Ad Disclosure
Josh Whitman, Illinois AD, speaks on importance of sellout atmospheres at Illini football games
By Kate Norum
Published:
Josh Whitman is pushing for more energy at Memorial Stadium to help drive the Fighting Illini to a victory.
One of the best environments to play in are ones that incorporate the crowd and of course, a lively game. Last week’s 9-6 win over Iowa was huge in part, to the crowd that made it a dynamic environment at the end, even though it wasn’t at full capacity with 44,910 in attendance.
As Whitman discussed with 247Sports, one of the biggest factors for Illinois football surrounds the excitement of the crowd. Full capacity at Memorial Stadium is 60,670.
For us, it all fits into the same overacting objective, which is to win. We need to win football games. The best way that we can win football games is to have a really big, robust, loud crowd. Whether that means quote-unquote a sellout or whether that’s what we had on Saturday, which was not a sellout but a really dynamic environment and one that I think ultimately … I think impacted the end of the game [against Iowa]. That’s what we need. We need a building that when recruits walk into that space, they feel the energy, they understand the community support that exists for our football program.
Whitman hopes to keep the excitement moving forward for recruits coming in and the overall community.
Illinois will take on Minnesota in a B1G West battle on Saturday with hopes to add another win to its 5-1 record.
Kate Norum covers college football for Saturday Tradition. She graduated from Kennesaw State University with a B.S. in journalism and has always been passionate about sports. Follow Kate on Twitter @katenorum