Illinois Athletics has been thriving over the last few years. The football team is coming off back-to-back seasons with bowl game appearances and at least nine wins. The men's basketball team is coming off its first Final Four appearance since 2005, and just had a player selected No. 5 overall in the NBA Draft. The women's basketball team is coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
That is a lot of success in a short period of time, and while the coaches have a lot to do with that success, there is one common denominator that helped bring those very coaches in: athletic director Josh Whitman.
Whitman's ties to Illinois are deep, starting all the way back to when he attended the university as an undergrad and earned his degree while playing on the football team. After graduating in 2001, he went undrafted in the NFL Draft and ended up getting a law degree instead. He found his way into college athletics in 2010 and took the job as athletic director at Illinois in 2016.
While it wasn't the greatest start, as Illinois had been in the basement of athletics for a while, the recent success of the major sports programs has earned Whitman a brand new deal . Whitman is now locked in with the Illini through 2036 with a solid salary increase as well.
Whitman has done some really great things at Illinois, but the highlight of his career in Champaign has to be his biggest hires. The three best hires Whitman has brought in are football coach Bret Bielema, men's basketball coach Brad Underwood, and women's basketball coach Shauna Green.
Diving deep into the success of the three programs would certainly be a lot, but let's instead focus on the recent success of the program. When it comes to football, it took Bielema some time to get settled and build a winning culture in Champaign. However, the formula he is using now is definitely a good one, as the Illini went 10-3 two seasons ago, beating South Carolina in the Cheeze-It Citrus Bowl.
Last season, while it wasn't quite as successful as some might have hoped, a 9-4 record is nothing to scoff at, as well as a win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. Not only is the success on the field impressive, but Bielema has also been a force on the recruiting trail, both for high school and in the transfer portal, building this program's future into a bright one.
When it comes to basketball, Underwood was a slam dunk hire, my apologies, but pun intended. Underwood was one of Whitman's first hires in his new role in Illinois, coming to Champaign in 2017. It also took time to get his footing, but since the 2020-2021 season, Illinois has yet to miss the NCAA Tournament, had an Elite Eight appearance in 2024, and a Final Four appearance this past season.
Underwood has also been a force on the recruiting trail, finding hidden talent like three-star recruit Keaton Wagler , who is now in the NBA as the No. 5 overall pick in the recent draft.
Shauna Green hasn't been at Illinois quite as long as Bielema or Underwood, but her success is still something to take note of. She led Illinois back to the NCAA Tournament in the 2022-2023 season for the first time since 2003. While the Illini missed the tournament in 2024, they did win the WBIT and then returned to the Big Dance the following year. Back-to-back exits in the Round of 32 are not what fans want to see, but this is a work-in-progress program that Green has really built up.
Whitman's biggest hires are the very reason Illinois didn't want to see him go anywhere. Giving Whitman this major extension shows how much the university and athletic department value him, and if he can continue running this department the way he has, Illinois has a very bright future.
This article was originally published on www.writingillini.com as Josh Whitman's efforts at Illinois aren't going unnoticed and its about time .
