College Football: 10 coaches on the hot seat entering 2019 season
By Dante Pryor
5. Lovie Smith, Illinois
I know Lovie Smith got the extension in the offseason after a 4-8 campaign, but six of those eight losses came by three touchdowns or more. There were signs of improvement, though, and Smith is trying to resurrect a program that was run into the ground by both Ron Zook and Tim Beckman.
Although Zook took the Illini to their first Rose Bowl since the 1980s, he had five losing seasons during his time in Champaign and lost six consecutive games his last season. According to Vinnie Duber of NBCSports.com, Beckman attempted to deter injury reporting and pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and play despite injury. Duber also wrote that Beckman threatened to take away scholarships for players who didn’t want to play injured.
With coach and player turnover, Smith has undertaken a massive rebuild in Champaign. Despite these issues and a young roster, they began to show some improvement last season.
Illinois almost doubled its scoring average from 2017 to 25.3 points per game in 2018 — up from 13.1. However, the defense got worse, especially in conference play. They gave up 33.7 points per game in 2017 but gave up 45.6 in 2018. That includes giving up 63 to Penn State, 46 to Purdue, 49 to Wisconsin, 63 to Maryland, 54 to Nebraska and 63 to Iowa. This isn’t a good look for a coach that’s supposed to be a defensive guru.
However, Lovie has the Fighting Illini trending in the right direction from a recruiting perspective. He has three four-star recruits although he could only offer 13 scholarships because the team is so young.
Even if he goes 4-8 again, they better be competitive losses.