page_title: Illinois Fighting Illini football
section_title: Lovie Smith era (2016–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Illinois Fighting Illini football / History / Lovie Smith era (2016–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: LOVIE SMITH, of the Chicago Bears, in action during the Bears game against the Cleveland Browns on November 1, 2009 in Chicago, IL.
context_page_description: The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and compete in its West Division. Illinois claims five national championships and 15 Big Ten championships.
context_section_description: 2016: New beginnings - 3-9 Overall (2-7 Big Ten)
  On March 7, 2016, former head coach of the NFL's Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lovie Smith was named Fighting Illini head coach, agreeing to a contract paying $21 million over six years. After five years without a winning record, the acquisition of a leader who had taken a professional football team to the Super Bowl invigorated fans and students. In the 48 hours following the announcement of the Smith hire, the university sold over 2,000 new season tickets and more than 400 new student season tickets. In Smith's first season, the Illini posted a 3–9 record.
  2017: Youth movement and a step back - 2-10 Overall (0-9 Big Ten)
  For the 2017 season, the coaching staff began to start many young players in an effort to build for the future. The University's football team started 10 true freshman student athletes by the third game of the season, the most in program history. Illinois also played 18 true freshman student athletes overall, tied for the second most in the nation.
  The on field results reflected the team's lack of experience, with Coach Smith's second season team going 2–10 overall and 0–9 in Big Ten games and finished in 7th place in the West Division.
  2018: Incremental improvement and a shift in recruiting - 4-8 Overall (2-7 Big Ten)
  In 2018, the Illini improved on their record from the previous year, going 4–8 overall and 2–7 in conference games during Smith’s 3rd season. After giving up 712 total yards in a 63-33 loss to the University of Maryland, defensive coordinator Hardy Nickerson Jr resigned. After the season, the University began to achieve success in recruiting, particularly by being an early adopter of recruiting graduate transfer student athletes as attitudes and policies regarding the transfer of student athletes between schools began to change. The university was able to attract key graduate transfer players such as Brandon Peters (Michigan), Josh Imatorbhebhe (USC), Oluwole Betiku Jr (USC), and Trevon Sydney (USC). The coaching staff was also able to attract 5-star student athlete high school recruits Marquez Beason and Isaiah Williams.
  2019: Bowl breakthrough - 6-7 Overall (4-5 Big Ten)
  The 2019 team got off to a slow start, going 2–4 in the first 6 games. The team then won its next 4 games in a row, including a win over No. 6 ranked Wisconsin on homecoming weekend and a comeback victory on the road over Michigan State, despite being down 28–3 at one point. The win against MSU clinched a bowl game birth for the Fighting Illini and set the record for the largest comeback in program history.  Illinois finished the season 6–7 with a loss to the University of California, Berkeley 35–20 in the Redbox Bowl.  It was the first bowl game for the University of Illinois football team since 2014. Under the direction of head coach Lovie Smith, in his first full year as defensive coordinator, the defense showed dramatic improvement – rising 70 spots in overall team defense rankings (to 54 from 124).
caption: Coach Lovie Smith, appointed in 2016
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