Coaching Staff

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois head football coach Lovie Smith named longtime NFL assistant coach Gill Byrd to the Fighting Illini defensive staff as passing game coordinator and safeties coach. Byrd comes to Champaign-Urbana after one season as defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills, following stops with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-15), Chicago Bears (2006-12) and St. Louis Rams (2003-05). 

"I'm very pleased to have Gill Byrd join the Illini coaching staff," said Lovie Smith. "We've spent several seasons together in the NFL and I envision Gill bringing a great combination of knowledge and enthusiasm to our program. He will be a terrific influence on the young men he coaches, and, as good a coach as he is, he is probably an even better person."

With Bryd coaching the Illini safeties, second-year Illini assistant Donnie Abraham, who worked with the safeties in 2017, will coach the cornerbacks. 

During Byrd's one season in Buffalo (2017), the secondary thrived. Buffalo allowed just 13 passing touchdowns on the season, which was the second-best mark in the NFL. Additionally, opposing quarterbacks averaged a 78.9 passing rating against Buffalo, which ranked sixth in the league. Safety Micah Hyde was named to the 2018 Pro Bowl after recording 82 tackles, five interceptions and 13 passes defensed, while rookie cornerback Tre'Davious White finished the season as Pro Football Focus' No. 2 cornerback in the league.

Byrd spent the 2014 and '15 seasons in Tampa Bay as Lovie Smith's cornerbacks coach, where he helped develop the members of the secondary, including starters Alterraun Verner and Johnathan Banks.

Byrd spent seven seasons on Smith's Chicago Bears staff (2006-12), starting as a defensive quality control assistant before moving into position as the team's assistant defensive backs and safeties coach. In Chicago, Byrd helped developed young safeties Chris Conte and Major Wright, who went from third-round draft selections to full-time starters under Byrd. In 2012, Wright started all 16 games and recorded career-highs in interceptions and passes defensed. In 2011, Conte was named to the PFW and PFWA All-Rookie Team.

Prior to his stint in Chicago, Byrd served as a defensive assistant with the St. Louis Rams for two years (2003-04) before becoming an assistant secondary coach for one season (2005). From 1999-2001, Bryd served as the Green Bay Packers' executive director/player programs and community affairs for three seasons. In that role, Byrd directed the family assistance program of the Packers' players along with guiding players in continuing education, financial education and career internships.

As a player, Byrd compiled a stand-out 10-year NFL career playing exclusively with the San Diego Chargers. He retired after the 1993 season as the team's all-time leader in interceptions (42) and interception return yards (546), two records which he still owns. Byrd led all NFL cornerbacks in interceptions for three consecutive seasons (1989-91) and paced the Chargers in four straight years (1988-91). Earning All- NFL honors from The Sporting News in 1989 and Football Digest in 1990, Byrd was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 1991 and 1992 seasons. Byrd was named Bart Starr Man of the Year in 1993 and was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1998.

After graduating from Lowell High School (San Francisco), where he was an All-City running back and defensive back and helped lead the Cardinals to the city championship in his senior season, Byrd played at San Jose State University from 1980-82. He earned a B.S. in business administration from San Jose State University. He was selected by the Chargers in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft. 

Byrd and wife Marilyn have two sons: Gill II, who lettered three years as a defensive back and graduated with a degree in Hotel-Restaurant Tourism from New Mexico State, and Jairus, who lettered for three years at the University of Oregon and went on to become a three-time All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in the NFL.

Byrd's hire is pending approval by the UI Board of Trustees.

BYRD COACHING HISTORY

BYRD FILE

Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.
High School: Lowell High School (San Francisco)
College: San Jose State
Family: Wife, Marilyn; Sons: Gill II, Jairus

Nickerson Promoted to Assistant Head Coach

In addition to Byrd joining the staff, Smith also announced that defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Hardy Nickerson has added the title of Assistant Head Coach. Nickerson is entering his third season on the Fighting Illini staff. Nickerson played 16 seasons in the NFL (1987-2002) for four teams before joining the pro football coaching ranks with the Chicago Bears in 2007 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014-15. 

More Staff Additions

Smith also has filled several other roles on the staff. Cody Gibson, Greg Gregory and Robert Wright have been added as analysts, while Miles Smith as joined the staff as a defensive graduate assistant. 

     » Cody Gibson joins the staff as an offensive analyst. Gibson comes to Illinois from West Virginia, where he was an offensive graduate assistant for the Mountaineers in 2017. Cody is the son of West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. 

     » Greg Gregory will be an offensive analyst for the 2018 season. Gregory spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas Southern University. Gregory has had previous coaching stints at USF, Richmond and Army, where he spent two years a head coach and 16 years overall. He earned a degree from Richmond in 1980 and played QB for the Spiders during the 1976-79 seasons. 

     » Robert Wright, who has served the last two seasons on the Illini staff as a graduate assistant, has been elevated to the role of defensive analyst. A native of St. Louis, Wright graduated from the University of Miami (Fla.) in 2015 and worked one season as a special teams analyst with the Hurricanes before coming to Illinois in 2016. 

     » Miles Smith, son of head coach Lovie Smith, comes on staff as a defensive graduate assistant. He spent two years as a defensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014 and '15. 

2018 Illinois Football Coaching Staff (as of 2/23/18)