Illinois fires football coach Lovie Smith after 17-39 run over five disappointing years

Too often, an absence of true urgency seemed to surround Smith and his program. In the end, the Illini got nowhere.

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Minnesota v Illinois

Lovie Smith is out as Illinois’ coach.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

After Illinois’ football team got off to an 0-3 start this season, coach Lovie Smith was unbowed.

‘‘Do I look like the guy that’s going to panic?’’ he said.

Too often, however, an absence of true urgency seemed to surround Smith and his program over five deeply disappointing seasons, and that’s among the reasons the former Bears coach was fired Sunday from his first head job at the college level.

Smith was quick to offer positive assessments of his teams even as the losses piled up, which they did at an alarming rate. His records at the school were miserable: 17-39 overall, 10-33 in Big Ten play and 2-5 this season.

‘‘We see things in our program that we’re doing that will eventually get us over the hump,’’ he said heading into his final game, a physically one-sided 28-10 loss Saturday at Northwestern. ‘‘We’re gaining.’’

Really, the Illini went nowhere under Smith, 62, who was under contract through 2023 and is eligible to receive a $2 million buyout from the school. Four of his 10 conference victories came against lowest-of-the-low Rutgers. His last four recruiting classes ranked 10th, 12th, 14th and 14th in the league, according to Rivals.

The closest thing to success came in a ‘‘breakthrough’’ 2019, when the Illini tumbled to 2-4 — losing to Eastern Michigan along the way — before rallying with four consecutive conference victories, one of them a stunning upset of Wisconsin. But the Illini lost their last three to finish 6-7, bowing out with a mediocre effort against California in the Redbox Bowl.

Offensive coordinator Rod Smith will take over head-coaching duties for the Big Ten Champions Week finale at Penn State. Meanwhile, Illini athletic director Josh Whitman has the real heavy lift: finding Smith’s successor. Rarely has the Illinois job been less attractive from a national point of view.

Buffalo’s Lance Leipold is a hot name in the profession. Illinois has gone the Mid-American Conference route before and could again. Whitman will cast a wide net, of course. One name to keep in mind is Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

‘‘There are a lot of really qualified football coaches out there who I think would walk over broken glass for the chance to coach at the University of Illinois,’’ Whitman said.

But there are bigger-name coaches Illini fans will talk about who wouldn’t touch the job. Whitman called Illinois a ‘‘premier vacancy’’ and an ‘‘unbelievable opportunity,’’ but it’s still a fixer-upper, if not a complete rehab.

Smith promised heading into the Northwestern game that his team would play its ‘‘best game of the season.’’ He said that sort of thing often and usually was wrong.

‘‘We’re better in all areas,’’ he said. ‘‘I think anybody that’s watching football, that knows football, will say that.’’

No, they wouldn’t. No, they won’t.

Two games ago, Illinois jumped out to a 14-0 lead against Iowa at Memorial Stadium. The Hawkeyes then cement-trucked their hosts with 35 consecutive points. Whitman had seen enough, though he waited until Sunday to lower the boom on Smith.

‘‘Did we win enough games? Absolutely not,’’ Whitman said. ‘‘Certainly, Lovie would be the first to admit that, and there’s no other way to look at that. But I do feel strongly that we’re much better positioned today to go out and attract the next football coach than we were five years ago.’’

By the way, one other thing Smith said last week: ‘‘Five years is too long.’’

He got that one right. Only he wasn’t talking about his time on the job, he was talking about Illinois’ losing streak to rival Northwestern. And now it’s at six years.

The games haven’t been close, and the Illini aren’t close to being relevant. But someone else has to get them there. That much is obvious.

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