re: Illinois has not won a big 10 football or basketball game since March 1, 2017

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It is a different world, but Illinois is to blame for not bridging the gap. They were an administrative clown show for a while, particularly during the player abuse scandals and the new AD search. There was also a report on Chicago radio a year or two ago that Shad Khan volunteered any assistance that was needed and he was mostly ignored.

To make things worse for them, Northwestern has lapped them in local marketing. The whole "Chicago's Big Ten Team" thing has been working, and Fitzgerald and Collins have been front and center in the media.

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It helps NU that most of the Chicagoland news outlets (and some national ones like ESPN) are full of Medill grads, so any time Purple Power has any breath of life, they get extensive coverage.

You are right that UofI's admin has been the biggest culprit. I am also not sure the current admin or the alumni want to win badly enough. They seem content on being locusts and popping up in huge numbers every fifteen years or so. UofI has also lost any connection with the local schools - when was the last time they got a great Simeon or Whitney Young or Morgan Park or Farragut or even a New Trier kid?

DePaul just made its big move with the arena, and I think that is really going to help them.