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Athlon Sports ranks Illinois' Lovie Smith as the No. 65 head coach in college football

Good morning. Welcome to the Orange Minute for Wednesday, June 22.

By Jim Vainisi
Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports

Where does Lovie Smith sit amongst the Division-1 college coaching ranks? According to Athlon Sports, it's probably quite a bit lower than you think. The website's staff rated all 128 head coaches on Tuesday, and Smith was slotted at No. 65 overall -- which puts him at No. 11 in the Big Ten Conference.

Here's what they had to say about the new Fighting Illini head coach:

While [Lovie] Smith hasn't coached in college since 1995, he brings plenty of name value to Illinois, which should add credibility on the recruiting trail. In 11 seasons as a head coach in the NFL, Smith went 89-87 and guided the Bears to a Super Bowl appearance in 2006. It may take a year for Smith to adjust to the collegiate ranks, and he's already getting a late start due to the March hire. However, he hired a good staff to ease the transition and there's plenty of potential for this program to improve in the Big Ten West.

Without really examining every single name on the list, I probably would've had Smith about 15-20 spots higher to begin the season. That may be a bit generous, but I sure as hell would've had him ahead of guys like Dave Clawson (Wake Forest), Dave Dorean (N.C. State), Rocky Long (San Diego St.), Matt Campbell (Toledo), and Steve Addazio (Boston College). While the concerns about his jump to the collegiate level are definitely valid, I think Athlon Sports severely underrated Smith's past coaching pedigree and the quality of the assistants in place around him.

Where would you have put Lovie Smith in the rankings? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to vote in the poll question at the bottom.

Illinois Fighting Illini News | June 22, 2016

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