March 09--Lovie Smith made a promise, and he fulfilled it with a tweet.
"I told you I'd be on Twitter," he said in a seven-second video accompanying the first tweet Tuesday evening from @LovieSmith. "Here I am."
The new Illinois football coach was asked at his introductory news conference Monday about relating to young players, considering he has been out of college coaching for more than two decades. Social media has become an essential part of recruiting high school players, and Smith didn't have a Twitter account on his first day on the job.
"I think it's a misnomer that I'm some old guy who doesn't know what's going on," joked Smith, 57.
His first tweet also included the hashtags #Illini and #WeWillWin, which has been the mantra of new athletic director Josh Whitman.
The first three accounts Smith was following were those of Illinois athletics, Illinois football and Whitman.
sryan@tribpub.com
