Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman surprised a lot of people when, in his first official day on the job, he fired football coach Bill Cubit. You just don't see college football coaches being fired in March very often, and you have to believe that when they are, there's a plan already in place to replace them.
And it appears that may be the case.
According to a couple different members of the Chicago media and Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, former Chicago Bears and Bucs coach Lovie Smith could soon be in orange and blue again.
Smith was just fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January, but before coaching there, he spent nine seasons coaching the Chicago Bears. He won three division titles with the Bears, and led the team to an appearance in Super Bowl XLI.
He's certainly a name that will resonate with players not only in the state of Illinois, but across the country when it comes to recruiting. And while Lovie Smith is mostly known as an NFL coach, he spent 13 seasons coaching on the college level from 1983 to 1995, including stops at Wisconsin, Tennessee and Ohio State. So he's familiar with what coaching in college is like.
