Wisch: Will Thomas Hold Beckman To Zook's Standards?
Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas has a big decision awaiting this weekend.
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Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas has a big decision awaiting this weekend.
Ravenous Illinois fans take over Internet polls -- what would they do with a real championship team?
Tim Beckman's boss made it clear upon his hiring that Big Ten success was the goal.
Illinois' football attendance has been dwindling for five straight seasons.
No Illini coach has started with three straight losing seasons since 1977-'79.
Don't blame Illinois' admission standards for a lack of football talent -- the onus is on the coaches.
Former Illinois coach Ron Zook appears destined for Green Bay.
The Tim Beckman hire was a mistake and everybody has known it since his first press conference.
Illinois has a nearly two-decade tradition of retaining coaches at least one season too long.
The only hope for Illinois to continue progress (or start it) is by firing embattled defensive coordinator Tim Banks and hoping that Thomas can hire a talented assistant to replacement him.
It's that simple. Yet, of course, for the Fighting Illini, it isn't at all.
What a difference a week makes.
Stanford does it. So does Michigan. Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt do it, too.
Things Illini Nation learned this past week: 1) Ron Zook now works for a bank, and 2) Mike Thomas is willing to invest time in rebutting him.
If Beckman can't get things turned around soon – both on the field and with the state's best athletes – he won't be worrying about recruiting rankings for long.
From 1994-98, I was a student at the University of Illinois, and during those four years I saw a grand total of 14 football victories.
But then there's the University of Illinois, the sadsack program of the prairie whose last three head football coaches can now be found at Florida International University (Ron Turner), the University of Buffalo (Lou Tepper) and, well, the coaching unemployment line (Ron Zook).
We don't really know what Ron Zook is up to these days.
Zook, who was fired last year after seven seasons in Champaign, left the Illinois football program in far better shape than he found it.
On Thursday, the bad case of Illini indigestion was finally relieved when Ohio University's John Groce was announced as the 17th men's head coach in Illinois history during a press conference at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
Down in Champaign at the state's flagship school, the football program is listing, which is why Toledo's Tim Beckman was brought in to right a ship that Ron Zook wrecked after a 6-0 start to the season.
Twenty years ago, after compiling a sterling 30-16-1 record on the football field at that "basketball school" down in Champaign, University of Illinois coach John Mackovic bolted the Land of Lincoln for the gridiron riches of the Lone Star State.
Toledo head football coach Tim Beckman has reportedly emerged as the favorite to replace Ron Zook at Illinois.
Illinois has extended the application period for candidates for its head football coaching position until late Thursday night.
I happen to think the Illinois football job offers as much potential as any in the country. Much like, you know, the University of Wisconsin job offered Alvarez two decades ago when he took it over and transformed the Badgers into a snarling, bare-knuckled national power.
After the Knicks won the NBA title, the NYPD said dozens of rowdy fans climbed onto a row of school buses, ripped off the hoods, smashed windshields and lit one of fire.
A man was shot and killed in Chicago's Roseland community Saturday night.
An Illinois Department of Transportation worker and another driver were hospitalized Sunday morning after a crash that shut down a section of the outbound express lanes on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Teams from the National Weather Service on Sunday will be surveying damage caused by severe storms that brought tornado touchdowns to the Chicago area and other parts of northern Illinois last week.
Only a couple of nights after severe storms brought 11 tornado touchdowns to northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana, another storm system was to blame for even more damage.
Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would not harm U.S. consumers or weaken competition, DOJ antitrust enforcers said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill Friday that restricts the sale of intoxicating hemp products to the same ages as recreational marijuana.
A federal appellate court denied a last-minute attempt by the Trump administration to stop the removal of President Trump's name from the Kennedy Center on Friday.
The Pentagon on Friday released a new group of documents and videos related to UFOs, or UAPs, with 72 more documents, images and recordings.
Multiple floors of the Pentagon were locked down for several hours Thursday morning and hazmat crews were deployed for what authorities had described as a "hazardous materials incident."
An Illinois law banning "swipe fees" on taxes and tips — already delayed twice by lawmakers — appears to be on life support after a federal judge that once permitted it issued a permanent injunction against it this week.
A new study from the Cook County Treasurer's office underlines growing concerns about the impact the Illinois megaprojects bill could have on the county's property tax base and overall fiscal health.
As thousands of Chicagoans wrap up road trips over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, gas prices in the city have reached the highest levels seen in four years.
Consumer and environmental advocates said Monday that they found overcharges buried in the most recent rate-hike request by Nicor.
One week away from Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer travel season, with gas prices remaining high, negotiations were set to resume Monday at the largest oil refinery in the Midwest.
