Most of the time, it’s fair to say, fans come to watch players, not coaches. But then every once in a while, a struggling Big Ten program hires a high profile headman who has recently been canned by an NFL team, and the college program’s previously listless fans rejoice, to the point where everyone else kind of thinks they should chill a little bit.
Following in the footsteps of Harbaugh-mania at Michigan last year, Illinois has hired former Bears and Bucs coach Lovie Smith and immediately seen ticket sales soar.
According to a release from the Fighting Illini, has sold over 2,000 new season tickets since the hiring and sold out their “I Fund Family 4-Pack.”
This is especially noteworthy because Illinois has had mockably bad attendance at Memorial Stadium in recent years. Illini football games have often produced scenes like this one:
Oh #Illini. Saddest card stunt ever. pic.twitter.com/8IE8G24Ty3
— Kevin Trahan (@k_trahan) November 30, 2013
Or this one:
@BoiledSports Illinois student section 6 min before kick off. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/RmfsBmJNWg
— Double G (@GreggDSchroeder) October 3, 2015
Or this one:
The Illinois student section 10 minutes before kickoff: pic.twitter.com/1drTNCyd2o
— Onward State (@OnwardState) November 22, 2014
You get the point.
Anyway, maybe the Lovie Smith hiring is the turning point Illinois needed and now the Illini will have packed crowds of excited fans all the time. But in the long-run, that’s probably going to depend mostly on winning. After all, football fans in the state of Illinois have turned on Lovie before.
