Illinois, Northwestern both eye Chicago

Both Thomas and Phillips understand the difficulty of boosting a brand in a pro-sports city saturated with teams. Thomas faced a similar challenge at his previous stop, the University of Cincinnati, as well as in his hometown of Denver, where he served as an assistant AD at the University of Denver. Phillips is a Chicago native and an Illinois alum who made stops at Notre Dame and Northern Illinois before coming to Northwestern.

The two ADs are friends and praised one another for ramping up efforts in Chicago. They both agreed that the biggest step toward increased attention is winning on the field.

Rittenberg