The hiring of Lovie Smith provided a troika of positives for Illinois Fighting Illini football. It made them instantly relevant, pushed the athletic program forward from a diversity stand point and got Chicago interested again. Lovie is without a doubt the third biggest name among Big Ten football Head Coaches, and that’s huge because your head coach is the face of your program.
It’s critical for recruiting. The Smith hire is already inspiring anxiety in the hearts of Illinois’ Big Ten rivals.
The Illinois basketball season that just wouldn’t end was finally and mercifully euthanized by our friends in Purdue of Friday…or so we thought. Just hours later came the Jaylon Tate news just further confirming that the hoops program is a total house on fire both on and off the court right now.
But hey…..LOVIE SMITH!!!!! And hey JOSH WHITMAN!!! He’s a man with a plan who gets things done. Eventually, Whitman will bring in a basketball coach who isn’t in way over his head and who can put the fire out, but in the meantime it’s a football school now.
Lovie Smith continues to fill out his coaching staff, and two more hires went official yesterday. Here’s more on all of them.
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Garret McGee
McGhee comes from Louisville, where he served as the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for two seasons.
My relationship with Garrick McGee goes back to when I recruited him to Arizona State, and have maintained that friendship as he has risen through the college ranks and become one of the top offensive coaches in the nation,” Lovie Smith said via press release Thursday.
Going from Ryan Cubit to Garret McGee is like going from a Wendy’s double stack to a Whiskey Filet mignon. I just hope that he utilizes WR Desmond Cain in a bigger role, so that we can all Tweet “CAINER!!” whenever he scores this season.
Defensive Coordinator Hardy Nickerson
“Hardy Nickerson is one of the few superstar players who have been able to transition into coaching and translate the style and level of play needed to succeed to the players he is coaching,” Smith said in a statement.
“He has been on my staff with two different NFL teams, and I’m really looking forward to having Hardy join us here at the University of Illinois as our defensive coordinator. His ability to connect with young men and their families will be a huge benefit when it comes to recruiting, and his knowledge of our defense will certainly help us get to where we want to be faster.”
Nickerson played 16 seasons in the NFL for four teams before joining the pro football coaching ranks with the Chicago Bears in 2007 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014-15. As a player, he was named to the NFL’s all decade team of the 1990s.
OL Coach Luke Butkus
Luke Butkus will return to his alma mater for his second stint as offensive line coach at the University of Illinois, head coach Lovie Smith announced Thursday. Butkus was a two-time All-Big Ten selection for the Fighting Illini from 1997-2001, and served as a captain of the 2001 Big Ten championship squad that advanced to the Sugar Bowl.
He returned to Champaign to coach the offensive line in 2012.
“The Butkus name is associated with the University of Illinois and the game of football as a sign of excellence and toughness,” Smith said.
WR Coach Andrew Hayes-Stoker
Hayes-Stoker was key in the development of Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans, a first-round draft pick (No. 7 overall) in 2014. Evans caught 142 passes for 2,257 yards and 15 touchdowns over the past two seasons, including a franchise-record 12 touchdown catches during his rookie season. Evans and Vincent Jackson (1,002 receiving yards) became the first Buccaneers teammates to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in the same season in 2014.
Lovie Smith elevated Hayes-Stoker to assistant wide receivers coach with the Chicago Bears in 2010, after he was an operations and offensive assistant with the organization for four years. More news about Lovie Smith’s staff broke Tuesday:
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/709870938922328064
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/709871829050118144
Wednesday brought more news, as the staff continues to be rounded out. Bob Ligashesky has been hired as the Fighting Illini’s special teams coordinator/tight ends coach. Ligashesky has 31 years of coaching experience, including more than three seasons as a special teams coordinator in the NFL. He spent the first 19 years of his coaching career in college football, most recently during a four-year stint at Pittsburgh from 2000-03, before coaching in the NFL for the past 12 seasons.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
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