Dr. Peter Stafford was working with a missionary group in the Congo when he came down with the virus last month.
While 330 Ebola infections are confirmed in central Africa and huge challenges remain, hundreds more suspected cases "have been cleared out," the WHO says.
June is World Infertility Awareness Month, and Northwestern Medicine on Monday shared the story of a woman who is celebrating the birth of her second child after a tumor disrupted her fertility.
The Centennial Park Aquatic Center in the southwest Chicago suburb of Orland Park has been closed to the public after two recent cases of E. coli infection.
Menopause can feel like a major turning point for millions of women, with symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, and brain fog can make women feel like their bodies aren't their own.
Daley's Restaurant, known as Chicago's oldest, has served Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood for more than 130 years.
Walgreens is set to close in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood on Thursday, and there's growing concern about where families will get their medications.
The owners of Gene & Georgetti steakhouse are suing a concessions operator over their expansion at Midway International Airport.
DraftKings announced Monday that it is closing its sportsbook operation at Wrigley Field after only about two years.
After more than 80 years, there will be no Ann Sather restaurant location in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview community, effective in June.
Forty years ago last weekend, crowds turned out for the Chicago Blues Festival — an event studded with a roster of stars for a spectacle that's still talked about today.
Visitors will soon be able to check out the set from CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in Chicago, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
"Schmigadoon!" — which was tied for the most nominations, with 12 — won Best Musical, and "Liberation" took home the honor of Best Play at the 2026 Tony Awards.
Anthony Head played librarian and mentor Rupert Giles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and recently appeared in "Ted Lasso."
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is on the cover of Madden NFL 27, the first Bear ever to grace the primary cover of the massively popular video game.
Meteorologist Carl Lam has your 6 a.m. First Alert Weather forecast for Sunday, June 14, 2026.
A multi-vehicle crash shut down the outbound express lanes on the Dan Ryan Expressway south of 35th Street early Sunday.
Teams from the National Weather Service on Sunday will be surveying damage caused by storms that brought tornado touchdowns to the Chicago area and other parts of northern Illinois last week. Asal Rezaei reports.
A tree was completely uprooted near 156th Street and Burnham Avenue in Calumet City.
Key mediators in Pakistan say details are expected to be finalized within 24 hours, and a signing ceremony is still scheduled for Sunday. Iran's foreign minister says Sunday is unlikely but expressed optimism that they could work out a deal in a matter of days.
Teams from the National Weather Service on Sunday will be surveying damage caused by severe storms that brought tornado touchdowns.
Only a couple of nights after severe storms brought 11 tornado touchdowns to northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana, another storm system was to blame for even more damage.
According to the alderman's office, Sigcho-Lopez and his three children were asleep inside the home at the time.
After the Knicks won the NBA title, the NYPD said dozens of rowdy fans climbed onto a row of school buses, ripped off the hoods, smashed windshields and lit one of fire.
A man was shot and killed in Chicago's Roseland community Saturday night.
The Crisis Alternative Response Evanston, or CARE, team responds to calls that, before July 2024, would have been lumped into police calls.
The system will provide all heating, cooling, and ventilation for the high school's new physical education facilities and contribute to the school system, saving the district nearly $400,000 a year.
The forecast for a summer reopening of West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park is growing cloudy, as negotiations continue between the owners and landlord, after the safety net hospital abruptly shuttered its doors in March.
The Obama Presidential Center has been built with sustainability literally in its foundation. But its infrastructure for clean energy, environmentalism and climate change resiliency will also help the communities around it on Chicago's South Side.
A driver in Carol Stream says a band of hungry squirrels caused nearly $30,000 in damage to three different luxury vehicles because of plant-based parts they view as a tasty snack.
Pete Crow-Armstrong homered on the first pitch of the game and the Chicago Cubs hit two more home runs in a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.
The New York Knicks captured their first NBA championship since 1973 with a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old Yamamoto struck out seven in his fourth consecutive victory. He threw 109 pitches, 74 for strikes.
NBA star James Harden was booked into jail and released on bond less than 2 hours later.
Chase Meidroth had three hits and two RBIs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the depleted Los Angeles Dodgers 8-2 in a matchup of division leaders.
After the Knicks won the NBA title, the NYPD said dozens of rowdy fans climbed onto a row of school buses, ripped off the hoods, smashed windshields and lit one of fire.
A man was shot and killed in Chicago's Roseland community Saturday night.
It's the second time this year that authorities detained a stowaway holding a huge stash of drugs in the same harbor.
Police in the northwest Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights have released a sketch of a man accused of attacking and choking a woman this past weekend.
A fourth man has been charged in connection with a string of burglaries targeting video gambling terminals in Chicago's west and southwest suburbs since late last year.
