(03-07-2016 04:43 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:17 PM)panama Wrote:  And by the one, GSU and Illinois...one of those schools went to a bowl a couple months ago. :D

One also lost to a FCS school, and finally had first ever FBS win. One also promptly lost first-ever bowl game to a team with a losing record...

So youre comparing 6 years and the fastest team fro startup to a bowl to 124 years of football futility and a flagship university that is not even the #1 school in the largest city in its state...

(03-07-2016 04:48 PM)panama Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:43 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:17 PM)panama Wrote:  And by the one, GSU and Illinois...one of those schools went to a bowl a couple months ago. :D

One also lost to a FCS school, and finally had first ever FBS win. One also promptly lost first-ever bowl game to a team with a losing record...

So youre comparing 6 years and the fastest team fro startup to a bowl to 124 years of football futility and a flagship university that is not even the #1 school in the largest city in its state...

LOL - you were the one comparing. Calling Illinois a dumpster fire. GaState got lucky UAB closed shop last year. Next year, back to the basement.

(03-07-2016 05:41 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:48 PM)panama Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:43 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:17 PM)panama Wrote:  And by the one, GSU and Illinois...one of those schools went to a bowl a couple months ago. :D

One also lost to a FCS school, and finally had first ever FBS win. One also promptly lost first-ever bowl game to a team with a losing record...

So youre comparing 6 years and the fastest team fro startup to a bowl to 124 years of football futility and a flagship university that is not even the #1 school in the largest city in its state...

LOL - you were the one comparing. Calling Illinois a dumpster fire. GaState got lucky UAB closed shop last year. Next year, back to the basement.

Actually I kept this conversation about Lovie sucking at coaching until you made it about something else as usual.

As for UAB youre funny. Six players transferred and only 2 saw any substantial action. And we return 17 starters. But keep reaching for the stars. Eventually you may accidentally be correct at something. LOL.

(03-07-2016 04:16 PM)panama Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:07 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-07-2016 04:06 PM)panama Wrote:  He wont make it to 2020

Noted. Of course, since you are a GaState fan, your opinion on football means nothing.

Noted. Since you are an Illini fan whose fan base should have known BETTER your opinion means nothing.

Any Bear fan will tell you the same thing. And I have been a Bears fan since I was in embryo. So there is that.

I am as much of a Bears fan as I am an Illini fan and watched virtually every single game of Lovie Smith's career with the Bears (running the spectrum from great to awful). I can separate my lukewarm feelings for Lovie as the coach of the Bears from the ecstatic feeling that I have for Lovie becoming the coach of the Illini. Hiring Lovie may or may not work for the Illini. However, what was clear is that hiring the same old line of MAC-type coaching retreads was NOT going to work and that was basically the pool of coaching candidates Illinois was looking at. I don't know if Lovie can recruit with the likes of Jim Harbaugh or Urban Meyer, but I certainly know that Bill Cubit DEFINITELY could NOT keep up with that competition. Heck, there are about 110 schools in America that can't find a coach that can compete with the recruiting of Harbaugh and Meyer. At least Lovie gives us a puncher's chance, particularly in the Big Ten West.

At the end of the day, this was the single best option Illinois had as a head coach option. It's not even close. Sure, it would be all well and good if we could find the magical unicorn young unknown coach that no one is thinking of that can beat Urban Meyer on the recruiting trail, but (a) who knows if that unicorn even exists and (b) even if that unicorn existed, who knows if he would have any interest in the Illinois job whatsoever? Lovie may or may not succeed, but I have a hard time thinking of a better option for Illinois at this juncture.

If Josh Whitman had Lovie Smith all ready to go at a moment's notice, I have to wonder who he has in mind once he makes his decision on John Groce.

Illinois and Whitman get an A+ for the media and fans approval. The football team has been talked about more in the past 48 hours than in the past 5 years combined here in Chicago.

(03-08-2016 04:00 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  If Josh Whitman had Lovie Smith all ready to go at a moment's notice, I have to wonder who he has in mind once he makes his decision on John Groce.

