Former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Lovie Smith is the next University of Illinois Head Football Coach. Monday morning the school made it official, and CBS Chicago called it first on Saturday. It’s a vacancy that opened up early that morning when Bill Cubit was dismissed (details on that here). All morning, Bill Cubit was a top five trending term on Twitter.
Then in the afternoon Lovie Smith became the hot search term burning up the social media platform. Just a crazy busy day in Illini land, with Cubit canned, John Groce given a new vote of confidence, and finally the Lovie Smith news leaking all on one Saturday.
Athletic Director Josh Whitman will give an afternoon press conference today, discussing the Lovie Smith news, at 2pm.
Whitman dismissed Cubit on his very first official day on the job, and given the chain of events since, he already had Lovie in place before the day began. Lovie Smith becomes the first black head coach for a revenue sport in Illini history. He also re-ignites Chicago’s interest in the team, something the program desperately needs.
Perhaps the greatest thing that Lovie Smith brings to the table though is a brand name based off a solid CV. Given the current state of Illini football, the idea of landing someone who’s coached in a Super Bowl, a guy that everyone has heard of nationally, is a home run hire!
Here are some of the better Twitter reactions today to the Lovie Smith news becoming official:
#WEWILLWIN pic.twitter.com/eIC379IiyD
— Josh Whitman (@IlliniAD) March 7, 2016
I love the positive reaction from #Illini Twitter to the Lovie Smith hire. It's a 180 from the day Bill Cubit was given two more years.
— The Tomfoolery of Professor John Frink (@Frustrated_Fan) March 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/TomFornelli/status/706846097533173760
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/706880336072937472
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/706881648734896128
"Yeah, but did he tweet the pictures to the players first?" – @TeddyGreenstein, probably
— JP ??? (@jjhparker) March 7, 2016
The NFL is tweeting about Illinois football.
Just let that sink in for a second, people. https://t.co/cNSN2VTNfK
— JP ??? (@jjhparker) March 7, 2016
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.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram