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Report: Former Illinois offensive coordinator, interim head coach lands job with ACC program
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Former Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith is now an analyst at Virginia, per a report.
That’s according to college football insider Brett McMurphy:
Former Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith @CoachRSmith1 is now an analyst at Virginia. Smith also has been co-OC at Michigan, Arizona, Indiana & OC at USF
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 2, 2021
In recent years, fired coaches have had success by becoming analysts for a short period while they look to rebuild their résumé. New Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is the most notable example — he spent the 2016 season as an analyst at Alabama after being fired from USC.
Smith was Illinois’ offensive coordinator for three seasons under previous head coach Lovie Smith. He was also Illinois’ interim head coach for the Illini’s final game of the 2020 campaign — a 56-21 loss to Penn State.
He’s also spent time elsewhere in the Big Ten in recent years — notably at Indiana (2011) and Michigan (2008-10).
Illinois is now working with a new coaching staff led by Bret Bielema. Bielema is making his return to the Big Ten after spending the last eight years in the SEC and the NFL. He was previously the head coach at Wisconsin from 2006-12.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.