Notebook: Whitman expects more from Illinois volleyball
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 30—CHAMPAIGN — The introduction of direct revenue sharing with athletes ahead of the 2025-26 school year meant a couple decisions had to be made by each university that opted in to that landmark change in college athletics.
How much money would be spent and how would it be distributed?
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Illinois opted to share the maximum amount — $20.5 million — with athletic director Josh Whitman noting a year ago that football, men's and women's basketball and volleyball would receive the majority.
That breakdown has not changed, with those four teams being prioritized. Results varied with the uptick in investment this past year.
Illinois football went 9-4 and beat Tennessee in the Music City Bowl for a second straight bowl win against an SEC team in as many years. Men's basketball had one of the best seasons in program history, winning 28 games and reaching the Final Four. Women's basketball reached the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years, continuing its remarkable turnaround after nine consecutive losing seasons.
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Volleyball was a different story.
Illinois posted a 13-16 overall record and finished tied for 10th in the Big Ten. The first sub-.500 full season in Chris Tamas' tenure as coach, but the fourth missed NCAA tournament in the past six seasons. The Illini reached a Final Four in 2018 during Tamas' second season in Champaign but have won just two NCAA tournament wins — both in 2021 — since.
"We'd like to see the program reach a higher level," Whitman said. "We haven't had as much postseason access in recent years as we've come to expect with that sport in particular. I think we also have to acknowledge that were competing in the strongest volleyball conference that's ever been and we're competing essentially in the middle of the pack. Some years we're able to pop up above that and move up a spot or two. Some years we're knocked back a rung or two."
Illinois has finished no better than a tie for sixth in the Big Ten — in what was still a 14-team conference — since its Final Four run behind All-Americans Jordyn Poulter, Ali Bastianelli and Jacqueline Quade. The Illini have finished seventh four times (2019, 2021 spring, 2021 fall and 2022) and eighth once (2024).
"Chris' expectation is that we'll perform better, but I would also say that's not solely his responsibility," Whitman said. "We have an obligation as an administration to be supportive and part of the problem-solving process for these coaches. Is volleyball performing at the level we'd like it to? No. Are there a lot of reasons for that? Yes, and Chris and me and our staff, we are all dedicated to working together to try and keep that program growing."
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Despite rising expenses and revenue created by football and men's basketball redirected back to those program first, Illinois has maintained what's been its full complement of 21 sports. The investment might be different in other sports, but it's one Whitman said the DIA is still making, with $2.5 million of the $20.5 total in revenue sharing last year spent on additional scholarships.
"Part of our strategy has been to be at the front of the pack from a scholarship perspective," Whitman said, noting 100 percent of Illinois athletes are on full scholarship. "When you think about supporting Olympic sports and some of the sports that aren't getting access to revenue sharing, our strategy was to provide them with as many scholarships as we could. It certainly has put them in a very competitive position, especially for those sports that were equivalency sports before."
Whitman was also clear the level of support across the athletic landscape at Illinois isn't what he or others want it to be. The DIA does not have unlimited resources.
"We do have to make decisions about how those resources get allocated," Whitman continued. "We work actively with every coaching staff to create a plan that aligns with the resources we are able to provide. They help us identify obstacles and roadblocks to their success. It's incumbent upon us to find ways to remove those obstacles. We recognize we haven't touched every facility we'd want to. We haven't hired every staff member we'd like to."
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The Protect College Sports Act moved out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and to the full Senate on June 18 after a 19-9 vote. Two Republican and seven Democrat senators voted against moving the bill out of committee, including Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
Duckworth's "no" vote came following a discussion with Whitman and reflected both his and the Big Ten's concerns about the far-reaching effects of the bill despite the positives of a bipartisan effort starting in the Senate instead of the House of Representatives compared to past efforts.
The Big Ten's biggest concerns? Pooled media rights, restrictions on player movement and compensation and a ban on further conference expansion or the creation of what's referred to as a "super league."
"I think it was frustrating that our conferences were not invited to be a more influential part of shaping what this bill would look like," Whitman said of the Big Ten and SEC. "I think we could get to a place where our conferences could be supportive, but there has to be meaningful change. Prior bills really tried to create a space where those of us involved in the leadership of college athletics could self govern. This bill is much more prescriptive. It's getting into the weeds of college athletics. It's saying this is exactly what we want to do on transfers. This is exactly what we want to do on student-athlete compensation.
"When you think about the College Sports Commission, we just finished up the first year with that, and we have continued to tweak and modify it almost by the week. There's no reason to expect that whatever we put in this bill is going to be any different. We're going to immediately recognize there are things in it we wish could be changed, but it's really hard to change a federal law."
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While the Protect College Sports Act does include a provision for athletes to continue to profit from their name, image and likeness, it also includes a prohibition on compensation and NIL agreements designed to evade the revenue-sharing cap.
Whitman said the Big Ten's concern revolves around the definition of an associate entity and the regulations concerning those individuals or collectives in their ability to provide athlete compensation.
Revenue generated from multimedia rights partners, corporate sponsors and apparel brands has been redirected from some athletic departments to athletes as NIL opportunities as roster costs have ballooned in both football and men's basketball.
"At this point in time (the current bill) would become too restrictive on how we manage associate entities," Whitman said. "It would result in the loss of tens of millions of dollars to student-athletes. That's something we philosophically think is not the correct direction for us to go. It seems like at this point the commitments student-athletes are receiving — the funding that is finding its way to student-athletes — isn't something we're likely able to pull back."
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An open transfer market, however, is something that could be clawed back from athletes.
Changes were made ahead of the 2025-26 school year to shorten the transfer window for both football and men's basketball. The NCAA is looking to go further with football, proposing a 10-day window to begin in 2027.
The Protect College Sports Act would go further giving athletes a single, one-time transfer without penalty. Some exceptions would be made for additional transfers, including coaching changes or graduation.
Whitman said he considers the measure about transfers in the proposed bill to be fair.
"The data (the NCAA) has gathered around graduation and progress toward degrees and how it changes every time an athlete transfers is pretty staggering," Whitman said. "I know in some corners it has become unusual to talk about academics with college athletics, but believe it or not, we still care about our student-athletes graduating.
"There is an academic justification in trying to create a little more of a restriction on the ability of athletes to move from one point to another. I think it's worth continued consideration, and if comes in the form of federal law, I'm not sure what recourse athletes would have if they wanted to continue to move with more frequency."