Kittner: Illinois Should Play In Bowl Game
In the wake of the firing of head football coach Ron Zook, the team is meeting Tuesday to decide whether or not it will accept a bowl invitation.
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In the wake of the firing of head football coach Ron Zook, the team is meeting Tuesday to decide whether or not it will accept a bowl invitation.
After firing Ron Zook Sunday, the Illini have started searching for their next head coach.
When it comes to the reasons why Illinois' seventh-year head football coach held on to his job for so long and why he finally lost it on Sunday morning, I can boil Zook's problems down to just four.
Illinois coach Ron Zook was fired Sunday after the Illini followed a 6-0 start to this season with a six-game losing streak.
I'm sure that Mike Thomas has his own list of names who he'd like to see as his coach at Illinois. But my advice is this: Aim high.
In Ron Zook's defense, he warned them.
Police are searching for the gunman who shot three people, including an Illini football player, at a weekend party near the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.
Terry Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune joined The McNeil and Spiegel Show to break down college football.
Illinois rolled through its first six games with big plays, comebacks and happy endings, landing a spot in the Top 25 with a perfect start.
Above everything else on Saturday, as Illinois fans trudged out of Memorial Stadium, they were again reminded of the cold, hard truth that Ron Zook is not a big-time football coach.
I didn't watch the Illinois football game last weekend. Turns out, though, I wasn't the only one. Because, apparently, Ron Zook didn't see much of it, either.
Before the college football season began, I felt that Ron Zook and his University of Illinois football team had the most to prove in the Big Ten in 2011.
Illinois sacked Arizona State's Brock Osweiler six times and turned one into a touchdown in a 17-14 win over the No. 22 Sun Devils on Saturday night.
Football is a game of numbers. But when it comes to the job security of Fighting Illini football coach Ron Zook, might it be a game of figures, as well?
Baffled was again how I found myself last Saturday when Illinois' seventh-year head coach opted to burn highly touted freshman quarterback Reilly O'Toole's redshirt eligibility – by playing him for three meaningless snaps in the fourth quarter of a season opener vs. Arkansas State.
Adam Hoge breaks down which Big Ten coaches are on the hot seat this season and which coaches are completely safe.
The University of Illinois is on the clock. But it's Bruce Weber and Ron Zook who can hear theirs ticking. At about 5 p.m. this evening Illinois will be without an official athletic director for the first time since 1992.
On Tuesday, Fighting Illini senior running back Jason Ford was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license.
There was a fire in Champaign this week. Early Wednesday, a blaze started in a building on Green Street – the main Campustown drag – and destroyed a couple of popular restaurants.
This is the risk you run when you recruit eighth-graders.
The Illini aren't quite living up to expectations but coach Bruce Weber has a plan to fix the team's problems. The Athletic Director has confidence in Weber too.
Ponder this: If Ohio State hadn't tattooed an "L" on the Arkansas Razorbacks Tuesday night in the Sugar Bowl, Ron Zook would have been the 2010-11 Poster Boy for Big Ten Postseason Success.
Well, I'm back from the Texas Bowl and you can color me orange. And impressed.
Winning a bowl game like the Texas Bowl may not be that big of a deal to many who follow college football, but for the University of Illinois fans and Ron Zook, they will gladly take it.
As a University of Illinois season ticket holder, I've watched a lot of Ron Zook football during the past six years. Most of it bad.
The 2026 Chicago Auto Show kicks off at McCormick Place on Saturday.
A man was shot in the leg inside a home on Chicago's West Side early Saturday morning.
Chicago helped shape the nation in so many ways, including the pioneering of skyscrapers – the big, beautiful buildings the city of big shoulders introduced to the world.
A Chicago bus driver is out of a job after he was caught on camera with his hands off the wheel and his eyes glued to his cell phone.
Police in Chicago's south and southwest suburbs are teaming up to target thieves targeting video gambling machines, which have become an increasingly popular target for burglary crews.
The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.
The FBI has arrested "one of the key participants" behind the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that killed four Americans.
