Lou was never on his way out the door, and his first great talent came before Jimmy Collins was ever on staff. Tony Yates was the lead recruiter for Levi Cobb, Eddie Johnson, Efrem Winters, Ken (Colliers) Norman and other Chicago area kids. Henson's 1982 recruiting class had two McDonald's All Americans in it (Winters and Bruce Douglas) plus the third best player after them in Illinois (Doug Altenberger).
The breakthrough in Chicago came five years earlier with Levi Cobb out of Morgan Park. The next year Illinois got Eddie Johnson from Westinghouse plus Mark Smith from Peoria.
Henson and Illinois were on the rise after the 1978-79 season and it continued through the 80s.
All of this happened before Jimmy Collins arrived in 1983. Collins was great, no doubt, but Tony Yates was the assistant who got the ball rolling in Chicago. By the time Collins arrived, Henson was entrenched at Illinois and the team was really good. 1984 season was 26-5 and Elite Eight with Henson and Yates recruits. Collins was instrumental in getting the Chicago kids in the mid-80s going forward (Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton, Kiwane Garris, Deon Thomas, etc.).