Patrick Bittle is in his fifth year on the Fighting Illini staff, currently serving as director of strategy and analytics after beginning as video coordinator.

Illinois won the Big Ten championship during Bittle’s first season on staff, going 23-10 overall and 15-5 in conference play to win the program’s first regular-season title since 2005. Illini won 20 games in his second year, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois won the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2024, its best NCAA Tournament finish in 19 years. The Illini finished with 29 wins, marking the third-most in school history, and end the year ranked No. 6 in the final AP poll.

The Illini won 22 games in 2025 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. 

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 2021.

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.

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.