Smith out at Illinois

In March of 2016, shortly after he became athletic director at Illinois, Josh Whitman hired Lovie Smith to coach the Illini's struggling football program.

The hire was hailed as a home run at the time, the school's first minority head coach in football or men's basketball, one who had led the Bears to the Super Bowl. In his second game, Illinois hosted a North Carolina team quarterbacked by Mitch Trubisky for a night game at a sold out Memorial Stadium.

But for a variety of reasons, from recruiting that never took off to a defense that struggled year after year, that excitement wore off, crowds dwindled, and Smith's five years at Illinois didn't go as hoped. On Sunday, Smith, 62, and Illinois decided to part ways, first reported by ESPN. The Illini are 2-5 with one Big Ten crossover game remaining next week.

Smith's last game turned out to be a 28-10 loss at Northwestern on Saturday. That left him 0-5 against the Wildcats, the same as he finished against Iowa, and dropped Illinois to 1-15 under Smith against ranked opponents.

Smith went 17-39 overall and 10-33 in the Big Ten at Illinois.

According to ESPN, potential candidates include Buffalo's Lance Leipold, Army's Jeff Monken, Kent State's Sean Lewis, New York Giants assistant Bret Bielema (former coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas), Nevada's Jay Norvell, Toledo's Jason Candle, Tulane's Willie Fritz and several coordinators, including Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea and Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.