Jeremy Warner, writing at Illini Inquirer, reflects on the tenure of Josh Whitman as Illinois AD and the culmination of this week’s triple rankings.

This week, all three of the most prominent programs in the Illinois athletic department are ranked: women’s basketball at No. 22, football at No. 24 and men’s basketball at No. 25. That’s the first time all three programs have been ranked at the same time since January 2000 — before Bill Self even arrived at Illinois to take over the men’s basketball program from Lon Kruger. Yeah, it’s been a while.

Illinois Athletics made one of the best decisions by hiring Josh Whitman as Athletic Director. What an incredible run so far, with higher expectations on the horizon.