CHAMPAIGN — The name is a bit clunky: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

With Illinois against UCLA, there are better options. Like Rose Bowl Lite or Interim Coaches Bowl.

Right now, Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning plans to be on the sideline on Dec. 31 at San Francisco's AT&T Park, running the team. But if a school calls with a job offer and tells Koenning they need him right now, he might have to go.

At the Illinois football offices, family comes first.

"It is a tricky deal," Koenning said. "We have to be spread a little bit thin. We have one of the best staffs any college has.

"There is a time when they have to put themselves first because there are so many times when we put the team first. They need to do that. They need to take some time every day and work on their own career."

And the same holds true at UCLA, where Rick Neuheisel has been replaced temporarily by Mike Johnson, the team's offensive coordinator.

"They're looking for different places to work," Johnson said. "You never know what's going to happen and you have to do that. But I think our group is a professional group. Right now, everyone is coming back."

When he first talked to the media after taking over as interim coach, Koenning wondered if his players wanted to play in a bowl. They were emotional at the time, a day removed from Ron Zook's firing.

As he moves forward, Koenning doesn't want any negativity to invade the team. During a meeting, he showed his players a bottle of water, then dropped a piece of dirt into it.

"I said, 'This is negativity. This is malcontent. This is not believing. This is all the things that are unpure,' " Koenning said. "I put it in there and I didn't even shake it up. You could see how it changes, it ruins the whole bottle. I said, 'All it takes is one guy.' "

There are nine coaches working for Illinois. As early as Wednesday, a new coach could be named and the scrambling could reach another level.

Getting into the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl was a bit of a scramble for first-year athletic director Mike Thomas.

The Big Ten has eight bowl partners and had a ninth spot because of Michigan's at-large berth to the BCS. That meant one of the Big Ten's 10 eligible schools wasn't going to get picked.

After the team's loss at Minnesota on Nov. 26, capping an 0-6 finish, Illinois became the bowl free agent. No other school in the country faced the negative of a six-game losing streak.

So, Thomas, with the help of the Big Ten, went shopping for a postseason berth.

"It made it an interesting process," Thomas said. "I have spent a lot of time on the phone.

"You have options. But in some ways, your options are very limited. In the scenarios that were put in front of us, that was really the game we were really focused on."

There were other possibilities for the Illini, which Thomas didn't want to name. The three games scheduled for Dec. 17 (New Mexico, New Orleans and Potato bowls) weren't in play.

Other games that had openings included the Military and Independence bowls.

"You have to have backup plans," Thomas said. "You have to be lobbying to multiple bowl games."

Thomas said he was never concerned that Illinois wouldn't earn a bowl berth. He was athletic director at Akron one year when the Zips were the only bowl-eligible team left out of the postseason.

"I've been on the outside looking in and you're really short-changing your coaches and your student-athletes," Thomas said. "That's not a lot of fun."

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is requiring Illinois to sell 8,000 tickets. There is a large Illinois alumni base in California and Thomas hopes they buy their bowl tickets from the school.

"That will help us in the future," Thomas said. "You want to get known as a school that travels well."

Thomas said he isn't sure how involved the next Illinois head coach will be with the team during the bowl preparation. He described the situation as "fluid."

Illinois will be playing at a baseball park for the second time in two seasons. Having the game at the home of the Giants adds to the appeal, Thomas said.

"I think it will be interesting," Thomas said. "It shouldn't be foreign to them after what happened last year. They won't have to switch ends of the field after every change of possession."

Koenning is happy to have another game. The last six didn't work out so well.

"We have a lot of redemption to do," Koenning said.

"We need to be playing our best game in this bowl game. We need to be excited to play in the game. Typically, who does the best in the bowl game is the team that's happiest to be there. It would boggle my imagination to have our football team not be ecstatic, based on the circumstances, to be playing in this bowl game. San Francisco is a wonderful town."

Koenning promises some changes for the game, starting with special teams. Offensive and defensive starters will be used on the different special teams. The assistant coaches will have a draft.

"We'll be a different football team," Koenning said.