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Three questions with ... Illinois SID Kent Brown

The former Atwood-Hammond basketball star is taking over as the primary football contact for Cassie Arner, who held the job for more than a decade. Brown isn't a rookie with football. He handled the sport during his time at Kansas State.

How are you feeling about working with football?

I'm very excited. Our football program has a large amount of media coverage. It's a high-exposure sport. I probably would have taken on this role 10 years ago if Cassie hadn't already been in the position and had a great relationship with Coach (Ron) Turner. She's one of the best football SIDs I've ever been around, so I wasn't going to mess up that situation 10 years ago when I came in as SID.

Compare and contrast working with Ron Zook's program and Bill Snyder's?

I do believe we try to allow more media access. Things have changed in the last 10 years in terms of media coverage. I know near and dear to your heart is practice accessibility. That's changed a little bit because of the new media. That wasn't in place 10 years ago. Bill had a philosophy of being very closed, secret, the less information about his team that other people could use, the better. From a media relations standpoint it was very challenging to try to do our job and try to publicize what was at that time a Top 10 program. In the four years I was there, we won 42 games. Here at Illinois, we have a much larger media market. Our media that covers us is unique in the fact that we have a lot of midsized markets in the state of Illinois. We still have our own challenges, but from an exposure standpoint, it certainly is an easier job. My dealings with Coach Zook have always been very positive. You can see why he's a great recruiter. He's certainly high energy. We'll do the best we can to accommodate him and the team and the program.

Who's joining the Big Ten?

Maybe nobody. At the end of the day, the decision may be made that there's no good fit. That's a guess. It's exciting because I think a year from now we could be sitting here knowing the landscape of the college athletic scene, especially the Big Ten, could be completely changed depending on how it works out. It's going to be an exciting time. It could be zero or it could be numbers unlimited.