Illinois has made a big splash by hiring Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood to take over the Illini program. Underwood was a hot coaching prospect last offseason after an incredible three-year tenure at Stephen F. Austin.
Underwood will come to Champaign with just about as good a resume as any prospective replacement had. In four seasons as a collegiate head coach, he is 109-26 and been to four NCAA Tournaments (2-4 NCAA record). He has had immediate success at each of his two prior gigs and Illinois AD Josh Whitman hopes to see the same at Illinois.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, Illinois will nearly double Underwood’s OKSt salary of $1 million per year. There is also a $3 million buyout of his contract which Illinois will be on the hook for.
Underwood is a native of McPherson, Kansas and both played and coached at Kansas State. Also of note was an eleven-year tenure as an assistant coach at Western Illinois (1992-2003) under Jim Kerwin.
