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NW IL | I'm not an very knowledgeable of your climate or those specific soils, but I bet you could hold water well in no-till IF you can keep residue on the surface. It should act as a mulch and keep the soil more moist and not seal up so bad.
Could maybe sow some sorghum or millet (can get deep fibrous roots to break things up and will grow well with little moisture) then kill that, plant into it, and roll down to make a mat to keep moisture in. It will also slow the rain down so it doesn't "pound" the ground when it falls from the sky, and gives it a chance to soak in. If you've got some deeper compaction you could maybe throw some safflower in, or if that could become a weed in your area maybe sunflowers. Cowpeas or soybeans could add some nitrogen if you wanted to diversity further.
If you wanted to grow this over the winter I'm guessing you could plant oats and it wouldn't winter kill in your area? That might mellow things out and give you a nice mulch mat for the spring corn. But it wouldn't get the root depth of sorghum.
Just some brainstorming ideas from someone that doesn't know your exact situation very well :)
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Clay loam no till?
