What does it take to win big in sports? Here are things we know … talented players, high-level coaching, tireless work ethic, a shared vision, top-notch facilities and, in an era of NIL and the transfer portal, resources to make it all happen.
It’s a lot to pull together at the college and professional levels. Or is it level? The line separating them was never thinner.
Regardless, there is another consideration in this “follow the money” chase for championships. That is, follow Glenn Kinley.
A 2017 Normal West High School graduate, Kinley has been around a lot of winning in his young career as a television sports director. While at KSNT in Topeka, Kansas, he covered a Kansas men’s basketball national championship and two Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl wins.
Now this: Illinois’ run to the men’s basketball Final Four as sports director at WCIA in Champaign.
“I’ve covered a ton of really cool stuff and I feel super, super blessed,” Kinley said. “I’ll work 14 hours, get off work with a smile on my face and call my dad and tell him what a great day it was.”
It's a labor of love for the 27-year-old son of Normal’s Dave and Michele Kinley. That was especially true this season reporting on the Illini, who lost Saturday to UConn in their first Final Four appearance in 21 years.
Kinley’s earliest basketball memory is “sitting behind the couch crying” as a 6-year-old when the 2005 Illini lost to North Carolina in the championship game. He was in full work mode this time following Saturday’s 71-62 semifinal loss.
It ended a 28-9 season he called “fascinating to cover.”
“You start with the makeup of the team with six Balkan guys,” Kinley said. “They added one at the semester. Everyone called it the ‘Balkan Five,’ but there were six European guys. And then you had a kid from Champaign on the team (Kylan Boswell). It was just a very interesting makeup.
“There were some new staff members. Kevin Kruger, Lon’s son, comes back and joins the coaching staff. There was so much … it was like, ‘Where do you start with this team?’ It was a roller coaster of a year. They climbed into the top five in the country, then they were kind of struggling going into the Big Dance and figured it out at the perfect time.”
A key component was the emergence of freshman guard Keaton Wagler, who played high school basketball in Kansas. Not heavily recruited, Wagler earned All-America honors and was the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year.
“When I was in Topeka, we covered Washburn (University), a Division II school in Topeka,” Kinley said. “They’ve had a lot of basketball success. I think Keaton had an offer there and maybe even took a visit to Washburn.
“I don’t think even he knew what he was going to become this year. It was special to cover. What I said to Illinois fans (on social media) was, ‘Don’t take this for granted. This is rare.’ He was unbelievable.”
The Final Four being played in Indianapolis was “full circle” for Kinley. In 2010, he attended the Final Four there and had his picture taken with a friend and then-Illini coach Bruce Weber.
Kinley grew up rooting for Illinois, but strives to be objective on the job.
Still …
“You want them to win a little bit just because you know them,” he said. “It’s less about ‘Go Illini!’ and more about, ‘Man, Ben Humrichous is a great dude. I want him to win because he treats people really well.’”
Kinley has a connection with Illini head coach Brad Underwood in that both are Kansas State University graduates.
They have had a good working relationship since Kinley joined WCIA in August 2024.
“He actually called me when I took the job,” Kinley said. “A good friend of mine in Kansas knows Brad really well. He gave Brad my number. So I got a phone call while I was on the road going through the middle of Missouri, making my way to Champaign. It was from an unknown number. He said, ‘Hey Glenn. It’s Coach Underwood. Excited to have you in town.’
“That was a heck of a way to start things off in Champaign, and he’s been nothing but great to deal with.”
Close to family
When Kinley attended Kansas State, where he graduated in 2021 with a dual degree in journalism and entrepreneurship, he was an eight-hour drive from Normal. When he worked in Topeka, he was a seven-hour drive away.
Now, he is an hour from home and a family that includes his parents and his younger siblings, Kurt and Karen, who have Down syndrome. His older sister, Kelsey, lives in the Muncie, Indiana, area.
“If I want to go home for dinner tomorrow night, the beauty of that is I don’t have to decide until about 4 o’clock tomorrow if I want to or not,” he said. “I loved Kansas, but being this close to my family is certainly nice.”
As a youth, Kinley looked up to Kelsey, who he called “the responsible one.” Kurt and Karen “are everybody’s favorite people, including mine,” he said. His best friend in high school (and now), McCade Brown, became a star pitcher and made his Major League debut last year with the Colorado Rockies.
It all left Kinley in the shadows a bit. That was OK.
“People may say, ‘You’re on TV. You’re in the spotlight.’ But I’ve never really felt like I’m in the spotlight,” he said. “I’ve always been good with that. It’s been fine with me to just enjoy the people I’ve been blessed to have in my life … great friends, great family.”
Faith and no frills
Kinley calls himself “a very simple guy” away from the job. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Champaign and when not working, typically plays video games or watches sports. In the summer, he travels occasionally to wherever Brown is to watch him pitch.
His bio on the WCIA website reads in part: “Glenn is a Christian who values his faith, family and friends. As long as he’s got a church, a gym, a job and sports, he’s set!”
“That’s all I need, man,” he said. “Faith is very important to me. What I’ve learned, probably the hard way, is that finding my identity in anything other than Christ is going to lead me to no good. The constant in my life, the one thing I know nobody can take from me, is my relationship with God.”
As for Kinley’s relationship with winning, he laughed and said, “I guess if you want to win, you just have to have me as the sports director in your market.”
