Northern Illinois hires Rashon Burno as next head coach

Rashon Burno, who has been at Arizona State since 2015, has been hired as the next head coach at Northern Illinois. Burno is a NJ-native who played at DePaul and started his coaching career at Marmion Academy in the Chicago surburbs.

“What a great day for NIU Men’s Basketball,” AD Sean T. Frazier said in a press release. “When we started this process, it was about the right fit and matching up with our core values at NIU. Rashon Burno brings significant experience within Illinois, Chicagoland and other basketball powerhouse regions. This is vital in growing the NIU basketball brand.”

This is the first collegiate head coaching opportunity for Burno, who has most recently served as the Sun Devils’ associate head coach under Bobby Hurley. Burno played at Hurley’s father, Bob Sr., famed St. Anthony’s HS in Jersey City before coming to Chicago for college in 1998. In addition to his time in Tempe, Burno has been an assistant at Florida, Manhattan and Towson, working under his own college coach Pat Kennedy at the latter.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity,” Burno said. “I believe I am aligned with what their vision is for the future, not only for men’s basketball but also for the entire student body. I was very impressed with the overall vision and that made it easy for me to want to be at NIU.”

Burno takes over a NIU program that has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 1996 and has finished above .500 in MAC play just three times since 2000. Previous head coach Mark Montgomery led the program for nine full seasons before he was let go midway through 2020-21.

credit to Arizona State University for the image