Since Josh Whitman was hired as Illinois athletic director in 2017 the athletic department has seen a physical facelift that has helped Illinois become more competitive in the Big Ten.
When Whitman – a former Illinois football player – was hired one of his major goals was to develop a new look for Illinois’ teams. Many of his programs had fallen behind their Big Ten rivals when it came to training centers and stadiums. Whitman made it a goal to change that.
He spearheaded a near $80-million-dollar football facility on the East side of Memorial Stadium for his football program to provide his football with a more level playing field compared to his Big Ten peers. In fact, the Smith Center, named after Henry Dale and Betty Smith, is one of the best facilities in the entire country.
Whitman didn’t stop there. There are currently three major facilities projects underway on campus right now. The men’s and women’s basketball facility is getting an estimated $40-million-dollar renovation and the baseball and softball facilities are each getting a brand-new training center that is expected to cost a million each.
Illinois also debuted the opening of Demerjian Park, the new home of Illinois women’s soccer and the track and field program. Demerjian Park provided nearly 25 percent of Illinois student-athletes with a near $14-million-dollar facility that created grandstand seating, permanent locker rooms, bathrooms and concession stands – all things that never existed before.
“Demerjian Park was about identifying a void,” Whitman said during his media roundtable on Wednesday afternoon. “It was about putting a facility where one hadn’t been, so we saw that as a need for us. It was a group of student-athletes, 25 percent of our student-athlete population that didn’t have locker rooms, restrooms, grandstands, or concessions stands. That one jumped out because of the level of need and number of student-athletes that would benefit from the change.”
Included with Demerjian Park is Wienke Track, a resurfaced track named after legendary Illinois track and field coach Gary Wienke. Demerjian Park completed construction during the spring semester, in time for the Big Ten outdoor championships, and for the first time ever Illinois was able to host the event, a long-time goal for Whitman’s department.
“When we first started building the plans for Demerjian Park, hosting the outdoor track and field championships in the spring of 2021 was the backstop,” Whitman said. “That’s why we did it. To have that event come to fruition was great for our staff. We opened it to rave reviews from the conference and it was exciting for us to capture five Big Ten Championships in that three-day span.”
A glowing review from other Big Ten programs was just a footnote for Whitman that weekend.
“We did have the dedication of the track itself, for Gary Wieneke. Coach Wieneke’s family was able to be on hand, a lot of his former student-athletes were here. Really, another special day,” he said. “When I think back on my tenure there are just certain moments that I think will stick in my memory. . . . Sitting next to Gary Wieneke and dedicating Gary Wienke Track is something that I will never forget.”
Despite the pandemic being tough on the American economy, and the Illinois athletics department Whitman’s goal is to reach $30-million dollars in donations to Illinois athletics before the end of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30. He thinks that there is. chance for Illinois to achieve the goal, and if they do hit the $30-million mark it will be the first time that Illinois has ever raised that much money in four consecutive years.
Donations are how Illinois athletics pays for the entirety of the facilities projects. Whitman explained that when a donation is received for a project the money sits in an account at the Illinois Foundation and when an expense for facilities needs to be paid for, they are able to take money from the account to pay the proper fees.
Despite the pandemic, and an expected 12–18-million-dollar loss in revenue – significantly lower than the original estimation of $40-million dollars – Illinois decided to push through with the facilities upgrades. Whitman said he felt the need to push the gas in some area, and this was an area he did.
“We have donors who have stepped forward, obviously, to help fund those projects,” Whitman said. “They have expectations about a timeline, expectations that when they give money to support a project that the project happens. Similarly, our coaches, student-athletes have been made promises to and have expectations, plans around the arrival of those buildings. We felt strongly that we needed to deliver those roughly on the time phrase that we promised them.”
Illinois expects renovations to the Ubben basketball complex to finish in 2022 while both the softball and baseball facilities are expected to finish around that time as well – all three are currently under construction. However, this is still more to do in Whitman’s eyes.
Not every sport has received a facilities upgrade yet. Wrestling, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s gymnastics who all host competitions at Huff Hall are still in line despite being some of the most successful teams annually for Illinois. The wrestling program did announce that their home meets are going to be moved to State Farm Center this coming season, but that still leaves volleyball and gymnastics in dark.
“We still have a handful of sports we don’t have, and when I talk about the next phase of our facilities plan, we still have a number of sports that haven’t been directly addressed,” Whitman said. “Wrestling would be of them; gymnastics and swimming is another one. The future of Huff Hall is something we have to work through at some time.”
Whitman expressed that as the current facilities projects conclude, that what he called “Phase One” of facilities projects to be coming to a conclusion, but there is still more in store for Illinois athletics. The plans just aren’t all in place yet.
“I would be speculating at this point,” Whitman said. I mentioned the East and South of Memorial Stadium is a priority for us, in my perfect world. I wanted to unveil a fully renovated Memorial Stadium in time for a 100th anniversary of its dedication in 2024. At this point, I don’t know how likely that is, but all of our facilities that haven’t been directly touched in recent years is something that will be on the table.”
Potentially the biggest project of all could come with the possible addition of a men’s hockey program – a project that was halted, due to the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, Illinois had plans to develop a facility in downtown Champaign that would be home to the hockey, volleyball, and gymnastics program. But Whitman, who said conversations about hockey are just starting again, didn’t know if a similar plan would be in place this time around.
“We are looking at a few different options there,” Whitman said. “I think that continuing to group something there makes sense, we may move everything there. But we are also looking at some other option, particularly for wrestling and men’s and women’s gymnastics. The thought being that if there is another mechanism to address their needs that it might make the downtown facility a little more digestible, bring the cost down and reduce the square footage. We are evaluating a few different possibilities there as we start looking at the hockey possibility.”
There has been a much-needed facelift to the buildings that Illinois athletics calls home, and each time Whitman is able to open a new home he has created a lifetime memory for him and his student-athletes.
“Those are some of my favorite memories, whether it was opening the Smith Center to our football student-athletes or more recently opening up Demerjian Park to our soccer and track and field student-athletes,” he said. “To see their enthusiasm, those are days that I will never forget.”
