Gambling Website Says Lovie Smith's Seat Hottest In Big Ten
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Lovie Smith leads the way in the gambling proposition bet category no coach ever wants anything to do with.
The Fighting Illini head coach enters his fifth season as the coach with the hottest seat in the Big Ten Conference according to the gambling website SportsBetting.ag.
Smith, who is 15-34 in four years at Illinois, is coming off a 2019 season where he led Illinois to the Redbox Bowl, the program’s first bowl in five years. The 2019 season included wins at Purdue, Michigan State and upset home win against then-No. 6 Wisconsin where the Illini entered the day as a 30-point underdog before James McCourt's 39-yard field goal as time expired sent fans rushing to the Memorial Stadium field in one of the greatest Homecoming scenes in school history.
Lovie Smith is 15-34 in four years at Illinois but is coming off a 2019 season where he led Illinois to the Redbox Bowl, the program’s first bowl in five years.
Jesse Johnson/USA TODAY Sports
NOTE: Smith’s contract has a buyout of $2 million if he’s released after this season along with whatever is remaining on his $4 million salary for that year. Early this month, Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman had said the school’s athletics department could lose at least $20 million this fiscal year but it is unknown how much of that could be negated now that the Big Ten Conference has decided to get a portion of the television money from its broadcast partners to play a 2020 fall football season.
Below you will find odds for the first head coach fired in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference. Odds do not take into account a coach resigning or retiring.
First Big Ten head coach fired
Name - School - Odds
Lovie Smith - Illinois - 2-1
Scott Frost - Nebraska - 3-2
Jim Harbaugh - Michigan - 5-1
Pat Fitzgerald - Northwestern - 5-1
Tom Allen - Indiana - 8-1
Jeff Brohm - Purdue - 9-1
Kirk Ferentz - Iowa - 12-1
Mike Locksley - Maryland - 14-1
Paul Chryst - Wisconsin - 20-1
PJ Fleck - Minnesota - 25-1
Mel Tucker - Michigan State - 33-1
Greg Schiano - Rutgers - 50-1
James Franklin - Penn State - 50-1
Ryan Day - Ohio State - 100-1
First ACC head coach fired
Dino Babers - Syracuse - 3-2
Dave Doeren - North Carolina State - 2-1
Pat Narduzzi - Pittsburgh - 6-1
Justin Fuente - Virginia Tech - 6-1
Manny Diaz - Miami - 10-1
Mike Norvell - Florida State - 10-1
David Cutcliffe - Duke - 12-1
Mack Brown - North Carolina - 14-1
Geoff Collins - Georgia Tech - 16-1
Jeff Hafley - Boston College - 20-1
Scott Satterfield - Louisville - 20-1
Dave Clawson - Wake Forest - 20-1
Bronco Mendenhall - Virginia - 25-1
Brian Kelly - Notre Dame - 33-1
Dabo Swinney - Clemson - 100-1
First Big 12 head coach fired
Tom Herman - Texas - 3-2
Matt Wells - Texas Tech - 3-2
Neal Brown - West Virginia - 3-1
Les Miles - Kansas - 6-1
Chris Klieman - Kansas State - 8-1
Gary Patterson - TCU - 10-1
Mike Gundy - Oklahoma State - 10-1
Matt Campbell - Iowa State - 14-1
Dave Aranda - Baylor - 20-1
Lincoln Riley - Oklahoma - 28-1
First SEC head coach fired
Will Muschamp - South Carolina - 2-1
Derek Mason - Vanderbilt - 2-1
Jeremy Pruitt - Georgia - 3-1
Gus Malzahn - Auburn - 5-1
Sam Pittman - Arkansas - 8-1
Lane Kiffin - Ole Miss - 10-1
Mike Leach - Mississippi State - 10-1
Jimbo Fisher - Texas A&M - 14-1
Eli Drinkwitz - Missouri - 20-1
Mark Stoops - Kentucky - 20-1
Kirby Smart - Georgia - 33-1
Dan Mullen - Florida - 33-1
Ed Orgeron - LSU - 50-1
Nick Saban - Alabama - 100-1