About Me
Lovie Smith set forth with three stated goals whenhe was hired as the 13th head coach in Chicago Bearshistory on January 15, 2004: end the decade of dominance bythe Green Bay Packers over the Bears, capture the NFC NorthDivision for Chicago and win the Super Bowl. Heading intohis third year owning a 16-16 regular season record as theteam’s on-field steward, Smith has accomplished each of thefirst two goals through his first two seasons and will goto work on the third objective in 2006.Smith was named the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Yearfor 2005 after becoming the fastest head coach in Bearshistory to lead the team to a division title, doing so inhis second campaign while setting a franchise record forvictories by a sophomore head coach with 11. The Coach ofthe Year Award was the sixth all-time for a Bears headcoach, more than any other team in the NFL. Smith – who wonthe award with 24.5 of 50 possible votes – was the fourthhead coach in team history to win the award after teamfounder George S. Halas in 1963 and 1965, Mike Ditka in1985 and 1988 and Dick Jauron in 2001. Just the third coachin team history to lead the organization to the playoffs inhis second season, Smith guided the Bears to theirfirst-ever NFC North Division title in 2005. En route tothe team’s second division championship in five seasons,the Bears completed their first season sweep of Green Baysince 1991. The Bears are 3-1 against Green Bay since Smithcame to Chicago.Winning just one of their first four games to start the2005 campaign, Smith rallied the Bears to an 11-5 regularseason mark as Chicago became just the twentieth NFL teamto qualify for the post-season after beginning the season1-3 since the current 12-team playoff system was institutedin 1990. The Bears turned their season around as Smithguided the team to eight consecutive mid-season wins, thethird-longest win streak in the NFL in 2005 and the longestby Chicago since the 1985 Super Bowl team won 12 straightto begin the season. In guiding the team to the No. 2 seedin the NFC Playoffs, Smith led a worst-to-first revival inthe NFC North division as the Bears six-win improvementfrom the previous season was tied for the biggest in theNFL in 2005. The dramatic turn-around made Smith one offour active NFL coaches to have produced a six-gameimprovement in the second season of his initial stint as ahead coach after Bill Parcells with the New York Giants in1984, Jeff Fisher with the Houston Oilers in 1995 and AndyReid with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2000. The Bears posteda 5-11 record in 2004 in Smith’s first season as head coachas he presided over the youngest team in the NFL whilebattling through a spate of injuries that robbed the teamof the services of several of its most productive players.Smith has successfully laid Chicago’s foundation forsuccess in just two seasons on the job by establishing hiscornerstone of aggressive defensive play. During Smith’sfirst two seasons at the helm, Chicago ranked second in theNFL to the Pittsburgh Steelers having allowed 16.7 pointsper game and 56 total touchdowns while leading the leagueduring that time by allowing the lowest opponent passerrating, opponent third-down and fourth-down conversionpercentage and opponent red zone touchdown percentage inthe league. The Bears also ranked sixth in the NFL during2004-05 with 63 takeaways while scoring a league-high 10touchdowns via defensive return – including nineinterception return touchdowns – with a franchise-recordsix coming in 2004. Allowing the fewest points in the NFLin 2005, Chicago led the NFL in total defense for eightweeks during the regular season before finishing second,the team’s first top-five finish in overall defense since1993.Smith came to Chicago with the reputation for beingproficient at instituting positive change after heengineered a dramatic turnaround as the defensivecoordinator of the Rams from 2001 through 2003. Known forhis acumen in teaching and motivating young talent, Smithtook on the added responsibility of Assistant Head Coachwith the Rams prior to the 2003 season.In Smith's first season as an NFL defensive coordinatorwith St. Louis in 2001, Smith helped the Rams return to theSuper Bowl after missing the playoffs the previous seasonas the Smith-led defense allowed fewer point and totalyards per game than the previous year. Smith coached onplayoff teams in four of his last five campaigns as anassistant and has done so in six of his 10 NFL seasonsoverall. The native Texan was sought out to take over theRams defense after five seasons coaching linebackers atTampa Bay from 1996-2000 under Tony Dungy.During his three years in St. Louis, Smith molded a youngdefensive group into one of the NFL's most aggressiveunits. The Rams ranked among the League leaders intakeaways and sacks during his three years in St. Louis.From 2001-03, the Rams ranked third in the NFL in takeawaysand fumble recoveries, tied for sixth in sacks, and tiedfor eighth in interceptions. Smith helped steward St. Louisto shutouts in both 2001 and 2003, the first white-washingsby the Rams organization since 1994. The efforts of Smith'sdefense were rarely lost in the outcome of St. Louis’ gamesduring his tenure as the team's 33 wins ranked third behindGreen Bay and Philadelphia in the NFL during that time. Hecapped his stint in St. Louis by orchestrating a unit thatranked among the League leaders in takeaways, defensivetouchdowns, and sacks in 2003. In that year, St. Louis ledthe NFL with 46 takeaways while tying for fourth with 24interceptions and leading the NFL with 22 fumblerecoveries. That season’s takeaway total is tied with the1999 Eagles for the third-highest single-season total inthe NFL since 1993 (2000 Ravens, 49; 1993 Bills, 47). St.Louis ranked fourth in the NFL by scoring five defensivetouchdowns in 2003 and also posted the fourth-most sacks inthe NFL.Smith