VIDEO PODCAST: Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette Bob Asmussen on Lovie Smith Firing & Illini Coach Search

Illini Now/Sports Illustrated publisher/editor Matthew Stevens talks with Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette Bob Asmussen on Lovie Smith firing and the Illinois coaching search.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illini Now/Sports Illustrated publisher/editor Matthew Stevens talks with Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette Bob Asmussen on the Lovie Smith firing and the Illinois coaching search.

Smith is 17-39 overall in five seasons at Illinois that produced one bowl bid (2019 Redbox Bowl loss to California) and didn’t post a single winning season. If Smith’s final game as the Illini head coach was Saturday, he exits after a disappointing 28-10 loss to in-state rival Northwestern, which is the program’s sixth straight loss to the Wildcats and guaranteed a ninth straight losing season. 

Smith was Josh Whitman’s first hire as the program’s athletics director on March 7, 2016 as the former Chicago Bears head coach agreed to a $21 million contract over six years. In Nov. 2018, Illinois agreed to an extension with Smith for two more years, which gave him an annual salary of $4 million and kept him under contract through 2023. According to the details in that extension, Illinois is authorized to pay Smith a $2 million buyout if terminated after the 2020 season unless the university and Smith’s representatives could come to a settlement. 

The candidate list for this Illinois job includes Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold, Kent State head coach Sean Lewis, Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester, Army head coach Jeff Monken, former Wisconsin and Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema and Nevada head coach Jay Norvell.