On Josh Whitman’s first official day as Illinois athletic director, he addressed the media to discuss his first massive decision.

Reporters already knew about the firing of football coach Bill Cubit. In fact, they knew about it before players did.

Players like receiver Mike Dudek made that clear:

Love finding out about this through Twitter. https://t.co/vl1TD6qVVq — Mikey Dudek (@MDFlash_7) March 5, 2016

Whitman had to address not only why he made the decision he did, but also why the school released the announcement before meeting with the football players.

After what Whitman said was a 20-minute meeting in Cubit’s office, the university was already getting calls from the media. With the media already speculating, the athletic department elected to send out the release before rounding up the players.

“Let’s all understand that this is not 10 years ago. Information travels fast,” Whitman said. “The first person we wanted to hear was Bill Cubit.”

Whitman said that he met with the players right after the release was sent out. He acknowledged their feelings, along with the recruits that Cubit brought on board since he earned a two-year contract in November.

“I never want to lose sight of that,” Whitman said. “One of the group that’s impacted more than any others are the players.”

RELATED: Josh Whitman doesn’t have full season to make decision on Cubit’s future

So why was the decision made two weeks after Whitman was hired?

Ultimately, he said, it came down to the contract situation. Whitman said to bring assistant coaches and recruits on board, a two-year contract wasn’t going to work. He guaranteed that the new coach wouldn’t be on a two-year contract.

He said that the program planned on “doing right” by the assistant coaches. Offensive coordinator Ryan Cubit, Bill’s son, was also fired. The rest, Whitman said, will have an opportunity to interview for a job with the new head coach.

In terms of the recruits, Whitman said they planned on reaching out to each of them by email in the next 24 hours. He would talk to them about allowing them out of their letters of intent if they so choose.

#illini Whitman: I ask all recruits to be patient and wait for direction that we go. — Jeremy Werner (@JWernerScout) March 5, 2016

Whitman was also asked about the constant change that’s gone on at Illinois in the 2015-16 school year. He’s the second athletic director and the new football coach will be the third full-time person at the position since August.

He said this was the end of all of Illinois’ short-term solutions and that he hopes to bring the “best fit” on board.

“For some people, these might feel like another body blow in a series of body blows,” Whitman said. “I view this as a positive development in the history of our program. Obviously a lot of people don’t see it that way.

“If this wasn’t in the best interest of the Illinois football program, we wouldn’t do it.”

RELATED: Illinois fills future non-conference schedule with non-Power Five teams

Whitman acknowledged the fact that Cubit’s firing was a group decision. In the end, he was the one who pulled the trigger.

When he was brought on board, one of his strengths was considered to be his ability to make the tough decisions. He was credited for hiring 15 staff members in his first 18 months as AD at Division III Washington University.

But he said announcing his biggest firing on his first official day as AD was still out of the ordinary.

“It’s been an interesting first day, hasn’t it?”