Smith was 2-5 this season on the heels of his first bowl game in 2019.
Lovie Smith is out as football coach at Illinois. Not quite through five seasons in Champaign — the Illini still have a game at Penn State during the Big Ten’s Champions Week — Smith sees a stretch that never materialized into success on the field suddenly over. After a “breakthrough” 2019 season in which the Illini went 6-7, losing to California in the Redbox Bowl, this year’s team is 2-5 and has been manhandled by several opponents. Saturday’s 28-10 loss at Northwestern was the final straw.
