Welp. That sucks.
Illini Coaching Staff
Illiniwek06
- N of I-80
Ugh. Don't like that. 
Oh no
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
Gets passed for the head job and then stays as an assistant? Very, very surprising.
TownieMatt
CU Expat
- Chicago
Not sure it's that dire. We missed on one asst coach.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
Guh.
That's tough. No sugarcoating it.
That's tough. No sugarcoating it.
There's Stephen F, West Virginia, K St and South Carolina success to draw from as well. It isn't the end of the world
Deep breaths, it's not that bad.
Who are some other assistants that fall under the Huggins/Martin tree?
I do not know Evans but have seen him in AAU events. I had heard good things about him, so he would have been a good hire, but let's not overreact. There are plenty of excellent assistant coaches and serving under the head coach in previous job is an overrated attribute IMO.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
My god, let's take a breath here.
Erik Pastrana, Andy Assaley or we could just wait and see. Underwood was the overwhelmingly important one. Evans is not Matt Campbell
I've always thought of basketball assistants as mainly recruiters, vs football assistants who drive major aspects of the resulting offense and defensive schemes.
If Underwoods's Xs and Os were what drove the results at OSU and SA, assistant hires aren't going to undue him. He probably had to give Walker a lions share of the cash and the main assistant title - leaving him vulnerable to OSU on Evans. OSU likely had a ton of cash left over after elevating an assistant to head coach and not having to compete on the open markets for their HC.
Are you a coach now? Pretty definitive. I agree with the others, Good night take a breath.
No, actually, you can't tell me that with 100% certainty. But even if that is the case, it is going to be okay. We are not doomed for eternity because we missed on one assistant coach. It isn't ideal, but it isn't the end of the world. Coach Underwood was not able to run his defense at OK State last year and they were still fine. Being able to adapt is a good quality to have in a head coach.
Also, the OSU AD probably wanted to be able to show he's retaining a nice chunk of the remaining "successful" staff as for some people this would help to combat how poorly he handled retaining Underwood - from an OSU fan perspective. Whether the assistants will be successful without Underwood, as well as whether Underwood will be successful without those particular assistants will remain to be seen for a couple years. I honestly hope both work out well.
MrOizo
- Chicago
Exactly. Someone will be lured to Illinois from within the family tree.
Holy geez this is a lot of panic over assistant coaches. It isn't like the only coaches available are ones not currently attached to a team. This isn't free agency. Underwood isn't new to the profession. He can go get assistants and everything will fine. Seriously.. people just have to find something to panic about.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal
Agree with the caveat that it depends on who the HC is. I'll be polite and just leave it at the fact that we can currently afford to go more in that direction than we could the last five years.
There's definitely something to be said for familiar faces, especially when installing new systems, culture, etc. But as has been stated, I don't think the list of people who have worked with Brad Underwood and would like to again starts and ends with the guys on the Oklahoma State bench last year.