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Illinois to hire Louisville assistant Garrick McGee as Offensive Coordinator

Lovie Smith just made a huge addition to the staff.

By Jim Vainisi
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Fighting Illini football will hire Louisville assistant coach Garrick McGee as their new offensive coordinator. McGee will reportedly make $900,000 annually (a raise from $850,000), which will make him one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the Big Ten.

Prior to joining Louisville's staff in 2012, McGee was the head coach at UAB. Things didn't exactly go too smoothly for him, however, as he compiled an overall record of 5-19 in two seasons. He also has previous assistant coaching experience at Arkansas (2008-11), Northwestern (2004-07), UNLV (2003), and Toledo (2002).

McGee has traditionally run a pro-style offense that features quite a bit of passing. So it'll be interesting to see how this mixes with Smith's usual philosophy when it comes to running the ball.

It was reported on Tuesday afternoon that McGee was Lovie Smith's top target to fill this position. This is a bit surprising, too, because McGee reportedly turned down an offer from his alma mater, Oklahoma, to become their offensive coordinator last season. The raise probably played a role in the decision, but the two did have a pre-established relationship; Lovie helped recruit McGee to Arizona State as a quarterback when he was an assistant coach there back in the early 1990's.

UPDATE (3:10pm)

Illinois has officially landed Garrick McGee

Here's a quick look at how the rest of the coaching staff is shaping up.

Current Reported Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Lovie Smith (Link)

Offensive Coordinator: Garrick McGee (Link)

Defensive Coordinator: Hardy Nickerson (Link)

Offensive Line Coach: Luke Butkus (Link)

Wide Receivers Coach: Andrew Hayes-Stoker (Link)

Running Backs Coach: EMPTY

Defensive Line Coach: Mike Phair (Returning)

Linebackers Coach: EMPTY

Secondary Coach: EMPTY

Recruiting Coordinator: EMPTY