Ever since buying the Jaguars Franchise for $770 million, Shahid ‘Shad’ Khan has been a pivotal figure in the NFL world, influencing decisions and creating his legacy. While on-field success has been elusive, with just one playoff appearance in 2017, Khan now aims to diversify his influence and make the Jaguars a feared team with his $1.4 billion stadium project. But before that happens, Khan is now turning heads after lending support to a ‘dark horse’ 2025 college football team.

Of course, it’s Shahid Khan’s alma mater, University of Illinois, for which Khan has repeatedly lent support through both financial and operational support. And one such incident came to light when Illinois Football’s head coach, Bret Bielema, appeared on the July 23rd podcast episode of ‘Illini Inquirer: Illinois on 247 Sports’ ahead of the Big 10 Media Days in Las Vegas. The interviewer asked Bielema, “What’s this like for you coming out here?” Brett Bielema replied after thanking Shahid Khan for his support.

“It’s been awesome. We actually flew in Sunday. Shad Khan actually let us take his global, so we flew in style and then brought some very good friends of the family with us. They’re allowing us to bring donors this year. So, I was able to have, especially, a champagne crew that was really awesome,” said Bret Bielema. Looks like it was a full-fledged party at 30,000 feet with a champagne crew and all, right? But this won’t be the first time Shahid Khan has lent his support.

Khan, whose net worth is estimated at $13.4 billion, also owns English Premier League soccer club Fulham FC and has been an avid supporter of sports. But his support to the University of Illinois has been more than supporting for sporting reasons. Khan remains one of the university’s major donors, with contributions that exceed tens of millions of dollars. For instance, he donated $10 million for the Khan Annex to Hugg Hall, which is home to the College of Applied Health Sciences.

Additionally, Khan has provided financial support to Illinois’ recruiting efforts in various sports, including football, and former AD Ron Guenther also noted Khan’s support and willingness to do so. Moreover, Khan has also funded the Shad and Ann Khan Outdoor Tennis Center, dedicated to providing state-of-the-art facilities and boosting sporting appeal. As for Bret Bielema, these little nudges of help might be helping him a lot as he is planning to come roaring back for the 2025 season.

Shahid Khan’s little nudge will lead Illinois to success in 2025?

Bret Bielema had exceeded all expectations and finished with a 10-win season last year. It was a feat few had expected as Bielema did his magic with Luke Altmyer behind the center, who notched up 2,717 yards. Yet, it was filled with some setbacks, too, as losses came against Penn State, Oregon, and most unexpectedly, Minnesota. This year, Bielema plans to learn from past mistakes and turn Illinois into a football stronghold.

“We targeted about eight guys that we knew. If we could get these eight guys to come back, either through NFL opportunities or, I mean, not being oblivious to the world, that other teams were going to come after them. So to get those guys back and then we built around that, was a really, really big part,” said Bielema recently.

The return of Luke Altmyer is great news for Bielema, who also has Kaden Feagin and all five starters in the O line returning. Apart from that, the wide receiver room with Hudson Clement and Pat Bryant seems upgraded. In terms of defensive continuity, the team (which allowed 21.7 points per game) is returning with several starters, making things overly optimistic for Bielema. So, the talent is undoubtedly there; all Bielema needs is a little nudge from here and there, just like Shahid Khan gave to exceed expectations.