CHAMPAIGN — Josh Whitman wasted no time in making his mark during his first official day as Illinois’ athletic director.
Whitman publicly threw his support behind men’s basketball coach John Groce in a Saturday morning appearance on “SportsTalk” on WDWS 1400-AM. Within the hour, he had met with and fired football coach Bill Cubit.
The decision to let Cubit go was Whitman’s alone. He said it wasn’t influenced by the Illinois administration, donors or alumni. That is not now, nor will it be, how he runs the athletic department.
“I didn’t know until recently that this was the answer, but I knew it was certainly a possible answer,” Whitman said about the decision to fire Cubit, adding he conferred with interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson, university President Tim Killeen and the board of trustees.