Lovie Smith out as the head coach of Illinois Football

I'm a little surprised, but not completely. Expectations were high after a decent 2019. But at the same time, 2020 is just a giant asterisk. Seems risky trying to rebuild now. Not the greatest pool of candidates available, in my opinion. I don't think Willie Fritz is an Illinois kind of guy.

Here's Rittenberg's take from ESPN :
Lovie Smith is out as Illinois' head football coach after five seasons, sources told ESPN.

Illinois called a team meeting for noon ET Sunday to inform players of the decision. The Fighting Illini fell 28-10 to No. 14 Northwestern on Saturday to finish their regular season at 2-5. Illinois is slated to play an eighth game this week during Big Ten championship weekend.

Smith, 62, went 17-39 (10-33 in the Big Ten) in five seasons at Illinois, his first stop in college football since 1995, when he coached defensive backs at Ohio State. He had a lengthy NFL career that included head-coaching stops with both the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Smith guided the Bears to a Super Bowl in 2006 and went 81-63 with the team.

Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman hired Smith just weeks after his own hiring in the winter of 2016. Smith led Illinois to a bowl appearance in 2019, and the team had high expectations this fall with many key players returning.

Potential candidates for Illinois 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.

Yeah this is a little surprising. Seems like they were ready to last season, and then they cobbled together a bowl season, so they delayed what was eventually inevitable. I wonder if he would go back to the NFL. Seems like a better fit for him.