Ryan Baker ‏@RyanBakerMedia · 41m41 minutes ago  Chicago, IL
Some credible sources are telling me Lovie Smith will be the next #Illini head football coach. @cbschicago


Doc:







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You know, this just might work.

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My life....what happened....

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You know me like that.

Even so, I love it.

BRING IT ON, LOVIE!!

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You know me like that.

As an alum, I'm ok with this move. They are still going to suck and being in fourth-tier bowls if they are lucky, but Lovie will have sufficient gravitas to go into a lot of homes and respectfully ask mothers to let their kids get CTE in Champaign instead of someplace else.

I just can't see Lovie wanting to live in Champaign.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Maybe he'd live in Chicago when football is out of season. U of I always wants to claim Chicago as their own, what better way to do it than have their football coach based there?

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That's a miracle hire for Illinois if true. Will be interesting how hard he tries with recruiting considering he's already a made man with no loyalty/history to u of I.

The board has been insisting on an African-American hire for years, also.

So, this would make total sense. I'm thinking this was decided during the hiring process. This is his first day on the job.

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You know me like that.

I wonder what year we will see Smith on camera during a game ACTUALLY SPEAKING INTO HIS HEADPHONE!!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

He will have a try hard team that perennially ends in second place in the division. This constitutes a step up for Illinois. They will be like Iowa. Neither harbaugh or Meyer are concerened

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He misses wearing blue and orange

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Nas: Blago, who has single handedly destroyed CFMB?

Blago: https://youtube.com/shorts/Lftdxd-YXt8?feature=share

Mind you own damn business! -VP Walz

This will not hurt Illini recruiting ... for a change.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

He could live in the rich balck suburbs of CCH or Olympia Fields or go for the Frankfort area.

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Good for him. Given how his NFL players loved him, I could see him doing very well.

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Agreed. This is a pretty good move for the Illini. And it guarantees Bob Babich also gets a job.

Too low-energy!

But seriously, folks, I think dolphin has it right: they won't attract elite talent, but they'll be a competitive enough program to keep people interested. They'll be the Bears, in other words. Might even get some actual Chicago interest going, too.

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I think he'll be awful in college.

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Nas: Blago, who has single handedly destroyed CFMB?

Blago: https://youtube.com/shorts/Lftdxd-YXt8?feature=share

Mind you own damn business! -VP Walz

He already has a job...San Diego Chargers name Bob Babich linebackers coach

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would be a total disaster.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Lovie Smith will then be the first black head coach for both the Bears and Illinois. That's pretty cool.

Illinois was racist longer than the Bears.

Ilini basketball has never had a black coach, right? For the Bulls it's only been Bill Cartwright. And that was only for like a year and a half. Maybe less than that.

Now you're speaking for all of us?

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-- source

I think he good be good. He got professional players to rally around him like he was a college coach when he was withthe bears. Hopefully he goes through less offensive coordinators.

Brick can now get ready to row the boat in 2017.

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He'll probably do a decent job recruiting, @ least among the middle to lower-tier Big10 Schools. Not many college coaches can say they head coached in a Super Bowl.

True. Jim Harbaugh can, though. But there's a reason why no college coach can say then went to a Super Bowl. Super Bowl coaches usually don't have to go back to college. They stay in the NFL.

Harbaugh was unique. 12-15 NFL teams would have hired him after the 49ers. But he wanted to go back to his old school. He didn't even look for NFL gigs. Different than Lovie.

System coaches do well in college

Movies system plays for the other team making a mistake. College qb make lots of mistakes

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

If he can recruit, he'll be fine.

At least he's not some mediocrity from the MAC.

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Don't take it personally.

Lovie had Tampa pointed in the right direction, he should still be in the NFL.

Illinois will be very happy to fall into the 2nd tier of the B1G, hoping one of the years they have a team capable of finishing 3rd also happens to be a down year for OSU and Harbaugh.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Lovie will use this as a stepping stone. I think if they give him a 5 year contract, he'll see it through. Even if Texas wants him after 2 years of success at Illinois.

If Lovie trades up from Illinois, it'll be for the NFL. As I said about him seeing himself as a head coach, I also think he sees himself as a temporarily disgraced NFL coach. Hell, maybe he comes back to the Bears for a short-term caretaker tenure after John Fox decides he's too old to see this crap through. Sure, it's crazy, but raise your hand if you thought you'd be talking about Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith 36 hours ago.

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