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Lovie Smith gets nice payday as new Illinois Head Coach

How much is Schiano (another former Bucs coach) getting at OSU?
 
MozRU said:
Please explain.

I have no opinion. Would to hear the pro's and con's. The guy coached in a Super Bowl - Massive NFL connections.
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Just a weird hire in my opinion. Hasn't coached college in 20+ years. Can he recruit?

No U of Ill. connection that I know of either. .500 coach, nothing spectacular. His best days are long behind him, in my opinion.

Yes, he has a "name"....but is it a big enough name to persuade 16 and 17 year olds to go to Champaign? Not so sure.

Don't think he's a good coach, either. Of 11 seasons in the NFL, has finished dead last in his division 4 times, and finished 3rd 3 times. 3 trips to the playoffs in 11 years. Ehhhh.
 
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Caliknight said:
Very questionable hire. I'm predicting Eddie type results.

College and pro are very different.
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My exact thought as well when I saw the hire.

Although Eddie made more sense at the time, since he was an RU guy.
 
What's not to get?

Illinois has long been in desperate need of a big splash. An NFL coach who has made it to the Super Bowl and has a decent reputation for his personality is as much as they ever could have hoped for. It didn't work for Nebraska with Bill Callahan, but Nebraska has high expectations. I think a lot of Pitt fans in hindsight would have kept Wannstedt all the way to Narduzzi.

It's just like Rutgers.....Most UIUC fans would be happy just to consistently compete in that division, and Lovie Smith seems like a solid guy to bring them there.
 
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Ataylor1989x said:
What's not to get?

Illinois has long been in desperate need of a big splash. An NFL coach who has made it to the Super Bowl and has a decent reputation for his personality is as much as they ever could have hoped for. It didn't work for Nebraska with Bill Callahan, but Nebraska has high expectations. I think a lot of Pitt fans in hindsight would have kept Wannstedt all the way to Narduzzi.

It's just like Rutgers.....Most UIUC fans would be happy just to consistently compete in that division, and Lovie Smith seems like a solid guy to bring them there.
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It's not a big splash to me.

A 500 NFL coach, going on 60, who's best days are behind him it seems.

Just think it was a desperate move that didn't have to be made, especially at a weird time.
 
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I still feel it's a sufficiently big splash when you're Illinois and you haven't had anything memorable or "sexy" in your football program, even when you managed to reach the Rose Bowl ten years ago.

if we had a choice, Rutgers would probably prefer to be in a division with Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Nebraska....not geographically speaking, just in terms of liking your odds of out-recruiting that group of schools. It's closer to a level playing field than the Big Ten East and three opponents that have 100,000 seat stadiums filled every week.
 
I'm glad they didn't make a run at GS....that would concern me....although that job I'd doubt he'd take..
 
Considering the timing of the removal of their coach this close to spring practice, the fact that most of the coaches that were available a few months ago are gone, getting a coach with this name recognition is not that bad of a hire. Let's face it, they certainly didn't conduct a lengthy nation wide search so they actually did pretty well with this hire. Of course, time will tell.
 
NickyNewark51 said:
I'm glad they didn't make a run at GS....that would concern me....although that job I'd doubt he'd take..
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I'd think that would've been the better hire. GS would be coming from the OSU program (albeit only a few months), plus he's a proven commodity when it comes to getting college programs to respectability. Agree, though, that it's doubtful he would've taken the job, considering that he can burnish his credentials at OSU & then take the next available P5 job.

The whole Cubit/Smith thing was badly managed. Might've been better off letting Cubit be a caretaker for another season & then get a real hire, instead of what seems to be a stopgap 'splash' hire. It's just as likely Lovie will get the same results, while costing more over the long term. Can't imagine what the buyout would be if he's let go by season 4, but at least Cubit wouldn't cost an arm & a leg to let go after next season.
 
brodo said:
Smith will get $21M for 6 years.

Yrs 1&2: $2M per

Smith is still owed a total of $10M from the Buccaneers for the next two years, offset by the Illini job which is probably why his new contract is so heavily weighted at the back end.
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This is always confusing to me. Let's say the Bucs are on the hook for $5M/year. But because he is getting $2M/year from Illinois, that means they only need to make up the difference and pay him $3M/year? If he is going to get $5M/year regardless, why wouldn't Illinois just pay him $1M/year and let the Bucs cover the extra million? I think you could argue that $1M is a fair salary for the job so the Bucs wouldn't have much recourse. If anything, they should be happy they are getting the $1M discount.
 
NickyNewark51 said:
I'm glad they didn't make a run at GS....that would concern me....although that job I'd doubt he'd take..
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I rather him in Illinois then anywhere in the east. If he was to go anywhere the mid west this is a place where I could see him doing minimal damage here in NJ. Their name just doesn't carry much weight in these parts. Anywhere but the east, plus where ever he goes his name really doesn't carry much weight any longer. The Bucs job kind of wore off the luster from his shinning star IMO. This is coming from someone who was a big fan of his while he was here.
 
