March 30--Lovie Smith spelled out his philosophy this way: "When people leave the stadium, we want them to talk about how hard we play, the discipline we have. And talk about that win."
The new Illinois and former Bears coach revealed some thoughts and unveiled his spring practice schedule Tuesday in a 10-minute session with the media. Here are five takeaways:
You snooze, you lose: Most spring practices will begin at 6 a.m. Illinois will have a condensed schedule, with 15 practices in 26 days, starting Friday. There will be no Orange and Blue spring game, but fans can attend an open practice at 1 p.m. April 16.
Practice had been scheduled to start March 11, but Smith's March 7 hiring pushed that back.
Smith said enough days off are built into the schedule, but going deep into April "knocks us behind a little when we can go out for spring recruiting."
Clean slate: The Illini players who produced a 5-7 record last season are eager to show what they've got.
"Guys want to prove exactly who they are: 'Hey, Coach, I should be starting. Hey, I don't feel like I've gotten a chance,' " Smith said. "New eyes don't have any biases."
Lovie looooves his staff: Smith said of his nine assistant coaches, four of whom coached under him in the NFL: "We have great diversity. I had a picture in my mind. I wanted an NFL mix and some things from the college game. For the most part, what I wanted for this staff, I was able to get. You can't get much better than that."
The offensive coordinator is Garrick McGee, a former Northwestern assistant who went 5-19 as UAB's head coach in 2012-13 and last worked under Bobby Petrino at Louisville.
Five-time Pro Bowl linebacker Hardy Nickerson will run the defense after mentoring the Buccaneers linebackers last season. Smith's specialty is defense, of course, but he said he'll focus on "the entire area."
Chill time: Smith seemed relaxed and squeezed off two funny lines. He said the goal is to score on "every play" and that McGee "has assured us that as long as we keep them under 39, we're going to win a lot of games."
Smith told media members that if they "have ideas for a better working relationship, throw those out. I probably won't go with it, but ..."
One direction: Asked about linebackers coach Tim McGarigle, Smith said, "I watched him play at the school up north."
Former Illini coach Tim Beckman referred to rival Northwestern the same way.
tgreenstein@tribpub.com
