Got a fun one for you today on the O'Anne Inquirer podcast. Welcome in. I'm Jeremy Warner,

O'Anon I acquire publisher. Today, I catch up with Howard Milton, the chief development officer for the University

of Illinois Athletics Department.

We talk about reeling in the big fish, that is Larry Geese, the $100 million donation for

Illinois football and Memorial Stadium.

I talked to him about what went into this effort.

When did it start?

How do you get this deal done?

How do you ask for $100 million from somebody?

And also talk to him about Josh Whitman's role in all of this and fundraising and where this athletic department is at.

And Howard, who had a son who played baseball with the University of Illinois, he's been here

for more than 20 years.

I got a little emotional talking about how far this athletics department has come.

Also talks a little bit about what you can expect.

They will attack here at Memorial Stadium for upgrading it for you fans.

And then I wanted to get Kyle Toss back on the podcast.

Our new edition covering Illinois basketball is doing a great job for us.

I am just amazing how polished Kyle is for a 21, 22 year old, and how much better he is

at this than I was at his age.

And talk to him about Atlanta basketball.

It's a fantastic conversation.

We dive into recruiting. Illinois had a couple

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