TRUE LOVIE
Illini fall head over heels for Smith, who never showed this much enthusiasm with Bears
Hiring a name like Lovie Smith is a coup for Illinois. Hiring a coach like Lovie Smith is a risk for Illinois.
Those two statements might seem at odds with one another, but they’re not. Illinois gained credibility by getting someone who has been an NFL head coach in Chicago and Tampa Bay. But it rolled the dice by hiring a man with mixed results as a coach, with in- game- adjustment difficulties, with an outdated defensive scheme and with huge questions about his ability to recruit.
Monday was a big day for the Illini. New athletic director Josh Whitman announced the hiring via Twitter, which is what all the cool kids do these days. Illinois fans should be excited about the development. For too long, Illini football has been devoid of excitement. Even if you believe Whitman did Bill Cubit wrong by firing him mere months after the school had given the then- head coach a twoyear contract, you can’t argue with the wow factor of hiring Lovie.
I can’t believe I just wrote “wow factor’’ and “Lovie’’ in the same sentence.
Illinois’ recent default approach for football and basketball has been to hire an up- and- coming coach, which is to say a coach no one has heard of. Same goes for athletic director. At a minimum, Illini fans can say that they know Lovie and that they know he took the Bears to a Super Bowl.
The problem, of course, is that they might know him too well after his nine- year stay in Chicago. The poor decisions during games. The outdated cover- 2 defense that too often couldn’t seem to cover anybody. The loyalty to talented players who couldn’t stay out of trouble off the field. The condescension to media members and, thus, to fans. The perpetual blank look.
Just know what you’re getting, the good and the bad. In Tampa Bay, he made some poor personnel decisions that hurt the Buccaneers. That’s a cousin of college recruiting.
But Smith could be the one to turn this tractor around. Kids might flock to a former NFL coach. There’s only one guy named “Lovie.’’
In 2007, Smith famously told people to trust him after he made the very unpopular decision to let defensive coordinator Ron Rivera go, then elevated his buddy to the job.
Illinois fans will have to trust him this time. It’s all they have.
A Whitman sampler of high Lovie praise
There’s nothing more torrid than the athletic director football coach courtship. Whitman spoke with Lovie Smith for the first time two weeks ago and finally met him in person Thursday. This is what he said Monday about his new head football coach:
“He is a man of highest integrity. He is a leader of men, someone who will come in here and who will care about our 100, 105 student- athletes. He’ll develop those individual relationships. He’ll be a mentor. He’ll be a teacher. He’ll be a coach.’’
Whitman also called Smith an “incredible person.’’ Can you remember walking away from a first meeting with anyone and thinking such lofty thoughts? That the person had, not just integrity,
but the highest integrity? That he was a potential leader of men? Most of us just feel lucky when our newest acquaintance doesn’t have bad breath.
But this is big- time college sports, where everyone involved seems to feel everything to a more intense degree. And don’t forget, Whitman had to sell Lovie to a fan base desperate for some good news. Monday’s news conference wasn’t good news; it was a beatification.
I’ll say this, Lovie was more animated and enthused than I ever saw him in his nine seasons with the Bears.
“At the University of Illinois, I had the chance nce to see the Fighting Illini marchinging band,’’ he said Monday. “Putsuts chills up your body listening to them.’’
As I said, no one falls in love like these college e folks.
Smith didn’t dn’t let down us longtimelong observers. Lovie observers. He asked players to trust rust his plan. He said he was at the start of the third quarter of his coaching career.
Now all he needs to do is get good football players to come to Illinois. And he’ll go from there.
Manning getting out at the right time
The conspiracy theorists will point out that the ESPN feed for Peyton Manning’s retirement news conference Monday started breaking up as he was answering the only uncomfortable question asked of him.
It had to do with a sexualharassment accusation made against him 20 years ago. It was a question that had to be asked, and it was a question that would be addressed in a few ( unintelligible) words. Was this ESPN avoiding unpleasantness, as usual? Roger Goodell fiddling with a plug? Or garden- variety
technical difficulties?
Here’s what the retiring Broncos quarterback actually said:
“This is a joyous day,’’ he said. “Nothing could overtake this day. I think it is sad that some people don’t understand the truth and the facts. I did not do what has been alleged. And I am not interested in re- litigating something that happened when I was 19 years old.”
It was a strange day. Manning gave one of the most gracious retirement speeches I can remember hearing, but hovering above it was the messiness at the end of his career. It hovered high and out of sight for some and too close for comfort for others.
Besides being accused of putting his genitals on a female trainer’s face at the University of Tennessee, there was the more recent report that human growth hormone had been delivered to his home. Manning went out on top, with a Super Bowl title, but he also went out with some haziness after 18 years in the NFL.
On Monday, he talked not about the records he set or the numbers he amassed but the smaller things he’ll miss. His relationships with teammates. Calling his brother, Eli, after games while each were on their team buses. Putting in plays with Tom Moore ( in Indianapolis) and Adam Gase ( in Denver) that ended up in touchdowns on Sundays.
“My battles with players named Lynch, Lewis, Thomas, Bruschi, Fletcher, Da Dawkins, Seau, Urlacher, Polamalu, Harrison,H Woodson and Reed,’’ he said.sa
What now?now Speculation centers on a career as a broadcaster or as an NFL front-fron office executive. “I’m tota totally convinced that the end of m my football career is jus just the beginning of somethingsome I haven’t even discovereddis yet,’’ he said. “Li Life is not shrinking for me.me It’s morphing into a wholew new world of possibilities.’’pos
Though perhaps with morem questions.