I may be fooling myself--and certainly Underwood may be trying to fool me as well--but there are certainly reasons to believe that Underwood may have looked at Illinois as his dream job. He did spend ten years at Western Illinois University, about 150 miles west of Champaign, and no doubt looked across the prairie with some jealousy. And if the story of his son's first sport jersey is true, that would lend some credence to it.
Western Illinois came to the Assembly Hall to play basketball, and it's an imposing place, seating 16,000 and unlike almost any other arena you've been in, a sport theater in the round. I've never been on the court when the place is rocking, but it has to be intimidating.
Is he a recruiter? It would be interesting to know how he contributed to bringing in kids to WIU. He certainly knows more about Illinois that Oklahoma, both from Western and from recruiting for Kansas. Unless he was lying, he spent a lot of time in-state. I suspect he knows how to pronounce Des Plaines and Cairo, and maybe even Vienna. And he certainly knows the difference between Evanston and East St. Louis. It's not anything against anyone who doesn't. The longest amount of time I've spent in Oklahoma was when my father's brand new '65 Ford started puking transmission fluid in Durant. Nothing personal, I assure you.
But yes, while every coach says great things about his new job--why wouldn't they, if that's where their new job is?--there's reason to believe Underwood may be able to say it with more enthusiasm than others who have no prior connection to a school. No doubt it's why, when offered, Underwood jumped on the coaching gig at Illinois.
By the way, we don't do any "shooting arrows" or, for that matter, tomahawk chops or other cutsie "Indian stuff." We've always taken Chief Illiniwek seriously. He's not a mascot who walks the sidelines, hyping the crowd. Instead, he only appeared at halftime, on the field/court for about two and a half minutes, which made it all the more special. It's never been historically accurate, but it was never disrespectful. We need to some sort of agreement with the Peoria Tribe down your way, who by the way were never as hostile to the Chief as the old white men of the NCAA. But don't get me started on Chief Illiniwek. If you're curious, however,
this video shows the football halftime "Three-in-One" that was an 80 year old tradition when the Chief was suspended as a symbol of the university. Enjoy.