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LeapinLou said:
This is always confusing to me. Let's say the Bucs are on the hook for $5M/year. But because he is getting $2M/year from Illinois, that means they only need to make up the difference and pay him $3M/year? If he is going to get $5M/year regardless, why wouldn't Illinois just pay him $1M/year and let the Bucs cover the extra million? I think you could argue that $1M is a fair salary for the job so the Bucs wouldn't have much recourse. If anything, they should be happy they are getting the $1M discount.
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Lou there usually are good faith clauses in the contracts so this kind of thing doesn't happen. I think they try to make sure you get what an average salary(or reasonably close) would be for a head coaching gig at that level. Or else you would see he signed a contract for $1 in yr. 1/ $2 in yr. 2.
 
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koleszar said:
Lou there usually are good faith clauses in the contracts so this kind of thing doesn't happen. I think they try to make sure you get what an average salary would be for a head coaching gig at that level. Or else you would see he signed a contract for $1 in yr. 1/ $2 in yr. 2.
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This makes sense. That said, Illinois is not destitute like RU. While I'm sure they wouldn't mind saving a million or two, it's not going to break them.
 
MozRU said:
Please explain.

I have no opinion. Would to hear the pro's and con's. The guy coached in a Super Bowl - Massive NFL connections.
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Lovie is very well liked...by the masses.

He'll be synonymous with Charlie Strong imo

Kids relate...end of story
 
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mikemarc1 said:
It's not a big splash to me.

A 500 NFL coach, going on 60, who's best days are behind him it seems.

Just think it was a desperate move that didn't have to be made, especially at a weird time.
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This a hire In The state of Illinois, which happens to be the state Chicago is located in. He was the coach of the Chicago Bears. Everyone in their recruiting footprint knows the Chicago Bears and has heard Lovi's name probably more than they like, if you can't see that don't know what else to say.
I'm not sure it will work but I can see what they're going for.
I think if they put him back with his OC at the Bears, Terry Shea, it's a home run.
Lol
 
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NFL experience. Super Bowl experience. Head Coach experience. Sounds pretty good to hire. May do oky recruiting the entire conference footprint with that background. Especially players who want to get to the pros. He has the knowledge and players will respond.
 
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I think socaldave is spot on. People here can't relate because there isn't one pro team where a coach would be universally respected or liked around here. We have Giants fans, Jets fans, and Eagles fans in the RU fanbase. They have the Bears.
 
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Caliknight said:
Very questionable hire. I'm predicting Eddie type results.

College and pro are very different.
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Much better resume then Eddie. I don't know if it's a great hire from a recruiting perspective, etc, but I wouldn't call it a bad hire. It's a lot of money on the back end.
 
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Funny how the rubes here are putting down the Smith hire. Not sure what they're thinking, but Illinois is a fantastic school. Sure Lovie is not Harbaugh or Meyer, but he's got some serious coaching chops. A case could easily be made that he's better than Ash.
 
El Curioso Impertinente said:
Funny how the rubes here are putting down the Smith hire. Not sure what they're thinking, but Illinois is a fantastic school. Sure Lovie is not Harbaugh or Meyer, but he's got some serious coaching chops. A case could easily be made that he's better than Ash.
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If that clown who coached Fla couldn't do it i doubt Lovie will but WTF knows...
 
El Curioso Impertinente said:
Funny how the rubes here are putting down the Smith hire. Not sure what they're thinking, but Illinois is a fantastic school. Sure Lovie is not Harbaugh or Meyer, but he's got some serious coaching chops. A case could easily be made that he's better than Ash.
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How could that case be made when Ash hasn't coached a game as a head coach in his career??? Not sure how anyone can say that. No way to tell if Ash is better or worse than Lovie. Only time will tell...

If it weren't for that one year with Chicago that they made the Super Bowl, what has Lovie done that's so great? Average, .500 coach..who's been fired twice and is coming off back-to-back bad seasons. Blahhh. Doesn't do much for me for a program that needs to rebuild. I would have went with the hot up-and-coming assistant.
 
NickyNewark51 said:
If that clown who coached Fla couldn't do it i doubt Lovie will but WTF knows...
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Zook was a dynamite recruiter. If Lovie assembles that kind of talent, the Illini will be awfully tough to beat.
mikemarc1 said:
How could that case be made when Ash hasn't coached a game as a head coach in his career??? Not sure how anyone can say that. No way to tell if Ash is better or worse than Lovie. Only time will tell...

If it weren't for that one year with Chicago that they made the Super Bowl, what has Lovie done that's so great? Average, .500 coach..who's been fired twice and is coming off back-to-back bad seasons. Blahhh. Doesn't do much for me for a program that needs to rebuild. I would have went with the hot up-and-coming assistant.
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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...nois-an-instant-contender-in-the-big-ten-west
 
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mikemarc1 said:
Dont understand this hire at all.
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From the lovie side right? Cause from the Illinois side it's a home run. let me see, Bill Cubit or a guy who took an NFL team to the super bowl with Rex grossman? Lovie should still be coaching Tampa but the glazers are another story altogether.
 
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