guided St. Louis to a defensive resurgence upontaking over in 2001. Inheriting a defense coming off aseason in which it ranked 23rd in the NFL in total defensewhile allowing over 29 points per game, Smith improved theunit to third in the NFL in total defense while permittingonly 17.0 points per game. In addition to leading the NFCin total defense in 2001 after ranking 10th the previousyear, the Rams led the conference in fewest first downsallowed, fewest rushing first downs allowed, fewestfirst-down yards allowed, fewest first-down plays against,and fewest first-down yards per play allowed. Specifically,the St. Louis defense made one-year leaps to third from13th in the NFL in run defense and 10th from 27th in theNFL in pass defense while improving to a conference-high 14wins from 10 in 2000. Other highlights for the Rams defensein 2001 were ranking second in first downs allowed andseventh in points allowed per game while recording fivedefensive touchdowns. Smith and the Rams accomplished allthis with seven new defensive starters in 2001, includingtwo rookies.In 2002, the Rams defense finished tied for fourth in theNFC and tied for fifth in the NFL in fewest touchdownsallowed while ranking sixth in the NFC and eighth in theNFL in third-down efficiency. During three straight gamesthat November, St. Louis' defense yielded a mere 418passing yards, the lowest three-game total by the franchisesince 1988. Smith's unit also contributed to a five-gamewinning streak that season by allowing just one offensivetouchdown per game, the longest such streak for the teamsince 1999.Preceding his success in St. Louis, Smith contributed tothe revival of Tampa Bay's defense as the Buccaneerslinebacker coach from 1996-2000. Tampa's defense hadn'tranked above 20th in the NFL in the four seasons prior toSmith's arrival under head coach Tony Dungy and defensivecoordinator Monte Kiffin, but had ranks of 11th in 1996,third in 1997, second in 1998, third in 1999, and ninth in2000. During the five seasons with Smith on the Bucs staff,the team allowed less than 300 points each year whilepermitting an average of 16.9 points and 258.8 yards pergame. Tampa Bay posted only two defensive touchdowns inSmith's first three years, but improved with two in '99 anda franchise-record six in 2000.Smith's tutelage has consistently brought out the best inhis players. As linebackers coach at Tampa Bay, Smithhelped Derrick Brooks develop into one of the NFL's bestlinebackers. Brooks had 79 tackles as a rookie in 1995before Smith joined the staff for the 1996 campaign. Thatseason Brooks went over 100 tackles and was named to thePro Bowl for the first time in his career, a pair ofstreaks that were extended to 10 consecutive in 2005. Alsoin 1996, Smith guided Hardy Nickerson to his second careerPro Bowl appearance after not being named the two previousseasons. Brooks and Nickerson combined to be named to eightPro Bowls under Smith.Individual success for players under Smith continued whenhe oversaw the defensive operations for St. Louis in 2001.Defensive end Leonard Little received his first career ProBowl berth in 2003 after his third consecutive season withat least 12 sacks. In Smith's first year with the Rams,Little led the team with a career-high 14.5 sacks in only13 games played while playing primarily on passing downs.The other starting defensive end during Smith's three yearsin St. Louis was Grant Wistrom, the owner of 45 sacks inseven NFL seasons. Wistrom ranked second on the Rams insacks each of the three years under Smith with three of hisfour career multi-sack games coming during that time. Witha career-high five sacks in 2003, safety Adam Archuleta setthe St. Louis Rams sack record for defensive backs underSmith’s guidance. Little and Aeneas Williams were named tothe Pro Bowl under Smith's guidance in 2003 while Williamsalso did so in 2001. Williams and Wistrom were first-teamAll-Pro selections in 2001 while Archuleta and Tommy Polleyearned All-Rookie status that season. Additionally, St.Louis defenders earned four NFC Defensive Player of theWeek honors under Smith in 2001 with three more beingreceived in 2003 along with a pair of NFC Defensive Playerof the Month awards.Overall, Smith has spent 23 years in coaching at thecollegiate and professional levels. He began his coachingcareer at his hometown high school, Big Sandy High School,in 1980 before moving to Cascia Hall Prep in Tulsa thefollowing year. Two years later, Smith made the jump to thecollege ranks at his alma mater of Tulsa as linebackerscoach, where he stayed through 1986. Smith moved on tocoach linebackers at Wisconsin (1987), Arizona State(1988-91), and Kentucky (1992). Smith was the defensivebacks coach at Tennessee (1993-94) and Ohio State (1995).A native of Big Sandy, Texas, Smith led the Big SandyWildcats to three consecutive state championships in highschool and was all-state three years as an end andlinebacker. Smith was a two-time all-America and three-timeall-Missouri Conference defensive back at Tulsa.Lovie and his wife, MaryAnne, have three sons, Mikal,Matthew, and Miles, and twin grandsons, Malachi and Noah.Lovie is very active in the community and gives much of histime to helping the American Diabetes Association – afoundation near to his heart since his mother suffers fromType-2 diabetes. He participates in ADA sponsored eventssuch as the Tour de Cure Bike Ride, the ADA Care to CureGala and their Father’s Day Dinner. Smith also purchases 10tickets for every home game as part of the Bears ticketexchange program and donates them to children sufferingfrom diabetes. In addition, he and his wife have startedthe Lovie Smith and MaryAnne Smith Foundation which is ascholarship program designed to aid qualified high schoolstudents who hail from low socio-economic backgrounds andgive them the ability to afford and attend college.found this sports layout at HOT FreeLayouts.com :: MyHotComments
