Illinois fires Turner after eighth season

Ron Turner was fired by Illinois on Monday after three straight losing seasons, a sharp turnaround from early success that included the team's first Big Ten football title in a decade.

Illinois went 3-8 this season and has just one conference victory the past two years. Half of the Illini's four wins overall the past two seasons were against Division I-AA opponents.

Turner had two seasons left on his contract, which pays him $1.1 million per year in salary and deferred compensation.

"I realize it's a bottom-line business and the last couple of years we didn't win enough football games," Turner said at a news conference. "I can leave this university knowing that I ran a program with great integrity."

Turner went 35-57 record with two bowl trips in eight seasons at Illinois. But since a Sugar Bowl appearance in January 2002, Illinois is just 9-25, and attendance has been falling.

Seven home games this season averaged 48,626 in the 69,249-seat Memorial Stadium.

After four seasons as offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears, Turner was hired as Illinois' head coach in December 1996, succeeding Lou Tepper.

His first team went 0-11. After a 3-8 season in 1998, the 1999 squad went 8-4 and defeated Virginia 63-21 in the Micronpc.com Bowl. The Illini slipped to 5-6 the following season, but in 2001 they went 10-2 before losing to LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

Holtz announces retirement

Lou Holtz, who could make playing Navy sound tougher than playing the Dallas Cowboys, stepped into retirement and cleared the way for South Carolina to introduce Steve Spurrier as his replacement today.

The 67-year-old Holtz goes out with 249 victories, eighth most in Division I-A, and a reputation for turning stumbling programs into winners. At each of his six schools -- William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and the Gamecocks -- Holtz went to bowl games by his second season.

His greatest accomplishment came in 1988, when he led Notre Dame to the national title only three seasons after the disastrous Gerry Faust era ended.

"Lou Holtz has been one of the great coaches in college football history." said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, the winningest coach in Division I. "He has brought a lot to the game and has coached some great teams. It will seem strange without him."

His latest reconstruction project at South Carolina was nearly as remarkable. He came out of retirement in 1998 at 61 to rebuild the Gamecocks. After going 0-11 his first season in Columbia, Holtz brought South Carolina to its best two-year mark in history (17-7) and won consecutive Outback Bowl victories.

Tennessee State fires Reese

• Tennessee State fired football coach James Reese over the weekend after the Tigers finished 4-7, including 2-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Reese, a former Tennessee State player, was 24-33 in five seasons as the Tigers coach.