Illinois coach Lovie Smith: The challenges Herm Edwards faces are overblown

Halfway across the country, Lovie Smith hears the concerns folks have about former NFL head coach Herm Edwards returning to college to coach Arizona State football. The recruiting grind. The program selling. His age of 63 years.

It makes Smith laugh.

“You don’t all of a sudden forget what you know about football,” he said.

If anyone understands the challenges Edwards faces in Tempe, it’s Smith. In March of 2016, just two months after he was fired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Smith was hired as head coach at the University of Illinois.

At the time, Smith had not coached in college in 21 years. He faced the same questions as Edwards faces here. Before his official hire Dec. 3, Edwards had not coached in college in nearly three decades. But to Smith, those concerns are overblown.

“When I came back people said, ‘Well, you haven’t recruited in 40 years or whatever,’ ” he told azcentral sports in a recent telephone interview. “Well, what is recruiting? I mean, you go into a home and you have a product that you’re selling, that you believe in. That’s what parents want to know. They want to trust someone with their sons to help them grow as a man, as a player. You don’t forget doing that. It’s just like riding a bike. You may not have ridden it in a while, but you don’t forget how to do it.”

The biggest difference in Smith’s hiring: He was two months removed from the NFL, where he once took the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl. (Over 11 NFL seasons – nine with the Bears, two with the Bucs – Smith went 89-87 with three playoff appearances.) For the most part, Smith’s hire was considered a home run for the struggling Illinois program.

In Tempe, Edwards’ hire is viewed with more skepticism, partly because he’s spent the past nine years at ESPN, where he worked as an NFL analyst. Even with the NFL background – Edwards went 54-74 with four playoff appearances in stints with the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs – a significant portion of the ASU fan base has questioned his qualifications to take the Sun Devils to a higher level.

Smith, 59, knows Edwards well. The two coached together from 1996-2000 under Tony Dungy in Tampa. By 2004, both were NFL head coaches. He knows what ASU is getting.

“A great coach, great man, great leader, the ideal person to lead the program,” Smith said. “Herm has an expertise. He played the game at a high level. He’s coached the game at a high level. He knows the game of football. But there’s more to being a head coach. And that’s where Herm will get high marks, too.”

Both Smith and Edwards admit: The NFL game is different. At his introductory news conference, Edwards outlined a few differences, starting with roster size. College teams can have up to 85 scholarship players. NFL teams have 53. College features more spread offenses. Pro takes a more traditional approach.

“In college football, the quarterback is a guy that is very athletic,” Edwards said. “The quarterback in our league cannot run as much as he does in college because you pay him $20 million. If he gets hurt, you got a problem. … How they use the quarterback in college football – entirely different than pro football.”

To Smith, the biggest issue is time.

“It’s four hours a day in college,” he said. “In the NFL, it’s as long as you like. There’s a difference. You have to adjust how you teach. College players have a lot of things on their plate. In the NFL, a player has football on his plate. Yeah, there’s family and different things like that, too, but as a college athlete, you’re a student and academics  take up just as much as your time each day as football.”

Smith – an ASU assistant under Larry Marmie from 1988-91– is off to a rough start at Illinois. In two years, the Fighting Illini are 5-19. This season they didn't win a Big Ten contest. In some ways, based on the program's stability, Smith expected a difficult start.

He doesn't expect Edwards to have similar issues because the circumstances are different. While Smith is building a foundation, Edwards is trying to elevate ASU to a higher level. His friend already has much in place.

“Herm’s coming into a better situation,” Smith said of the 7-5 Sun Devils, who will face North Carolina State in the Dec. 29 Sun Bowl. “The program’s in pretty good shape, and I’ve been at Arizona State. I kind of know what the program is about. That's why I think this is such a good marriage. ... If anybody can do it, Herman Edwards can.”

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Contact Doug Haller at 602-444-4949 or at doug.haller@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/DougHaller. Download the ASU XTRA app for the latest news on the Sun Devils.