A new push to pass a GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act is underway in Congress, but Democrats warn the proposal could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
As immigration sweeps expand nationwide, the work of justifying detentions is overwhelming federal prosecutors, who are being forced to sideline a range of other cases in order to keep pace.
Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October, plans to attend President Trump's State of the Union address to Congress later this month, according to her attorney.
This week marks Identity Theft Awareness Week, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza emphasized some safety tips Monday for avoiding and dealing with identity theft.
A controversial data center in Naperville, Illinois, could be the cause to pack a city council meeting there on Tuesday night.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital announced this week that it is planning to open a new pediatric hospital in the west Chicago suburb of Downers Grove.
It has been nearly six years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the many questions doctors are still working to answer concerns the long-term effects.
Leaders from Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository denounced changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a grant from The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation for a new cancer center.
Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital said Tuesday that it is no longer initiating gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
A Near West Side diner known for drawing in Blackhawks fans and players is up for sale.
January may be the coldest time of the year, but Chicago is already looking forward to summer farmers' markets.
A development proposal issued this month calls for the replacement of a building housing a Giordiano's pizzeria in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with a new mixed-use building with 28 residential units.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Gamers across the world can now recreate drone strikes in Ukraine from the comfort of their own home, with this newly released game.
The members of Ratboys were teenagers when they met by chance, and now in their 30s, the Chicago band formed by two college friends almost two decades ago appears to be on the brink of something big.
Chuck Negron, a founding member of Three Dog Night whose lead vocals powered a string of hits for one of the top rock acts of the late 1960s and early '70s has died. He was 83.
Bad Bunny used his Grammy acceptance speech on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
The 2026 Grammy Awards recognized the best of the best in music from last year, with big wins for Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny. Here's the full list of winners and nominees.
The 2026 Chicago Auto Show kicks off Saturday with over 700 cars on display. You can even get registered for your Real ID.
The FBI is investigating a new message related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist has the extended forecast.
Meet 6-moth-old Baloo, he is looking for his forever home. Adopt him today at PAWS Chicago.
Meteorologist David Yeomans has the latest First Alert Weather forecast.
The 2026 Chicago Auto Show kicks off at McCormick Place on Saturday.
A man was shot in the leg inside a home on Chicago's West Side early Saturday morning.
Police in Chicago's south and southwest suburbs are teaming up to target thieves targeting video gambling machines, which have become an increasingly popular target for burglary crews.
An eagle-eyed drone pilot helped spot a missing foster puppy who had been out in the cold for more than two weeks in Chicago's northwest suburbs.
A source close to the investigation said the woman worked for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools.
Cynthia Eason recounted the moment Chicago police officers raided her family's home in 2018.
Water bills could be going up in several Chicago suburbs and other parts of Illinois, as Illinois American Water seeks a rate increase to fund infrastructure improvements.
The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said that Chicago police officers pointed guns at them during the botched raid.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have allowed him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.
Two west suburban high schools have something extra to celebrate Sunday, when alumni from their schools make their Super Bowl debuts.
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are underway after the lighting of the Olympic cauldrons and the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony.
Caleb Williams certainly had plenty of big throws to celebrate in 2025, but it wasn't hard to pick his most memorable one after he launched a 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore to beat the Packers in overtime in Week 16.
Brandon Ingram scored 33 points, Immanuel Quickley had 24 and the Toronto Raptors beat the new-look Chicago Bulls 123-107.
Chicago Bears guard Joe Thuney was named the NFL's top offensive lineman of 2025 on Thursday, winning the inaugural Protector of the Year Award.
Local and federal authorities said "investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity" regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
A South Side community came together on Friday, hoping for justice after a woman was shot and killed while her baby was in the back seat of their car earlier this week.
A Chicago city employee was found shot to death Friday morning inside an apartment in the West Ridge neighborhood.
Actor Timothy Busfield has been indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, officials said Friday.
A burglary crew smashed into a restaurant in Chicago's southwest suburbs, leaving the owner cleaning up a big and frustrating mess.
