Underwood to Illinois



  • @JayHawkFanToo said:

    Coach Self comments…

    Link didnt work for me can you sum up?

    @globaljaybird said:

    @JayHawkFanToo He knew he couldn’t compete with Self, Huggins, & Lon. At least not in that BB Mecca called Stoolwater. More 💰 at his age is a no brainer & with Chicago to recruit is like a full cookie jar at the fingertips. That’s what OSU gets for being cheapskates. Screwed again!

    Well…hard to blame him if that is the thought process.



  • @globaljaybird Last thing I would ever accuse OSU admins of is being cheapskates. They did offer Self $10 mil/year. They paid Underwood what his background said he was worth and probably would’ve extended him with a pay bump if he kept improving OSU. Money is not why he left OSU because OSU can compete with anyone when it comes to salaries.



  • I don’t blame Underwood a bit. Better recruiting area for sure.



  • @mayjay Forte played for Iba, didn’t he?



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 I read off the Okla St boards that Holder seems like is the problem. - -Underwood only getting little over a million & Illnois signed for 3.3 million for 6 years? - -They are HOT - -they are wanting heads, Underwoods head - -Holder’s head . - -Forming a lynch party. You know how it goes talking all kinds of crazy things calling Underwood a low life POS and all kinds of goodies.

    Oh yes of course they already trying to find replacement and Self’s name comes up. - -Although those with logical heads all say no way - - which is true. - -They tried once before, - -Pickens pretty much opened his checkbook to try to get Bill and he said no. - -Someone said Marshal, I don’t think he would go there, total shock from Cowboy , fans. - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY



  • @KUSTEVE you stop that lol. - - - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY



  • Crean to pokie state ?



  • @KUSTEVE LOL !!



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 Underwood = underpaid … and GONE !!!



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 Yeah but that was the match made in Uncle Boone’s Heaven for an HOF coach—not Brad freaking Underpants…Let em hire da “pants on backerds” Gottlieb - same speed for da pokies… There ain’t 💩 in Stoolwater cept Eskimo Joes & that’s a joke…



  • @BShark Its money bro, All he made prior to to OSU was Asst $$$. If he doubled his salary its gotta be a hit …



  • @globaljaybird Money was not the issue with Underwood at OSU. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-brad-underwood-illinois-coach-spt-0319-20170318-story.html

    Only reason why Illinois would make Underwood one of the 10 highest paid coaches is to try and keep him away from KSU when that opens up next time Liberace misses the NCAA tournament. Next year will only be Underwood’s 5th as a D1 HC. While he’s been good, he’s not worth a top 10 salary yet.



  • At least he won’t have to change his orange wardrobe.



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 Yep that’s why osu didn’t ante up



  • @BShark

    I am not sure why the link quit working, I tested it several times. Here you go…

    Kansas coach Bill Self has ties to both Oklahoma State and Illinois. So naturally, he was asked Saturday about Brad Underwood jumping from Oklahoma State to Illinois after just one year at the former school.

    “I heard the news 10 minutes ago. It shocks me. I think it would shock most people, because obviously, Brad was on a roll, I thought, in Stillwater, and a lot of great things and transpired in the short time he’d been there,” Self said. “Without knowing any details, I don’t know what else to say. I mean, congratulate him and that’s certainly not discouraging to Oklahoma State from still moving forward. Because certainly the program is in better shape than it was a year ago. So I’m sure that they’ll — I don’t want to use the word recover — I’m sure that they’ll respond very favorably to this. It is a shock. You know, you see a lot of coaching changes across America, but very rarely do you see one after just one year. But Brad is a really good guy and does a great job. But from the outside looking in, it looked to me like OSU and Brad fit very, very well.

    “Well, Illinois is a great basketball job. I was there,” Self continued. “There’s no other way to look at it. It’s one of the better jobs in the Big Ten if you look at recruiting base and institution location, exposure, budget. There’s a lot of things about it that are very, veryr attractive.”



  • @JayHawkFanToo Illinois fans are still mad at Bill for leaving after only two years. They have been attacking him as hypocritical.

    They conveniently ignore the fact that he left them loaded, letting Squeaky get credit for the championship game year.



  • You know what they say…never marry the woman that cheated on her husband with you, she will eventually cheat on you too…

    Underwood took the OSU job the next day after his previous school, Stephen F. Austin lost in the NCAA. This time he took the Illinois job the day after OSU lost in the NCAA and after flying back to Stillwater on the OSU plane after the game…good luck Illinois…



  • @JayHawkFanToo what plane should he have flown back on?



  • @Crimsonorblue22

    The charter plane with the team? Apparently he flew the OSU private plane.



  • Underwood GONE? WOW…I’m truly shocked and its unbelievable. BUT, if Boone would give the bball program the love he gives the pigskin, maybe they could land a better coach.