Illinois and Whitman get an A+ for the media and fans approval. The football team has been talked about more in the past 48 hours than in the past 5 years combined here in Chicago.

Yes, the media rollout is the best that I've seen as an Illinois fan. It has been the #1 topic for Chicago sports media ever since Saturday, which isn't easy when the Bulls and Blackhawks are in the heat of playoff positioning, the Cubs and White Sox are starting spring training and NFL/Bears free agency starting. Granted, the presence of Lovie Smith magnifies the move from a Chicago sports fan perspective, but the point is that Illinois actually seemed to have a professionally organized media and PR plan that worked to perfection (which is something that the university has been failing at for the past few years consistently).

Lovie Smith just snatched the Offensive Coordinator for Louisville-(Garrick McGee) for the same role for the Fighting Illini:

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/spo.../81521920/

Did marc andreessen or Shahid Khan recently give u of I some big money? I could see Purdue bring in Leslie Frazier after next season.

(03-09-2016 10:22 AM)bluesox Wrote:  Did marc andreessen or Shahid Khan recently give u of I some big money?

There have been quite a few donors backing up Josh Whitman's moves and there's also reliance on the projected Big Ten TV revenue increases. Khan has consistently been a *massive* donor to the university. He is an unabashed booster both in terms of PR and his money. Andreessen's support has never been quite as high since he had some pretty negative feelings about how the university fought him on his post-grad use of the Mosaic web browser that he helped create as a student (which became the foundation of virtually all web browsers created in the past 20 years) and the Mosaic name at his company that ultimately became Netscape. The relationship has been significantly better over the past decade (where the engineering school made him an inaugural member of its Hall of Fame), but it's not the unconditional and unrestrained love that Khan clearly has for the school.

IMHO, it's Ron Zook - the sequal.

NickSmith4Three wrote:

Some staff positions are starting to get filled.

Garrick McGee, the Offensive Coordinator from Louisville will be the new Offensive Coordinator under Lovie.

Andrew Hayes Stoker, assistant to the head football coach of the Colts will be the WR coach at Illinois.

Luke Butkus, from Jacksonville will come back to the Illini and coach the offensive line.

Former Defensive Coordinator for the Illini, Mike Phair, will stay on as the defensive line coach.

Hardy Nickerson from the Niners will be Defensive Coordinator

----

I also heard his staffing budget is $4 million, which would put Illinois at #10 nationally, and 3rd in the Big Ten behind Michigan (#7 at $4.23 million) and Ohio State (#9 at $4.02 million)

(03-05-2016 08:21 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  Why would Lovie Smith go to that dumpster fire?

He can still collect his NFL salary and coach at Illinois. Tampa Bay owes him 2 years at $5M per. Illinois is only paying him $2m for his first year and $3M for 2nd but still that's $7M this year and $8M next year total. He'll be the highest paid HC in college football with both paychecks

.

(03-06-2016 11:54 PM)chess Wrote:  Lovie Smith to Illinois may be the Bill Callahan to Nebraska.

I disagree with many. I don't think this is a good hire.

The question to ask is whether Lovie Smith is ready to compete with Jim Harbaugh's machine at Michigan? Whether Lovie Smith can compete with Mark Dantonio and Michigan State? Whether Lovie Smith can compete with Urban Myer and Ohio State?

Throw in Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame and you see it will be a recruiting game.

Good luck, Lovie.

Remember though that while Illinois is in the same conference as OSU, MSU & Michigan; their division includes Purdue, Minnesota and a Nebraska program that has gotten very mediocre lately, Wisky is not the world beater they once were even though they won their bowl game over USC. All he has to do is get Illinois bowl eligible on a consistent basis and he will have a job for as long as he wants and his contract is 6 years in length. Plus for the next 2 years Tampa Bay owes him $5M per.

If he gets Illinois to the point where they win seven or more games every year with a run at the divisional title once in a blue moon, he'll be a god in Champaign. Given his salary and that of his assistants (it's reported his assistant budget will be 10th highest in the nation) it looks like the admin is really throwing their weight behind him, so he's in a good position to succeed.