Patrick Bittle joined the Fighting Illini staff as video coordinator in August 2021.

Bittle returned to his alma mater after a successful start to his career at James Madison. He was a graduate assistant/video coordinator at JMU in 2020-21, a year that saw the Dukes capture a share of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular season championship and earn the program's first No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament since 1993. Bittle was then promoted to director of basketball operations in June.

Prior to his time at James Madison, Bittle worked four seasons as a student manager for the Fighting Illini, handling both on-court and video duties. Bittle's time with the program culminated as head manager during his senior year in 2019-20 when Illinois won 21 regular season games and ended the year ranked No. 21 in the final AP poll.

"It's a joy to welcome Patrick Bittle back to the University of Illinois," Underwood said. "Student managers are some of the hardest working people in college basketball. Bittle earned the respect of everyone in our program for the job he did during his four years here, and he took that knowledge and excelled at James Madison for coach Mark Byington as they had an outstanding season. It's a great feeling when you see your talented young workers go out and chase their dreams, and it's even more meaningful when you're able to bring them home. We're thrilled to have him part of the Illini family again."

A native of Harrisburg, Illinois, Bittle earned a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Illinois in 2020. He also received notoriety for his starring role with a group of Illini student managers that claimed the 2019 Manager Games national title in Minneapolis during Final Four weekend.