By Sean McDevitt
FightingIllini.com

Jim Delany began his tenure as commissioner of the Big Ten Conference in 1989. Since then, he's overseen the creation of the Big Ten Network, was the pioneer of instant replay in college football and expanded the conference from 10 teams to 14 by adding Penn State, Maryland, Nebraska, and Rutgers.

Being at the forefront of so many changes, expansions, and innovations, one could say Commissioner Delany has seen it all.

At Memorial Stadium for the University of Illinois' first Big Ten match-up with Penn State last week, Delany reflected on the direction of the Illinois athletics program, hockey in the Big Ten, and Josh Whitman's motor.

Good Place

Delany sees a lot of good things happening at Illinois.

"There are good coaches and good athletes in place," Delany said. "You can see that they've won some Big Ten championships, they have qualified a lot of teams for NCAA play, and that they not only have plans for new facilities, but they've also been able to set a financial goal because it takes money in order to build. Once you have the facilities in place, the coaches and players in place, and the leadership in place you're going to be in a good place to chase some of those goals."

Success in college athletics boils down to two things: people and resources. Delany thinks Illinois has progressed on both fronts and, consequently, is on the cusp of achieving the success that Fighting Illini fans crave.

"Ultimately it's going to be the recruitment of the right student-athlete for the University of Illinois," Delany said. "Somebody who can do it on the field and in the classroom. Someone who can represent the institution the right way. And I know that Josh's background, his experience, and his values are going to fit nicely with achieving what I would describe as material goals with respect to facilities and human goals with regard to recruiting leadership which is about the identification, recruitment, retention, and success of students."

High Energy. High Integrity.

Delany has nothing but praise for Josh Whitman's tenure as Athletic Director at Illinois.

"Josh, as a former student-athlete, really understands Illinois, both the athletic experience as well as the academic experience. Certainly, his success in graduate school, law school and then getting some experience at Washington University and Wisconsin-LaCrosse clearly made him a very attractive candidate at a very young age."

Putting Whitman's academic and business successes aside, it's his character and how he carries himself and the responsibilities of being the Athletic Director at Illinois that impress Delany the most.

"He is high energy, high integrity. Plus, as they say in sports, he's got a great motor and you can see it in his efforts to fundraise, especially with his facilities plan and looking at the addition of hockey."

The Strongest Hockey Conference in the Country

Currently, the state of Illinois has 85 players playing Division I hockey and not one of them is playing in their home state -- because no Division I school in Illinois sponsors the sport. That statistic is added motivation as Whitman moves closer to fulfilling his goal of bringing Division I hockey to the University of Illinois. Additionally, the recent feasibility study concluded Illinois could successfully add a Division I hockey program.

Delany has high hopes for hockey and, more specifically, hockey at Illinois.

"I love what we've done in hockey," said Delany. "I think we've got the strongest hockey conference in the country. We have a unique situation where we had five institutions split between two Midwestern conferences and then we added Penn State. So we brought that together and then we added Notre Dame last year as an affiliate member. To have Illinois be a part of that group makes a lot of sense and I think rivalries with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Notre Dame could really pop."

A Good Future

Building a foundation for successful football at Illinois is a multi-year, long-term plan. Whitman's hiring of Lovie Smith energized the fanbase and set in motion the strategy.

Delany sees that move as one of the best of Whitman's tenure as AD.

"I knew Lovie and watched him as a Chicago Bears fan and have the utmost regard for him as a coach and a person," said Delany. "So when Josh told me the hire was going to happen I was enthusiastic and have remained enthusiastic, but there was no doubt work needed to be done. So he's building a foundation with one of the youngest teams, I think, in Division I football.

"This is a tough league to get better in and everybody's working hard, everybody's got good talent, everybody's got great resources. But I think that Illinois under Lovie's leadership and with Josh's support, they've got a great future."