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Lovie Smith
Lovie Smith went 17–39 as a head coach, 2016–2020, at Illinois. Share
- Record
- 17–39 career
- Seasons
- 5
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- May 8, 1958
- Alma mater
- Tulsa 1980
- Best season
- 2019 6–7
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Illinois | 3–9 | 6th (West) | |||
| 2017 | Illinois | 2–10 | 7th (West) | |||
| 2018 | Illinois | 4–8 | 7th (West) | |||
| 2019 | Illinois | 6–7 | 4th (West) | Redbox Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Illinois coached seven of eight games | 2–5 | 7th (West) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 16 | 1–15 | 6% |
| Against top-10 teams | 6 | 1–5 | 17% |
| Against rivals | 19 | 1–18 | 5% |
| Conference games | 43 | 10–33 | 23% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 14 | 7–7 | 50% |
| At home | 30 | 10–20 | 33% |
| On the road | 24 | 7–17 | 29% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 11 | 7–4 | 64% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 45 | 10–35 | 22% |
His own 56 games on file, 2016–2020, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.J. Fleck 2016–2020 | 1–4 | Western Michigan, Minnesota | 5 | |
| Paul Chryst 2016–2020 | 1–4 | Wisconsin | 5 | |
| Kirk Ferentz 2016–2020 | 0–5 | Iowa | 5 | |
| Pat Fitzgerald 2016–2020 | 0–5 | Northwestern | 5 | |
| Jeff Brohm 2017–2020 | 1–3 | Purdue | 4 | |
| Chris Ash 2016–2018 | 2–1 | Rutgers | 3 | |
| Scott Frost 2018–2020 | 1–2 | Nebraska | 3 |
Lovie Smith’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Rutgersseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Minnesotaseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Nebraskaseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Wisconsinseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Purdueseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Northwesternseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Iowaseries | 5 | 0–5 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Big Sandy HS (TX) high school | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1981–82 | Cascia Hall Prep (OK) high school | Assistant defensive backs coach and wide receivers coach | |
| 1983–86 | Tulsa | Linebackers coach | |
| 1987 | Wisconsin | Linebackers coach | |
| 1988–91 | Arizona State | Linebackers coach | |
| 1992 | Kentucky | Linebackers coach | |
| 1993–94 | Tennessee | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1995 | Ohio State | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1996–2000 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | Linebackers coach | |
| 2001–03 | St. Louis Rams NFL | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2004–12 | Chicago Bears NFL | Head coach | |
| 2014–15 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL | Head coach | |
| 2016–20 | Illinois | Head coach | |
| 2021 | Houston Texans NFL | Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | |
| 2022 | Houston Texans NFL | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- John CooperTulsa, Ohio State
- Don MortonTulsa, Wisconsin
- Larry MarmieArizona State
- Bill CurryKentucky
- Phillip FulmerTennessee
- David CulleyHouston Texans
Assistants who became head coaches
- Rob BorasBenedictine
- Terry SheaSan José State, Rutgers
- Ron TurnerSan José State, Illinois, Florida International
- Steve WilksArizona Cardinals
- Pep HamiltonDC Defenders
- Mike DeBordCentral Michigan
- Jeff TedfordCalifornia, Fresno State, BC Lions
- Jon EmbreeColorado
- Larry MarmieArizona State
- Marcus ArroyoUNLV, Arizona State
- Dirk KoetterBoise State, Arizona State, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Garrick McGeeUAB
- and 2 more
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Cooper | Tulsa | 1983–84 | Linebackers coach | |
| Don Morton | Tulsa | 1985–86 | Linebackers coach | |
| Don Morton | Wisconsin | 1987 | Linebackers coach | |
| Larry Marmie | Arizona State | 1988–91 | Linebackers coach | |
| Bill Curry | Kentucky | 1992 | Linebackers coach | |
| Phillip Fulmer | Tennessee | 1993–94 | Defensive backs coach | |
| John Cooper | Ohio State | 1995 | Defensive backs coach | |
| David Culley | Houston Texans NFL | 2021 | Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (14)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rob Boras | Chicago Bears, 2004–09: tight ends coach | Benedictine | |
| Terry Shea | Chicago Bears, 2004: offensive coordinator | San José State, Rutgers | |
| Ron Turner | Chicago Bears, 2005–09: offensive coordinator | San José State, Illinois, Florida International | |
| Steve Wilks | Chicago Bears, 2006–08: defensive backs coach | Arizona Cardinals | |
| Pep Hamilton | Chicago Bears, 2007–09: quarterbacks coach; Houston Texans, 2022: offensive coordinator | DC Defenders | |
| Mike DeBord | Chicago Bears, 2010–12: tight ends coach | Central Michigan | |
| Jeff Tedford | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014: offensive coordinator | California, Fresno State, BC Lions | |
| Jon Embree | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014–15: tight ends coach | Colorado | |
| Larry Marmie | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014–15: senior defensive assistant | Arizona State | |
| Marcus Arroyo | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014: quarterbacks coach | UNLV, Arizona State | |
| Dirk Koetter | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2015: offensive coordinator | Boise State, Arizona State, Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| Garrick McGee | Illinois, 2016–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | UAB | |
| Rod Smith | Illinois, 2018–20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Illinois, Jacksonville State | |
| Ted White | Houston Texans, 2022: offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach | Howard |
Other assistants under him (12)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Darryl Drake | Chicago Bears, 2004–12: wide receivers coach | |
| Mike Bajakian | Chicago Bears, 2004–06: offensive quality control coach; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2015: quarterbacks coach | |
| Pete Hoener | Chicago Bears, 2004: offensive line coach | |
| Vance Bedford | Chicago Bears, 2004: defensive backs coach | |
| Harry Hiestand | Chicago Bears, 2005–09: offensive line coach | |
| Brick Haley | Chicago Bears, 2007–09: defensive line coach | |
| Jon Hoke | Chicago Bears, 2009–12: defensive backs coach | |
| Joe Cullen | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014–15: defensive line coach | |
| Hardy Nickerson | Illinois, 2016–18: defensive coordinator | |
| Jeff Hecklinski | Illinois, 2016: tight ends and special teams coach | |
| Tim McGarigle | Illinois, 2016: linebackers coach | |
| Hal Hunter | Houston Texans, 2022: assistant offensive line coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Illinois | head coachbonuses up to $1,000,000; $75,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $16,500,000 | $3,000,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Illinois | head coachbonuses up to $1,000,000 | $1,809,179 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Smith’s teams went for it on 14% of fourth downs and on 24% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 48% of plays and took 25.0 seconds a play, 2016–2020.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 12 g | 16 of 107 15% | 25% | 53% | 25.9 | −0.11 | |
| 2017 12 g | 10 of 105 10% | 18% | 53% | 27.4 | −0.19 | |
| 2018 12 g | 14 of 99 14% | 22% | 43% | 24.0 | +0.05 | |
| 2019 13 g | 14 of 107 13% | 21% | 47% | 22.8 | −0.06 | |
| 2020 8 g | 15 of 68 22% | 34% | 40% | 24.8 | −0.02 | |
| All 57 g | 69 of 486 14% | 24% | 48% | 25.0 | −0.07 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.