Twin cities tucked in the center of the state, where stories of football greats, film critics, and science fiction villains began. A football and basketball program seeking to keep up with their regional rivals. One of the largest student bodies in the U.S. flocking in from around the world.
The University of Illinois is one of the original seven members of the Big Ten Conference, with an athletic history dating back to the 19th century. While many of its competitors in the conference steadily stacked up trophies over a century-plus, Illinois hasn’t won a team national championship in a major sport since 1951.
As the Oregon Ducks prepare for a move to the Big Ten in 2024, The Oregonian/OregonLive is taking a look at all of their newest conference rivals. While Ducks fans might be deeply familiar with fellow Pac-12 departees Washington, USC and UCLA, they have 14 new teams to get to know this year.
We begin with Illinois.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Location: Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
School founded: 1867
Joined Big Ten: 1896
Type: Public
Enrollment: 56,403
Endowment: $2.73 billion
Athletic department spending (2021-22): $129.1 million
Athletic department revenue (2021-22): $145.7 million
Football spending (2021-22): $29 million
Football revenue (2021-22): $63.2 million
Football stadium: Memorial Stadium
Capacity: 60,670
Varsity sports: 21 (10 men’s, 11 women’s)
Mascot: None
Fight song: Oskee Wow-Wow
Notable alumni: Dick Butkus, Jerry Colangelo, Roger Ebert, George Halas, Hugh Hefner, Meyers Leonard, Nick Offerman, Kurt Schrader
Famous coaches: Robert Zuppke (football), Lou Henson (men’s basketball)
Biggest rivals: Northwestern, Indiana
Essential movie: With Honors (1994) — Filmed in part on the Illinois campus
Team national titles: Football (5), men’s gymnastics (10), men’s tennis (1), track and field (5), men’s fencing (2, program dropped in 1993)
Did you know? Mosaic, one of the first widely available internet web browsers, was created at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at University of Illinois beginning in 1992. Oddly enough, the university is referenced as the birthplace of the villainous HAL 9000 artificial intelligence computer in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL says he was created in Urbana, Illinois, in ... 1992.
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