LOREN TATE: With cons mounting, pro list not long enough to save Lovie
Loren Tate Illini Lines
FacebookTwitterEmail
“I know Lovie Smith and personally think he is a terrific, caring, hardworking, high integrity individual.”
This message arrives from a longtime Illini contributor, one of hundreds who care deeply but who begin the next sentence with the inevitable “however.”
However, was Smith, for all his experience and personal qualities, the right coach to dig the Illini out of their ever-deepening hole?
Saturday’s sixth straight loss at Northwestern (28-10), in which the injury-riddled Illini became non-competitive in the middle quarters, left Smith with a 10-33 record in five seasons of Big Ten Conference play, similar to the UI’s 8-32 record in the five previous years. Since 2010, when his Chicago Bears lost to Green Bay in the NFC title game, Smith’s overall audit with three teams is 43-77.