‘Change has been the constant’: Whitman discusses conference realignment

(WCIA) — July 1 marked the first wave of schools transitioning into new conferences, with SMU joining the ACC and Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC.

While the Big Ten will not welcome new schools until August 2, the shift is part of unprecedented change in college athletics.

“Change has been the constant here in college athletics for the last number of years, I don’t anticipate that’s going to slow down any time soon,” said Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman. “We’ve treated change as a net beneficiary for the University of Illinois and we’ve seen NIL, the transfer portal, some of these other important changes that have come through the system have I think been important.”

Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA will officially become members of the Big Ten next month.

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