The Fighting Illini football team opens its season this Saturday at Memorial Stadium against Murray State.  First-year head coach Lovie Smith is no stranger to season openers, but for the last 20 years those openers have taken place in NFL stadiums.

This week’s hiring of Lovie Smith as the 25th football coach in Illini history has generated huge interest among fans and sportswriters.  U of I graduate Will Leitch falls into both those categories.  In a column this week for Sports On Earth, the Mattoon native recalls another optimistic time for Illini football, more than 25 years ago.

Smith says he expects the team he’s inherited to compete for a Big Ten Championship. The former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaners coach said he planned to complete his career at Illinois, after signing a six-year, $21 million contract.  "I don't know what better commitment I can show to everyone that we're going to be here for the long haul," he said.

The University of Illinois says former NFL coach Lovie Smith will be named the next football coach at the University of Illinois.  Athletic Director Josh Whitman will annouce the former Chicago Bears coach as the Illini's 25th head coach at a Monday afternoon news conference.

The University of Illinois has fired Athletic Director Mike Thomas. Barbara Wilson, the Interim Chancellor on the Urbana campus, said in a Monday morning news conference that a change in leadership was necessary. She said that "distractions" led to the decision after a law firm's findings brought on the firing of former football coach Tim Beckman at the start of the season.