Lovie Smith hired by Illinois

[Moranis]

So over the weekend I see the little bottom line ticker reading that Illinois had fired its head football coach and my first thought man that is weird, why would you fire your coach in March.  A couple of hours later it all made sense when Lovie Smith was announced as the new head coach at Illinois.  Seems like an odd choice for Lovie as he had a good deal of success at Tampa and obviously made the Superbowl with the Bears.  And while I get that Illinios will get a boost here, you would have to think Lovie won't be there for the long haul so it is a strange hiring on that front.

[Fafnir]

He was a college coach for a long time before he broke into the pro game.

After a rough experience with the Bucs he might be wanting to get out of pro coaching entirely. It sucks to get fired because your owner wants your OC to have your job despite doing a pretty good job overall. (at least at coaching, didn't love their front office moves)

[Donoghus]

He was a college coach for a long time before he broke into the pro game.

After a rough experience with the Bucs he might be wanting to get out of pro coaching entirely. It sucks to get fired because your owner wants your OC to have your job despite doing a pretty good job overall. (at least at coaching, didn't love their front office moves)

My biggest question is whether he'll embrace the recruiting aspect of college coaching? Something pro coaches don't have to deal with. 

I don't think he's been involved with the college game since '95.  That's a long time away from it.

[Fafnir]

He was a college coach for a long time before he broke into the pro game.

After a rough experience with the Bucs he might be wanting to get out of pro coaching entirely. It sucks to get fired because your owner wants your OC to have your job despite doing a pretty good job overall. (at least at coaching, didn't love their front office moves)

My biggest question is whether he'll embrace the recruiting aspect of college coaching? Something pro coaches don't have to deal with. 

I don't think he's been involved with the college game since '95.  That's a long time away from it.

Yeah recruiting will be a big change.

On the plus side he's always been a players coach, which is very much the mentality you have to have to recruit when you are not the top dog already in CFB.