How the Weather Kept Tom Brady From Becoming an Illini

Was the game's quarterbacking GOAT ever actually close to taking his talents to Champaign?

NFL legend Tom Brady is all smiles before an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Last week, I bought a copy of Seth Wickersham's "It's Better To Be Feared" for 50 cents at my local library. In what Bill Simmons called "the definitive document of the Belichick/Brady dynasty" on the book jacket, I expected to find all manner of insider stories. The first 20 pages presented one nugget of particular interest:

As a young Tom Brady searches for a college at which to unlock his cyber-quarterbacking potential, writes Wickersham, "he had five elite football programs – USC, UCLA, Cal Berkeley, Illinois and Michigan – circling him, along with baseball's Montreal Expos."

Illinois. Illinois! Clearly, Brady pursued the Illini first, only to disappointedly fall back on his safety school, Michigan. OK, we're taking a couple minor liberties. Seriously, though, here was Brady's stated rationale for spurning the Illini: "Brady didn't want to play in Champaign, Illinois – too dreary."

What? Look, I am sympathetic to those wary of bad weather. Difficult winters can impact moods even when they're not top of mind, chipping away at dopamine reserves as the cold days end progressively earlier. But Champaign is hardly Anchorage. And also – elephant in the room – what about Ann Arbor? Did no one tell Brady about November temps in Michigan, which range from "cold" to "the surface of Pluto"? Tom, I worry that you screwed the pooch on this one.

So I consulted the weather records for Champaign during Brady's Michigan years (1996-1999), and they were ... well, pretty rough, to be fair. In '96, Illinois' season ran from the last day of August to Nov. 23, a day with a low of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The Illini also went 2-9 that season.

In that same "dreary" campaign, Illinois fell to Michigan 20-8 – but it came four whole weeks before Brady first got playing time with the Wolverines. Sorry, Tom. No credit for that one. However, in '99, the year of Tom Brady, senior second-year starter, it was the Illini who overcame a 27-7 deficit to put it on Brady and the Wolverines in a 35-29 win. Woof!

The 23rd day of October 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Trailing by twenty points in the second half, Kurt Kittner and Rocky Harvey lead the Illinois to a comeback win over Tom Brady.

Illinois 35
#9 Michigan 27 pic.twitter.com/7GbNCPhcZn

— Illini Nostalgia (@IlliniNostalgia) September 7, 2024

Michigan is on a bit of a hot streak in its rivalry with Illinois, it must be admitted: a 72-24-2 all-time record. But the Illini just cracked their second six-game losing streak to the Wolverines this decade with an authoritative 21-7 win. And if I know anything about sports, it's that whoever won the most recent game is unquestionably the best.

I suppose things worked out OK for Brady in the pros. But if the argument is that his foundation at Michigan somehow launched him to seven Super Bowl victories, just imagine if he had joined the Illini instead. They don't make enough fingers for all those rings.

More From Illinois on Sports Illustrated:

Illinois Football: A Historical Look at Matchups Against No. 1-Ranked Teams

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