New USF coach Scott buys home of ex-Bucs coach Lovie Smith

New USF Coach Jeff Scott is getting acclimated not only to the Bulls players, but also to the Tampa Bay area. And, an interesting housing connection to a former Buccaneers coach has now come to light.

A report by the Tampa Bay Business Journal on Tuesday afternoon says that the former Clemson co-offensive coordinator, who took over at USF in December, has purchased the home of former Bucs and current University of Illinois coach, Lovie Smith:

USF's new football coach buys former Bucs coach's sprawling estate in the Tampa suburbs (Photos)
https://t.co/gvsHsjpkm6 via @TBBJAshley @USFAthletics @USouthFlorida pic.twitter.com/OJPxG0Cicz

— Tampa Bay Business Journal (@TBBJnewsroom) February 11, 2020

The Business Journal cites Hillsborough County property records that Scott bought the 10,000 square foot, six bedroom home near the USF campus that Smith had purchased, when he became the Bucs head coach in 2014. The luxurious home, as you can see in the photo from the real estate listing above, sits on 13 acres in the upscale, Tampa Palms section of Tampa.

Lovie Smith was fired after two seasons with an 8-16 record in Tampa Bay. The former Bears coach was immediately hired by Illinois, where he has mostly struggled in four seasons of the Big Ten. Smith’s overall record is 15 – 34, but they did have two huge Big 10 upsets of Wisconsin and Michigan State this past season. The Illini ended up going 6-6 before losing their bowl game.

Smith also lost both of his head-to-head meetings to USF in 2017 and 2018.

Back to Jeff Scott. He agreed on a five year, $12.5 million deal to take over the Bulls after they fired Charlie Strong, who had gone 4-8 last season. Scott has been part of two previous National Championships, as offensive assistant at Clemson. He was the co-offensive coordinator, as the Tigers lost the National Championship game last month to LSU.

The TBBJ further reported that the Scotts got a good deal on the home purchase paying $2.5 million for it in late January. The house had been on the market for over three years years after Smith had paid 3.5 million for it in 2014.