No boycott by Illini assistants

• Reprints

Updated: February 2, 2012 10:01AM

SAN FRANCISCO — When all was said and done in Illinois’ 20-14 victory over UCLA, not all was said and done.

‘‘I guess we weren’t a distraction after all, [expletive deleted],’’ said assistant coach Joe Gilbert, making sure the nasty barb was heard by media on the field to do interviews.

Gilbert had put himself in the center of a controversy by telling a Sports Illustrated reporter that four assistants were considering boycotting the game to protest what they considered an unfair severance-pay maneuver.

Why wasn’t there a boycott?

‘‘It’s about the kids,’’ Gilbert said. ‘‘I couldn’t do that to the kids, regardless of what’s going on. I can’t be prouder that they did what they did. That’s all I want to say.’’

While sympathizing with assistants who believe Illinois officials were devious in changing the exit-pay language of their contracts, interim coach Vic Koenning stayed above the fray.

‘‘I was handling things differently,’’ Koenning said. ‘‘It doesn’t mean they were right or wrong. I understood what they were trying to do.’’

Koenning said he didn’t know the boycott was off the table until he saw interim offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm at breakfast Saturday morning.

‘‘I said, ‘Does that mean you’re coaching today?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ ’’ Koenning said. ‘‘I wasn’t worried about that [boycott]. There’s so many other things to worry about.’’

Mercilus farewell?

Junior defensive end Whitney Mercilus said he’ll talk to his family and his coaches, including Ron Zook, who’s gathering NFL opinions, before deciding on whether to turn pro.

‘‘I have to double-check all these sources,’’ Mercilus said. ‘‘I’ll make my decision after that.’’

Mercilus, who earned nearly every award given to defensive ends this season, likely has played his last game for Illinois.

‘‘It’s a great feeling,’’ he said after tying Simeon Rice’s Illinois record of 16 sacks in a season. ‘‘I’m just glad to be considered with Simeon Rice.’’

Notes

Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase (offense) and cornerback Terry Hawthorne (defense) received player-of-the-game honors.

◆ Senior receiver A.J. Jenkins, who caught six passes for 80 yards, had 1,276 receiving yards this season, second only to David Williams (1,278 in 1984) in the Illinois record book.

◆ Senior tackle Jeff Allen finished his career with 47 consecutive starts, one short of the school record held by Tim Simpson and Ryan McDonald.