Lovie Lee Smith is an American football coach for the National Football League (NFL). Smith was born on May 8, 1958, to Thurman Smith and Mae Smith in Gladewater, Texas. He attended Big Sandy High School in Big Sandy, Texas, where he played defensive end and linebacker for the high school football team. After high school, he attended the University of Tulsa, where he played for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Football team. While there, he was a two-time All-American.
After college, Smith coached numerous high school and college football programs. In 1980, Smith was hired as the defensive coordinator at Big Sandy High School. A year later, he left for Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he coached defensive backs and wide receivers from 1981 to 1983. Starting in 1983, Smith became a linebacker coach at the college level. For the next decade, he coached at several universities, including the University of Tulsa (1983-1986), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987), Arizona State University (1988-1991), and the University of Kentucky (1992). He also served as defensive backs coach at the University of Tennessee (1993-1994) and Ohio State University (1995). In 1996, he became the linebackers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL under coach Tony Dungy, a position he held until the end of the 2000 NFL season. In 2001, Smith became the Defensive Coordinator for the St. Louis Rams (Now Los Angeles Rams).
In 2004, Smith was hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Two years later, Smith had his best season coaching the Bears (2006). Â Smith and the Bears, led by Quarterback Rex Grossman, had a 13-3 regular season record, and in the playoffs, they defeated the Seattle (Washington) Seahawks and New Orleans (Louisiana) Saints to reach Super Bowl XLI.
On February 4, 2007, the Chicago Bears faced the Indianapolis Colts, coached by Tony Dungy, in Super Bowl at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. Super Bowl XLI was the first Super Bowl contest pitting teams led by two African American coaches. The Colts defeated the Bears 29-17, making Dungy the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl.
Lovie Smith would continue to coach the Bears until he was fired after the 2012 season. In 2014, Smith was hired by the Buccaneers and remained with the team until the 2015 season. In 2016, Smith became head coach of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Fighting Illini Football team, remaining there until the end of the 2020 season. Smith was later named head coach of the Houston (Texas) Texans for one season in 2022.
Smith is married to Mary Anne Smith, and the couple has three children together. In 2012, Smith was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
