Brad Underwood is not leaving Illinois.
The whole dance where people on here genuinely don't think he's a good coach or think there's any sort of "hot seat" if he doesn't win a certain number of tournament games ... it's beyond bizarre. Almost fantastical. I truly don't get it, and I have very high expectations for the program.
I get that some of you don't like Underwood's personality. But unless he does something awful during a game or to a player (which nothing we've seen indicates is close to the case), he's the coach at Illinois until he misses two straight NCAAs or retires.
Btw, for those actually paying attention, he's about to make his 5th straight tournament (yes, I count 2020, we were a 100% lock when things were cancelled during the BTT).
Since Bill Self's recruits didn't play the majority of minutes on an Illinois team, here are our results as a program.
Bruce Weber
2008 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2009 - #5 seed, R64 loss
2010 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2011 - #9 seed, R32 loss
2012 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament, Weber Terminated
John Groce
2013 - #7 seed, R32 loss
2014 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2015 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2016 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2017 - Missed NCAAs, NIT, John Groce Fired
Brad Underwood
2018 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2019 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2020 - NCAA Lock as #6/7 Type Seed, Tournament Cancelled
2021 - #1 seed, R32 loss
2022 - #4 seed, R32 loss
2023 - #9 seed, R64 loss
2025 - Projected #3-#6 seed, ???
We made the tournament 3 times from 2008-19 (in 12 seasons). Since it's been the Underwood program, we are 5 of 5. Yes, the guy needs to win more NCAA games, 100%. But he's not getting fired by being better than 2/3s of the major CBB programs every year.
The whole dance where people on here genuinely don't think he's a good coach or think there's any sort of "hot seat" if he doesn't win a certain number of tournament games ... it's beyond bizarre. Almost fantastical. I truly don't get it, and I have very high expectations for the program.
I get that some of you don't like Underwood's personality. But unless he does something awful during a game or to a player (which nothing we've seen indicates is close to the case), he's the coach at Illinois until he misses two straight NCAAs or retires.
Btw, for those actually paying attention, he's about to make his 5th straight tournament (yes, I count 2020, we were a 100% lock when things were cancelled during the BTT).
Since Bill Self's recruits didn't play the majority of minutes on an Illinois team, here are our results as a program.
Bruce Weber
2008 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2009 - #5 seed, R64 loss
2010 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2011 - #9 seed, R32 loss
2012 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament, Weber Terminated
John Groce
2013 - #7 seed, R32 loss
2014 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2015 - Missed NCAAs, NIT
2016 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2017 - Missed NCAAs, NIT, John Groce Fired
Brad Underwood
2018 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2019 - Missed NCAAs, No Tournament
2020 - NCAA Lock as #6/7 Type Seed, Tournament Cancelled
2021 - #1 seed, R32 loss
2022 - #4 seed, R32 loss
2023 - #9 seed, R64 loss
2025 - Projected #3-#6 seed, ???
We made the tournament 3 times from 2008-19 (in 12 seasons). Since it's been the Underwood program, we are 5 of 5. Yes, the guy needs to win more NCAA games, 100%. But he's not getting fired by being better than 2/3s of the major CBB programs every year.
Last edited:
