Lovie Smith

Lovie Lee Smith (born May 08 1958) is an American professional football coach. He has been the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the National Football League and the Illinois Fighting Illini. Quotes Thank you, Nick. There's a lot of people. Just think I'm a high school product of our great state of Texas, and a dream, as you start playing football, you want to have a chance to play as long as you can, and to me, I always wanted to be a coach. So, I say that most guys playing high school football here would like to someday lead their home state team. I can't thank Cal, Hannah, Mrs. McNair, I can't thank them enough for having the faith in me to lead our great program. Also can't thank Nick enough. I had a chance this past year to work with Nick in a lot of different ways. Sometimes you have an interview for a couple of hours or whatever. I had a chance to work with Nick for an entire year and for him to see me on what I believe, how I believe football should be played, how I think you should coach our young men. So, there's just so much I was able to get from that. I wanted to be a coach all my life, and a lot of that is based on what I had in a coach growing up. Think about this also. My seventh grade basketball coach still coaches football here, high school football coach here in the city of Houston. My first college coaches lives here in this great town. So, really pumped up about it. The love of my life I met on a blind date 42 years ago, will celebrate 42 years today, my wife, MaryAnne, and then also the rest of my family here. I have a chance to work with an outstanding linebacker coach on our staff in Miles Smith and his wife Cara, and another one of my sons, Matthew, is here. The special people that I have here with me today are guys that will be leading, will have a prominent role as we go forward playing winning football. I've known Pep Hamilton for a long time here, and his wife Nicole. And I tried to hire Pep a couple of different times and it didn't work out. And it's kind of perfect storm for him to be able to lead our offense. He'll be leading our offense this year. Someone I did know, but this past year allowed me a chance to get to know was Frank Ross. Frank is an outstanding special teams coordinator. He and his wife, Christina, and their lovely daughter are here. I'm so excited them about wanting to join our staff. A lot of people in this building have helped me. I got a chance to know during this year. So thankful for them. But to sit in this role, in this position, it's about winning football games and doing it a certain way. My philosophy, I'm a little bit old school. Again, I'm from a little small town of Big Sandy that's about winning football. We had a simple formula: play good offense. And our good offense helped, what we'll be leading, is you need to be able to run the football. There is a time we need to pass the football, but doing it in a certain way. Tough, hard-nose, disciplined ball. That's what you'll see from us. On the defensive side of the football to be able to, again, score on offense. It's not, as we look at it, it's not a turnover. It's a takeaway of getting takeaways and just, again, playing a certain brand of ball. Then on special teams, you cannot win football games without that third element: special teams. There's going to be hopefully one of the all-time greats going into the Hall of Fame based on what he did, guy I had a chance to coach, was special teams. But it's important. But the fourth phase would be the fans. Cannot play winning football without you. I have seen a day when it's tough playing inside NRG Stadium, and it's our responsibility to get the fans back and get them excited about the product we're going to put on the football field. I guarantee you we can do that. So, it's a great day. We're excited. We all are. As we go forward, look forward to work hand-in-hand, side-by-side with Nick to get the Texans back to where they need to be. Thank you. Transcripts: Head Coach Lovie Smith's introductory press conference, February 08 2022 External links Category:1958 births Category:American football coaches Category:Living people Category:African Americans