Per twitter seems Illini nation not happy. Leaves Okla st after year for Illinois.

_________________

Great hire for U of I. Eastern Illinois is a more desirable job than U of I now.

Google tells me this guy is white. Not cool Illini.

Like I said the other day, he's got a little Mike Nort in him.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Underwhelming hire but he has a lot of potential. Should have a great offense.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

U of I fans are the fat, unattractive dudes that make 25K a year at Enterprise Rent a Car and don't understand why they aren't dating a '10'.

They give you the tools to be your own boss.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This is Doug Gottlieb with a message board minute. Forrest Gump popularized the phrase "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Often this is the case with athletic directors filling open head coaching positions. Illinois announced earlier today that they've hired Brad Underwood, head coach from Oklahoma State. Undeniably successful at the beginning of his coaching career, he took Stephen F. Austin to the NCAA tournament each of his three years there. With only one year at Oklahoma State, they went to the tournament, but got bounced in the first round. Now it is on to Illinois, a program which expects to be competitive immediately. Time will tell if Underwood will take Illinois dancing with Jenny... or sitting on a bench waiting for the bus to the next town. I'm Doug Gottlieb.

Hmmm. Can he recruit Chicago?

_________________

Imo, this mult has potential

26.5k. Suck on that.

_________________
You know me like that.

Not bad, but forgot the two-second dead-air pauses.

_________________
Not a mult.

So he was the back up to the back up plan? I dont see him doing much better than Groce but he will prove to be better than Keatts. Definitely underwhelming

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It's tough to judge based on a guy who went 9-9 in his conference and was only there for one year. It may have been a bird in the hand situation where they had talked earlier and wanted to get him signed before some other southern state had an opening. Hopefully he picked up a thing or two from Huggins.

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Not impressed.

_________________
You know me like that.

Weird hire but he did an unbelievable job with a pretty shitty roster this year. Destroyed Wichita St in Wichita. Almost beat Maryland on the road. Started 0-6 in a deep conference but finished 9-3. Beat Huggy Bear at West Va. He's already better than Groce if he can recruit at all, and definitely more fun to watch.

_________________
Soccer 1,2,3
Spanish Honor Society 1,2,3,4
Forensics 1,2,3,4

"Smiles with Nostrils"

"...no Hmong, go find some blacks"

There is no way you can make this statement yet. He had one year at Ok State. Groce did better in his first year at Illinois than that and made it deeper in the tournament

This was an awful quick hire. Did they even reach out to guys like Marshall and Miller? Or after Keatts was gone did they jump to get someone before getting left with someone even worse?

He appears to have no recruiting experience in the midwest much less the Chicago area.

The fact that he left Ok State after just one year is a concern as well.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/o ... 242f6.html

There are the coaching changes you see coming months away. Travis Ford’s for instance. Local writers walked around Chesapeake Energy Arena at the NCAA regional in Oklahoma City last March thinking “when,” not “if.”

And then there moments when you’re sitting at your computer writing a column about Scott Drew, you read something you can’t believe you’re seeing – in this case, a tweeted picture of Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood as Illinois’ new coach, standing next to Illinois’ athletic director, the both of them smiling and wearing orange pullovers with Illinois’ “block I” logo on it.

Some coaching changes happen out of thin air, and it’s hard to even think straight, let alone wrap your mind around why it happened.

Here’s a quick attempt to try, at least, to lend perspective to Underwood’s departure for the Illini...

This had to be about money

Several weeks ago I was killing time with a Big 12 athletic official. I told him Underwood was making $1 million this season. He literally could not believe it.

Travis Ford made three times that for going 3-15 in the Big 12 Conference and coming up short in the NCAA Tournament with Marcus Smart. Bill Self makes four times that at Kansas.

Underwood didn’t have a Power 5 pedigree after being hired away from Stephen F. Austin. He certainly didn’t have Self’s track record.

But a Power 5 coach making $1 million for a basketball program with OSU’s richness? Gulp.

As far as Illinois... Here’s a line from a Chicago Tribune story in the aftermath of Illinois’ recent firing John Groce: “One source familiar with the Illinois board of trustees discussions said Whitman could have as much as $25 million to spend.”

ESPN's Jeff Goodman, who broke the story, reported Underwood would receive in excess of $3 million annually in Champaign.

Underwood was getting a raise had he stayed in Stillwater. But it doesn’t take a Wall Street ace to figure out the finances weren’t going to be sweet enough for his liking.

This is a kick in the gut for the Cowboys

Forget the money and Chicago basketball talent – more on that in a bit – and consider some images...

Underwood’s heartfelt, impassioned thank you speech to his players in the locker room following Friday’s NCAA loss to Michigan...

Underwood’s firing pistols with his hand at the end of another speech to a gathering at OSU’s Selection Sunday watch party before the team left for Indianapolis...

Underwood’s praising his players for having the fortitude to bounce off the floor from an 0-6 big 12 Conference start, and praising fans for making Gallagher-Iba Arena matter again...

Underwood’s identifying himself as “an OSU guy” who seemed fully appreciative of the likes of Henry Iba when he was introduced as Ford’s successor 362 days ago.

Here is a proud program that was due to live up to its standards, and due to feel good about itself again. Underwood helped deliver those goods in one season universally considered a success.

Poof. He’s gone.

How will players react? Will Jawun Evans be impacted? How do administrators feel? What should fans make of a move that, to them, feels like a cold slap in the face? Are they gonna be so willing to buy tickets next season?

This is a reminder that it’s all about your perspective

The last time I can remember thinking about Illinois basketball, Bruce Weber was winning with Bill Self’s players. That was, what, 13 years ago? The last time the Illini had a season with a single-digit loss total was 2005-06.

So while this isn’t Underwood bolting OSU for Illinois State, it doesn’t make much surface sense. But look beneath.

Oklahoma and Texas high school players have been awfully kind to OSU, but wouldn’t you rather recruit basketball talent from Chicago to Bloomington?

And, back to square one, wouldn’t you rather work for an administration that values your what you feel is your worth?

I had never heard of Josh Whitman before an hour ago. Now I know him as a shrewd athletic director who identified one heck of a coach, and paid him enough money for him to do for Illinois what he did for OSU.

Guerin Emig

Huggins looked like a genius today....

_________________

I hope Huggins taught him how to cheat.

_________________
You know me like that.

I hope Underwood knows to roll down the car window before vomiting.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Now you're talking. Time to Mike White this basketball program.

Oklahoma State is a bastion of athletic honesty! (I'm actually an OSU fan, since they live in the shadow of OU. And I realize that he was only there for a year, but damn....OSU is not a straight shooter.)

_________________

All of that T. Boone Pickens money has to go somewhere.

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

He was an assistant at Western Illinois for about a decade, at least that's what the talking head on the radio said.

He needs his Jimmy Collins, somebody who knows the Chicagoland AAU landscape.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

A guy who was an assistant at WIU for 10 years doesn't know Chicago recruiting? Not saying he was going after the top guys, but still...

One good thing you can say about him viz a viz Groce, is that Underwood changed his team's defensive approach after starting 0-6 in conference this year and then went 9-3 after that. Johnny never changed squat.

Nonetheless, agree that he is a surprise hire given the $ that were being bandied about as being available. However, the national guys appear to like it. Sure Bernstein will crap on it.

And a Lexus, with a suitcase of cash in the trunk, and the directions to the house of the best high school player on the south side.

You answered your own question. Being an assistant at WIU is on the outside looking in of the real chicago recruiting.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Except the Mac Irvin Fire knows who he is.

Love child of Mike Nort and fat Jim Morrison.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way