URBANA, Ill. -- Nine years after it retired Chief Illiniwek under pressure from the NCAA, the University of Illinois will begin the search for a new mascot, interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson said Monday.
Wilson announced the first tentative steps in a campus-wide email and said she will soon appoint a committee of 10 to 12 people to figure out how to decide on a mascot and how long that process will take.
The plan is not to replace the Fighting Illini nickname the school's teams now use, campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said. But the school wants to select a mascot to be on the sideline and at events.