OT: Brad Underwood (Okie State) to the Illini
- Thread starter julescat
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My comment was more in regards to Illinois fans' feelings of Michigan than his coaching abilities..
It is an awesome hire, speaking for this member of the Illini Nation. This guy is a great coach.
Class guy.
ndy Katz ESPN Senior Writer
Just spoke with an Oklahoma State official and was told Brad Underwood flew back with the team after the Michigan game Friday, landing at 8 pm CT. There was no indication he was leaving. School official was stunned and learned about his hiring at Illinois via twitter
Never heard of him (but these days I don't have time to really follow college basketball outside the B10). He's been a D1 head coach for four years, three at Stephen F. Austin (where he was great), and one at OK St. (where he was ok). He was a D1 assistant or non-D1 head coach for 25 years (!), which I would like if I were an IL fan. After the Bennett news/rumor this is definitely going in a different direction.
He did better than OK at OkSU. Last season they were second to last in the B12, with record 12–20 (3–15). This season they finished 20-13 (9-9) and made the NCAA's. That was a major improvement, which led to the coach finishing second for CoY honor. They did finish poorly, losing several games in a row (including the tourneys).
See ESPN article.
Then again certain instate rival of the Illini hired a guy with zero years of HC experience at any level, and they seem to be doing alright. Go figure.
No, no He can't....this isn't bill carmody from Princeton....this is a guy that coached at an all time top 25 program Ok state
The Whining Illini just got back to 500 in the B1G. Missed on the big boys so this should get the entitled back in the tourney. Well, at least we still got the football dominance over them. It was fun while it lasted.
Eh, Oklahoma State was ranked #24, #21, and #38 by Kenpom in the three seasons prior to last year and also lost their best player for all but three games. You can't really say that they wouldn't have been just as good if Travis Ford was still the coach.
No. Illinois should always be a top half B1G program.. We'll see if this guy can do it.
Will be interesting to see what the "gotta have a guy who can recruit Chicago" talking heads have to say about this hire? I'm far from a believer in that philosophy, but Bardo and Gill both said it on radio this week. As far as I know Underwood has no Chicago ties.
I know that your fans diminishing our program now over the last few weeks is unwarranted....
Yep shaking in my boots. The entitled Illini always come out and troll anytime they get puffy chested will a bolt of energy after dumping an incompetent coach and paying through the nose for new blood willing to move to the cow pastures.
Tell that to those who voted him CoY (2nd place). Coaches aren't evaluated with that kind of hypothetical. The previous coach achieved what he did in his last season, and Underwood improved on that as cited.
Should he had been hired by Illinois, because of that? That's another question. It obviously depends on who else was realistically available to them.
SFA lost 4 of 5 starters when Underwood took over. They were 18-15 this year
Wow, nice comeback. Want me to start naming the times our putrid teams beat the entitled when you made the tourney.
How is that football hire working out?
Very easy admissions for athletes, excellent recruiting base (should be) and damn good tradition. Illinois is a basketball state.
Using that logic DePaul should be too. I really don't think kids give a rats about tradition when it is all from before their lifetime