Illini Coaching Staff

#751      

CoalCity

St Paul, MN
Different strokes for different folks. Some like to take things slow, while others like a frisky pace. Think about this: Stillwater is like STILL WATER. It just sits there and doesn't do much. Champaign is like CHAMPAGNE. This kind of liquid is effervescent, bouncy, and bubbly. For some, Stillwater is just right. But others like the bright lights of
the home of the Fighting Illini or some similar place. All about what you're looking for.

Killer BBQ in Stillwater too, LOL.
 
#752      
But there is a photo of Pastrana on Myspace at a drinking party. Will this be a problem?

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#755      
After further research, it's just as likely that Stephen Gentry is hired. Gentry was an Assistant Coach at Stephen F. Austin all three years under Underwood and then spent last year as Director of Player Development at Oklahoma State. Before he worked for Underwood, he spent 6 years under Turgeon and Billy Kennedy in various support roles. He played college ball at Gonzaga under Mark Few. Could be a good hire.
 
#757      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
Also, Underwood will be at the Final Four this weekend. If we don't have leading candidates at the moment, we likely will by Tuesday.
 
#758      
After further research, it's just as likely that Stephen Gentry is hired. Gentry was an Assistant Coach at Stephen F. Austin all three years under Underwood and then spent last year as Director of Player Development at Oklahoma State. Before he worked for Underwood, he spent 6 years under Turgeon and Billy Kennedy in various support roles. He played college ball at Gonzaga under Mark Few. Could be a good hire.

Gentry, Assaley, Pastrana and Dalonte Hill are names who Underwood has worked with and can help with the system if that's the route he wants to go.

All could be had for fairly cheap with Hill being the biggest risk vs reward with his personal struggles from the past. Hill is a monster recruiter but Illinois may be too risk adverse. Matt Figger is a bigger name with South Carolina we could try and lure away but he is Associate Head Coach and makes pretty good money.
 
#759      

illinifan87

The Windy City
Co-worker brought up an interesting point. There's an SEC team in the Final 4 that Underwood has serious connections with. Maybe he's waiting on their season to end. Would make sense.
 
#760      
Co-worker brought up an interesting point. There's an SEC team in the Final 4 that Underwood has serious connections with. Maybe he's waiting on their season to end. Would make sense.

He's gonna bring in Frank Martin as his 3rd assistant after he wins the NC
 
#762      
This board developed a fascination with strength and conditioning after our team shattered like porcelain two seasons ago.

I thought there were 6000 reasons.....er calories that got that going.

But why work ourselves into a Tizzy.
 
#766      
Ummm. Are we even sure Coach Underwood wanted Evans... that an offer was extended? Perhaps BU saw an opportunity to improve his staff at Illinois and Evans saw that writing was on the wall.

We don't know. It is not the nature of this board to not assume things. I kind of laugh, before Underwood came aboard, quite a few people said, "Getting a new head coach was the priority." They said that, "If we lose recruits, so be it."
Although they indicated it was preferable to keep the recruiting class. Then, it was a priority to keep Walker. Now, some are freaking out, even though apparently no recruit has asked to be released from his LOI.
And then, some are freaking out over an assistant coach at OK State, that we do not even know that we offered.
Someone should make a movie, over us paranoid Illini fans, it could make a really funny comedy (or is that a tragedy?)
 
#767      
We don't know. It is not the nature of this board to not assume things. I kind of laugh, before Underwood came aboard, quite a few people said, "Getting a new head coach was the priority." They said that, "If we lose recruits, so be it."
Although they indicated it was preferable to keep the recruiting class. Then, it was a priority to keep Walker. Now, some are freaking out, even though apparently no recruit has asked to be released from his LOI.
And then, some are freaking out over an assistant coach at OK State, that we do not even know that we offered.
Someone should make a movie, over us paranoid Illini fans, it could make a really funny comedy (or is that a tragedy?)

illinois fans aren't any different than any other passionate fanbase. Large groups of people obsessed over trivial things like 18 year olds throwing balls through hoops are by definition crazy
 
#769      

peace davids

Colorado
Anyone else notice Brian Cook actively tweeting at the staff, AD, and recruits lately? I think he is pushing to get back involved with the program.
 
#771      
#772      
Final Four is hunting grounds for assistant coaches.



So true. Coaches take advantage of having so many people in the same city with the opportunity to talk over a drink. Especially new head coaches talking with younger coaches they know will listen to an opportunity to join a new staff.


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#773      
What about assistants from Oregon? Watching their games in the tournament I've noticed that they run the same spread offense quite a bit, and looking at their staff they have one from Rantoul (Mennenga) and another who worked for Lou Henson at NM St (Stubblefield).

Mike Mennenga - http://www.goducks.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1418&path=mbball
Tony Stubblefield - http://www.goducks.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1419&path=mbball

Stubblefield looks like the better recruiter.

Mennenga was named the 7th best recruiter in the country by ESPN last fall. I don't think either he or Stubblefield would even consider a move at this point.
 
#774      

NEIlliniFan

No longer in New England
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO'S SUPER ANNOYED THAT WE ARE *AGAIN* LOSING EVANS TO OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY? C'MON!!!

Not when applying what I think is reasonable conjecture to what we know to be true/have happened.

Fact - UI/Underwood retained Jamal Walker as an assistant. Word was swirling that Missouri really wanted Walker in that staff.
Conjecture - With competition for his services it's unlikely Walker stayed for anything less than the #1 assistant spot and the compensation that slot merited.

Hence, that slot on the Assistant Hierarchy wasn't available to Evans at UI but would have been at OSU. From Evans' point-of-view we're talking about better staff position and more familiarity at OSU. I'm not addressing the compensation component because I haven't seen any figures on OSU's budget except that they came out ahead in the Underwood matter ($3M payout by UI minus Underwood's salary of $1.1M)
 
#775      
Mennenga was named the 7th best recruiter in the country by ESPN last fall. I don't think either he or Stubblefield would even consider a move at this point.

Gotcha, I didn't do much digging other than looking at the Oregon website.