough time at Illinois but he was a class individual. I watch some of his press conferences. No excuses ... just honest down to earth answers. It was quite refreshing. He was likable and probably why he lasted as long as he dd.
 

builtbadgers said:
Smith had 5 years, Frost 3. That is not remotely a comparison to me. Frost has maybe 8 guys of his own that are upperclassmen. Not a fan but he needs time to see what his guys do.
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Expectations are also far different at Nebraska than at Illinois. I agree with you but the trajectory of Nebraska is not good. Five transfers all from Florida is not good. Losing to Illinois, who is bad enough that they fired their coach, is not good.

In Frost's time at Nebraska he is 8-17 in the conference. He has gone 4-8, 5-7 and 2-5 overall.
He has beat two conference teams with winning records. 2020 is a wash because its a weird year. Blame not having upperclassmen but his star QB who is getting worse under his tutelage was his recruit. Not ideal for a QB centric coach.

Here are his 11 wins for some reference.
Minnesota (finished 7-6)
Bethune Cookman
Illinois x 2 (finished 4-8 and 6-7)
Michigan St (finished 7-6)
South Alabama
Northern Illinois
Northwestern (finished 3-9)
@ Maryland (finished 3-9)
Penn St (3-5)
Purdue (2-4)
 


Saw Reusse tweet that Lovie had the same overall record that Jim Wacker had at MN. He won two more B1G games than Jim. That is crazy to think he lasted 5 years the way schools fire now.

Looking at 5 years at MN for Fleck could and should move into his own company next year if the team meets expectations over the next year.

Five Years
Wacker- .305 overall and .200 in B1G
Mason- .448 and .341
Brewster- .333 and .222 (Did not make it to 5th year)
Kill- .500 and .400
Fleck- .565 and .454
 


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