Introducing Our New Manager

Howdy, TCR community!

My name is Stephen Cohn and I'll be serving as manager of The Champaign Room moving forward! I’m actually in the main photo with this article. You can see a silhouette of my face sticking out from the right shoulder from the guy playing trombone, second from the left.

That photo was taken when Illinois was playing getting crushed in the first round of 2017 Big Ten Tournament against Michigan. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m a band geek, specifically for the Marching Illini and the Fighting Illini Basketball Band.

Growing up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois — a northwest suburb of Chicago — I truly became an Illini fan during their magical 2004-05 season, and it has been an absolute honor to perform in the band at football and basketball games the past two seasons. (NOTE: I’m still doing the Marching Illini this season, so catch me on the 35-yard-line during Three In One.)

However, as much as I love to blow my trumpet for the Illini, I love to write and report about Josh Whitman’s array of teams even more. In a few weeks I begin my junior year at Illinois studying broadcast journalism.

As a sports reporter for The Daily Illini for two years I covered every Illinois team from Isaiah Martinez and Illini wrestling to Michael Massey and Illini baseball to Chayce Crouch and Illini football to Michael Finke and Illini basketball. I look forward to getting to share everything I’ve learned about these programs with such a passionate community and fanbase over the coming years.

I’m also part of the broadcasting team for Illini club hockey on WPGU 107.1 FM (**shameless plug**), and TCR plans to provide more coverage on such an exciting team going forward as well!

In addition to the Illini, you’ll also catch me cheering for the Blackhawks, Bulls, Bears, Charlotte Hornets (don’t ask, unless you want to?), and, my favorite of them all, the White Sox. Putting team interests aside, I’m a sports nut and I’ll watch anything on ESPN, MLB Network, or any channel deciding to show people throwing a ball.

One final thing, but TCR is looking to improve our video content. One of our top weekly features, #AskTCR, is going to start being broadcast over Facebook Live. If you have other types of videos that you’d like to see, I would love to hear them!

With Lovie and Underwood, I-Mar and #GolfSchool, it’s a great time to be an Illini fan. Let’s have some fun, tell some stories, and (**fingers crossed**) end up not disappointed. ILL-

Follow The Champaign Room on Twitter at @Champaign_Room and Like us on Facebook. You can follow Stephen Cohn on Twitter at @stephencohn14.