FanPost

Why I'm Not a Fan of the Underwood Hire

Hello, college basketball/Illini fans!

Illinois has a brand new men's basketball head coach. I'm not a fan of the hire and I'm not optimistic about the near future of Illinois basketball. Here are some reasons why:

1) Totally Out of Left Field/Surprise Hire

When this board lists fifteen candidates for the coaching job and none of them are chosen it probably means one or both of the following: a) He was so unknown we never even considered him for the job or b) We didn't think he was available (and considering some of the names on the list who I truly believe are not available that's hard to believe).. If the authors of that list of fifteen are reading this, comment below on what tier you would put Brad Underwood in?

2) Rushed Hire/ Settling

I thought NC State's hire of Kevin Keatts was a rushed hire and I think this hire is the same. I find it hard to believe anyone on this board would find Underwood to be better than Tony Bennett, Gregg Marshall, Archie Miller, or Bryce Drew (who I lobbied for) and if Josh Whitman truly believed Brad was better that all of these guys mentioned I question him as our AD. If you do believe Underwood is better than the guys mentioned, please comment. I still believe Bennett and Marshall aren't going anywhere. I thought Archie was headed to NC State before they gave Keatts the job so then I thought we actually had a chance at him. I thought Bryce probably didn't want to leave Vanderbilt after one year but if Underwood did you'd have to think there is a small chance Bryce would as well.

It sounds to me there was no consideration for anyone but Underwood and he was the only one even interviewed. I said don't even talk to Bennett or Marshall (or Archie before NC State hired Keatts) and go after Bryce. I said if Illinois goes in and "offers" Bennett and/or Marshall the job and they reject, then you send a message to Bryce that he's not your first choice and you lessen the chance of getting him. If Whitman really believed all four of these guys weren't possible, he thinks less of the Illinois program than I do.

And even if you didn't think you could get them, why not wait for a few days. Archie Miller was asked about Illinois's and Indiana's head coaching jobs and he refused to comment. Marshall said he would listen to offers. Miller's season ended Friday night and Marshall (assuming he was still possible) is still coaching today. If Bennett was even possible he was still in the tournament after Underwood was hired. Almost no coach will even discuss other head coaching opportunities immediately following the end of their season (if Underwood would that's a negative in my opinion). I remember Roy Williams was asked about the North Carolina job after they lost the national championship and gave an expletive comment back .... before taking later that offseason. I think Illinois needed to sit back, wait, and gauge interest by these candidates before "moving on". To me, Archie was shut out of consideration for Illinois's (and NC State's) head coaching jobs. Do we know he would've taken either job? No. But we don't know he wouldn't have (and if he does take the Indiana job both us and NC State will look really stupid). By not even giving him the chance it sounds like the two schools "rejected" him rather than the other way around. I can't believe for the life of me Archie had no interest at all in his alma mater (not us for those who didn't know) and wouldn't have at least interviewed with them. You would think if Archie was truly committed to staying at Dayton he probably would've said something after he's cooled off (he probably still hasn't cooled off yet). Chances are no one outside of Illinois thought Bryce had any desire to leave and virtually no one in the national media suggested him for any head coaching job. BT Powerhouse listed eleven candidates for the Indiana job and Bryce wasn't on the list. But clearly people were talking Archie leaving.

If you don't think the Underwood hire was rushed, consider the official job description The Champaign Room linked to. They themselves said "Interviews may take place prior to closing date, but no selection will be made until after closing date." and clearly listed the close date as "03/20/2017". That would've given enough time to at least ask the top candidates under the table as to their interest in the job.

3. No ties to Chicago/Illinois at all.

Official Brad Underwood profile at FightingIllini.com.

Underwood was born in Kansas and graduated from Kansas State. He also coached there for many years. The closest Underwood came to Illinois was when he coached Western Illinois. At least one poster suggested he would run to Kansas State after they fired Weber and there is certainly reason he would do so. His two head coaching jobs (Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State) are a lot closer to Kansas than Illinois. Meanwhile Drew's home is one state away (and Valparaiso is closer to Champaign than Bloomington). And had we gotten Drew, Roger Powell is our native son. Dayton's also quite a bit closer to Illinois than Kansas so it wouldn't be as big a culture shock to Archie. I guess Kansas is technically Midwest but I'm guessing the culture there is much different than Illinois and Illinois is closer in culture to Indiana and Ohio (tell me I'm wrong).

4. Limited head coaching experience.

Of the candidates we had our eyes on, all of us had more experience as a head coach than Underwood. Both Bryce Drew and Underwood had just one year at a "major" Div. 1 school but Bryce had more experience at Valparaiso (six seasons) than Underwood had at Stephen F. Austin and the Horizon League is a huge level above the Southland Conference. Some have pointed out his record in the Southland (one loss in three years). Well how many of you can name any other team in the Southland Conference than SFA? Can you even tell me what team represented the Southland in the NCAA Tournament this year?

5. Lack of recruiting experience.

Illinois fans are disappointed about the last few years because of recent (well 2005) success and because everyone knows Chicago is a hotbed of basketball talent. It's clear we haven't gotten the top level talent from Chicago during Weber's or Groce's tenure (we think this year's recruiting class was good but too soon to call). At least one poster said he has done well at Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State (I refuse to call them by their abbreviation out of respect for our conference mates, the real OSU). But Weber did a lot with Self's recruits and Groce made the NCAA Tournament with Weber's. Then when they had to recruit their own players they failed. If the upcoming class is as good as advertised, Underwood should be able to make the NCAA Tournament the next year or two. But the day of reckoning will come when he has to recruit players to come to Illinois. If he recruits at the same level as Weber or Groce, we're going to be talking about the next head coach here in 4-5 years.

6. Age

It sounds like discrimination but we all dream about hiring a coach for the long term. Ideally we'll have a coach for the next 20 years. Underwood's 53. You have to be Coach K level to still be coaching at 73 and I highly doubt Underwood will even be here half that time. Think about the fact that Underwood's 53 and has only four years of head coaching experience. I think it does say something that he didn't get his first head coaching job until 49 (I'm not even that old yet). Bryce is a lot younger. So's Archie Miller. Marshall's old too but his coaching record speaks for itself. I think most if not all of you were thinking the head coach should be someone young as well.

Rooting for Underwood to fail is like hoping for the plane you're on to crash because you don't like the pilot. That being said, Brad Underwood will have to earn my trust and respect and it will take until he can prove he can recruit Chicago and others at a high level before I accept him as head coach of the Illini. Any success next year or two will be more the success of Groce's recruiting class than Underwood's coaching ability. While the national media seems to like the hire, from a local/regional level he's clearly an outsider. Honestly I feel like we had a cow and all we got in return was beans. Let's hope it "grows" into something great.

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