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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman met with reporters at Bielfeldt Athletics Administration Building on Tuesday for his annual media roundtable to give his address on the state of the Illini and answer questions from reporters.

Here are some of the main takeaways.

Whitman thinks college athletics “has a credibility problem” and that leaders must be more proactive and progressive “to take control of our own future.”

“The public has lost some confidence in our ability to manage our own business,” Whitman said.

Whitman said college athletics has two main issues facing it: student-athlete pay and governance. Citing the Alston vs. NCAA case and ongoing Johnson vs. NCAA case, Whitman said that to take control of the student-athlete pay issue, “the NCAA is going to have to change its rules or we will have to leave the NCAA.” But Whitman said college athletics will need to create more financial possibilities for student-athletes given the 9-0 ruling against the NCAA in the Alston case and the continually rising revenues from media deals.

On governance, Whitman said the “big tent” philosophy of the NCAA doesn’t work with Division-III and Division-II rules apply to power-five conferences that live in very different realities.

“There has to be a way to create more homogenized group of schools,” Whitman said. “I don’t think the big-tent approach is going to continue to work.”

Whitman suggested a model based off the European soccer model where leagues/conferences have different rules — which would abide by the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the Alston case — but agree to compete in national tournaments/championships. But Whitman said some competitors (conferences) must align together to make it work.

“I think we’ve got to put a model together — and I believe we can — that can accept some differences," Whitman said.

Whitman thinks NIL has enforcement issues but is pleased with how his department has handled the change. Whitman said NIL is still “in a testing phase” and many are still “figuring out the rules of road” due to the federal government’s and NCAA’s lack of involvement and “a patchwork of state laws with differing levels of engagement and restriction.”

“We have a set of rules that amount to a set of speed limits, but don’t have a lot of cops on the road,” Whitman said.

Whitman added that there has been “more sizzle than steak” with talk about NIL and that separating fact from fiction in the space has been difficult. But he gave stats on how NIL has impacted his student-athletes in the first year of NIL.

Whitman said Illini student-athletes have made 400 NIL transactions, half of which are men’s basketball and football student-athletes, among 15o student-athletes representing all 21 sports. About 35% of deals involve female student-athletes.

“Overall, I’m pleased with where we are with NIL,” Whitman said. “We’ve been progressive, we’ve been on the front edge, but we still have a long way to go.”

Whitman is in favor of keeping Big Ten football divisions, but he is open-minded about a future without divisions. Whitman said he prefers the rivalries the geography of divisions creates. But he said he would be willing to remain open-minded about changing his mind to another structure if it is best for Big Ten Conference as a whole.

With the NCAA lifting the requirement for conferences to have divisions in order to hold a conference championship game, the Pac-12 and ACC have scrapped divisions in favor of simply pitting the conference teams with the two best records in the league title game. 

Whitman is encouraged by football’s progress in Year One under Bielema. Though he acknowledged the team needs to win more games, Whitman pleaded for fans that the program needs better attendance for the program to take further steps — and for the entire athletics department to take more steps since football generates the most revenue of any program. Whitman said they're trying to make the gameday experience full of "can't-miss moments" around the game.

“We need people to buy tickets,” Whitman said. “We need people to come into that environment and make that place special. …That is the home, the hub of our program, and we’re going to in a lot of ways set the trend, set the agenda with how that program feels.”

Whitman said he was encouraged by the program being competitive in all but two games (Wisconsin and Virginia) and that learning to win closer games will be important moving forward. He also singled out the team’s defensive strides under defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and thanked the young assistant for accepting a contract extension to stay with Illinois. He also credited Bielema for making “a tough decision” to fire offensive coordinator Tony Petersen and hire Barry Lunney Jr. from UTSA.

Whitman said he is very encouraged by recruiting as well. The Illini AD takes part in official visit weekends and said, “It really is unlike anything I’ve ever seen their ability to cast a vision and connect with these guys on the personal side.”

Whitman said he came away very encouraged from his exit meetings with graduating seniors, saying their enthusiasm and positive about the program “to a person” was “very striking” compared to previous years.

“They felt like to a person they were in a great spot and were incredibly excited about where the program was headed,” Whitman said. “That was really reinforcing to me.”

Whitman bragged about his bounce-back basketball program. He said that winning a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship against Iowa in the regular-season finale was “a day I’ll never forget.”

“The emotions and feelings on the court when the game was over, that was one of those moments,” Whitman said. “I hope people in the building, people that were on the floor, felt that as well. ...That was one of those days we will be talking about 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. It was really special for me from a professional and personal level to be involved on the court in the celebration.”

Whitman thanked head coach Brad Underwood and three first-year assistant coaches for accepting contract extensions to stay at Illinois. Whitman also took time to acknowledge the program’s great recent run, which includes the Big Ten’s best conference record during the last three seasons and two Big Ten championship trophies.

“We can always aspire for more, and certainly we do, but we also need to take a moment and appreciate what is going on in the Illinois men’s basketball program right now,” Whitman said.

Whitman thanked Kofi Cockburn for changing the program, along with Ayo Dosunmu, and said they are planning to raise his jersey to the rafters sometime soon.

The Illini AD added that recruiting — Illinois has the No. 6 overall recruiting haul this offseason — “has been exceptional” for men’s basketball.

Memorial Stadium will receive “incremental improvements.” Whitman said his “dream” scenario for renovating Memorial Stadium is about $200 million, but “that’s not realistic in the near-term, so we’re going to look at incremental improvements.”

The department has started working on cosmetic changes to the East Hall by polishing all the concrete floors, replacing the lighting, replacing previously boarded-up windows and painting steel beams a navy color. The Illini will continue upgrades annually in the future.

The Ubben Basketball Complex renovation will be completed before the season. The practice courts will open to players near the end of August and the teams will fully move in by mid-October, Whitman said.

“It will be one of, if not, the finest basketball facilities in the country,” Whitman said. "…It is a beautiful space.”

Would hockey have happened if not for the pandemic? “Definitely yes,” Whitman said. Whitman was ready to green-light the project in the spring of 2020 but paused and the landscape changed as costs of construction went up 30%.

“I can tell you it was really difficult to make this decision,” Whitman said, adding that “the many moving pieces of college athletics” made him more cautious about adding another expensive sports program to the department.

“Would we ever reconsider? Of course,” Whitman said. “If the landscape to ever change or a compelling piece of information were to come forward.”

Illinois is studying the feasibility of a stand-alone wrestling practice facility.  “Nothing final to announce on that, but it is something that we are looking at,” Whitman said.

Wrestling, volleyball and the gymnastics programs were set to be housed at the potential hockey arena, but Whitman said the department will make improvements to Huff Hall, including a new paint job and a new video board and lights.

Whitman highlighted several of the facilities projects, including the public opening of Atkins Golf Club, an expansion of Atkins Golf Club and the near completions of indoor training centers for baseball and softball.

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