A lot has happened in Lovie Smith’s life since he last coached in a game at Ohio Stadium.
Smith has spent most of the last 22 years coaching in the NFL: first as a linebackers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-2000), then as the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams (2001-03) and subsequently as the head coach of the Chicago Bears (2004-12) and the Buccaneers (2014-15).
Before that, however, Smith spent one season in Columbus as an assistant coach for Ohio State, coaching defensive backs, in 1995.
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| ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI |
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2-8, 0-7 B1G ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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3:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, NOV. 18 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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Now, in his second season since returning to college football as the head coach at Illinois, Smith is set to make a return trip to the Horseshoe when his Illini play the Buckeyes at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Now 59 years old, Smith acknowledges being in a much different place in his life now than he was during his stint at Ohio State.
"I used to have hair back then, and I was a lot younger back then," Smith said this week. "Didn’t have grandkids back then, I have 11 now. So a lot of things have changed."
What Smith does remember about his time at OSU, however, he remembers fondly. Coaching for the Buckeyes was particularly special for Smith, he said, because it was an opportunity to work for his college coach, John Cooper, who was the head coach at Tulsa when Smith played for the Golden Hurricane (1976-79) and was the head coach at Ohio State in 1995.
Lovie Smith's 1995 headshot from Ohio State. Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
"When you’re there for even a short period of time … there were so many fond memories that I have from my time there," Smith said. "Having an opportunity to coach on my college coach John Cooper’s staff, that was a privilege and just a great experience for me there. All of the tradition that goes along with Ohio State football. My wife’s family is from Ohio, so I knew quite a bit. And it was just an unbelievable experience to coach there that one season. I had a chance to coach a lot of great players."
In his one year coaching Ohio State’s secondary, Smith coached four defensive backs who would go on to play in the NFL: Shawn Springs, Antoine Winfield, Ty Howard and Damon Moore. With Smith coaching up the back end of the Buckeyes defense, Ohio State won its first 11 games of the 1995 season before dropping its final two games of the year to Michigan and to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl.
Smith probably isn’t coaching many future NFL players at Illinois right now, considering that the Illini have lost their last eight consecutive games and are winless in conference play this season. But while his Illini are massive underdogs heading into Saturday’s game, Smith is excited for his players to get the experience of playing in Ohio Stadium.
"I know what we’re going into there this week and I know our guys can’t wait to play," Smith said. "(Ohio State is) a traditional program that has a lot of history behind them, and if you’re a football player you kind of know that Ohio State is one of those places. So I think as an athlete, you want to play traditional top programs like Ohio State is, and realize the national audience that will also be watching this week."
“It was just an unbelievable experience to coach there that one season. I had a chance to coach a lot of great players.”– Lovie Smith on coaching at Ohio State
In his first-ever stint as a head coach at the collegiate level, Smith has never faced off against Ohio State’s Urban Meyer as a head coach, as Illinois did not play Ohio State in 2016. Most of Smith’s previous interactions with Meyer came when Smith when he was in the NFL, given that Meyer’s teams have consistently produced players who have gone on to play professionally. That said, Smith and Meyer have twice coached in the same game on opposing sidelines, according to Illinois’ sports information department.
Lovie Smith and Urban Meyer have coached in the same game twice - 1990 Arizona State (Smith ASU LB coach) beat Colorado State (Meyer CSU WR coach) 31-20 and 1987 Wisconsin (Smith WIS LB coach) beat Ohio State (Meyer OSU WR grad assistant) 26-24.
— Illini Stats & Notes (@IlliniStats) November 13, 2017
Smith said he considers Meyer to be an "excellent football coach," and knows his team will be in for a major challenge on Saturday. He believes Saturday will be a "great opportunity," though, for his team to face off with one of college football’s premier programs as it tries to finish its season – which ends next week, as the Illini are not bowl-eligible – on a high note.
"We’re playing an outstanding football team in Ohio State this week," Smith said. "Our players realize that, great opportunity for us to play a team that has a national audience, and for us, as much as anything, we haven’t played our best football and each week, we’re kind of striving to play better than we did the last week. We’ve been close a lot of weeks, but haven’t been able to get over the hump, so big challenge ahead of us, we realize that, but can’t wait to play."
