RE: Lovie Fired
Lovie's last seven years as a head coach:
Tampa Bay
2014, 2-14
2015, 6-10
Illinois
2016, 3-9 (2-7)
2017, 2-10 (0-9)
2018, 4-8 (2-7)
2019, 6-7 (4-5)
2020, 2-5 (2-5)
That's good for a 25-63 record, including a 10-33 record within the B1G. Going back to his Bears tenure, yes, he made it to a Super Bowl, yes, he coached multiple All-Pro and potential HOF players in guys like Urlacher, Tillman, Briggs and Peppers. However, in nine years with the Bears, Lovie made the playoffs just three times. For all of the resentment that a coach like Marvin Lewis got at Cincinnati (zero playoff wins in 16 seasons), Lewis at least made the playoffs seven times. IMO, Lovie remains one of the most overrated head coaches at the professional or college level, especially by Bear fans. He is an outstanding defensive coach (he should be an NFL DC), but he repeatedly failed at every stop to have a sustainable winning team and struggled consistently with the offensive side of the ball (even at Illinois, his highest scoring offense at Illinois was ranked 79th in the country). He's a nice guy and coaches defense very well, but I chuckle whenever I hear "Lovie didn't get a fair shake" or "Lovie was an outstanding head coach". The Bears have been miserable since he left, yes, but he wasn't going to playoffs a lot anyways.
Illinois has struggled the past decade mainly due to the rise of Northwestern (and Pat Fitzgerald). IMO, I think it is very difficult for both Northwestern and Illinois to have solid seasons moving forward. That would mean that at least two other programs of Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota or Purdue need to have down seasons, and both programs need to steal wins from the top of the league). Very tough task. If Fitzgerald does get the Bears job (and possibly bringing in Lovie as his DC), Illinois - with the right hire - could get out of the bottom of the B1G West. There's no reason for them to have had a sustained losing program for so long. I'm excited to see what Whitman can do and who he can pull in - he has made two splash hires in Lovie and Underwood; I'm envisioning him making another name hire to help fuel support.
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