    OSU only 1m a year ? STUPID. Oh, and let the rumors end now. Bill Self is not going to OSU.



  • @truehawk93 $1 mil/year for a guy in his 4th year as a D1 head coach isn’t ridiculous. That’s pretty much what he should have been earning given his achievements at SFA.

    Underwood left OSU for the same reason Frank Martin left KSU amd it wasn’t because of money, it was because of a bad relationship with the AD.



  • Most wins in first four seasons – Division I history

    COACH RECORD SEASONS

    Brad Stevens 117-25 2008-11

    Shaka Smart 111-37 2010-13

    Brad Underwood 109-27 2014-17

    Everett Case 107-22 1947-50



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 The lack of a good AD relationship may have kept him from trying to get a comparable salary to stay, but the money lured him away.



  • @Texas-Hawk-10

    You have it exactly right. He was making $1.3M at OSU which is about right for his experience. The main issue appears to be his relationship with the AD. He notified OSU after he accepted the Illinois job…he had no intention or desire to negotiate.



  • The first thing that pops into my head… are there any recruits they have we could cherry pick?

    I think Underwood had a problem with the overall environment of OSU. It just simply is NOT a basketball school.

    I remember not too long ago when Ford was begging OSU students to attend games from their cafeteria. Just imagine that at Kansas?



  • @drgnslayr But wouldnt you say OSU has more basketball history than IowaState? Henry Iba. Eddie Sutton. Jack Hartmann. Bill Self. I’d say OSU has more basketball tradition than KSU does, who has more than ISU.



  • @ralster

    History? Yes.

    OSU has football. And football is king. Hey… ISU coaches don’t have to go beg for student fans to show up. That was embarrassing.

    ISU fans are into it… big time.

    If I recall right… there were a lot of empty seats in Stillwater for their season-ending game with Kansas. And it was senior night! Seriously? Fans can’t show up for senior night playing Kansas?



  • @drgnslayr Oh, I may have missed it. G-Iba Arena looked fairly full to me vs KU…



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 You may be the D1 head coach salary man, but my guess is, he went for a kind of evaluation with the AD of OSU and they basically gave him a “sub-standard” eval. He likely had Illinois calling him at some point during the season. My guess is, out of respect for OSU, he gave them a chance to pony up something a bit more to his season finish. I think they held steady with a poker face, and held at 1m (to your point), and LOST. Stupid. I don’t care what you say, the man deserved more money, but OSU decided he wasn’t worth anymore as a “4th year D1 coach.” He was proven at SFA, and he provided some good games, showed some promise. You pony up something on good faith.

    Your comment as “isn’t ridiculous” wasn’t too ridiculous to Underwood, hence he left. Also, some on this board are calling him some disrespectful names. The man earned my respect. He did more in his first year than Ford did the last 3-4 years at OSU. There’s more to this than money. The B12 lost a great coach. Yes, it was stupid of OSU to let him walk after 1m his first year. WOW, stupid move on OSU’s part. They will not find a better coach at ALL.



  • @truehawk93 And now they get to try to get someone again. Their salary stand isn’t proving very successful.



  • @Blown He’s not a chump. I don’t blame him. He deserves more. What were they paying Travis Ford?



  • @Hawk8086 The question isn’t that OSU being a better job, it’s more can OSU find a better coach? I don’t think so. OSU is the clear loser in this coaching gamble.



  • @kjayhawks I’m expecting a Weber firing this year.



  • @Hawk8086 You give TBoone too much credit. He doesn’t care about the bball program. All his money is going to the pigskin and gridiron. Take a look at their facilities.



  • @JayHawkFanToo Fine. 1m may be a great start, but don’t let the guy walk. Give him what he deserved. You don’t know bball if you think he isn’t worth more than 1m. I’d say he would’ve been one of the better or is one of the better B12 coaches. Not only did OSU lose, but the B12 lost too.



  • @ralster @drgnslayr it’s listed as a sellout in ESPN and it seemed full to me just watching highlights on it. I think you’re thinking of the Texas game which was half full.



  • @JayHawkFanToo I would love to hear Self’s honest comments on this situation.



  • @truehawk93 Man, great comments on this Underwood situation. Agreed that he’s a great coach, and I also thought so from Day 1. And he pretty much proved it.

    B12 schools maybe want more than “just beat Bill Self”, and I thought given time, not only would Underwood beat Self (Weber, Ford, and Shaka, and Prohm have beat Self), but have OSU in the top3 in the BigXII.

    But if Underwood didnt like the OSU AD, who can blame him? Illini are more of a basketball school than OSU.

    Brad Underwood earned my respect in just a few months with the job he did. Imagine if he had Shaka’s 1yr roster?



  • I want to know what happened between Underwood and the AD.





  • @truehawk93

    You should read my posts again before you tell me I don’t know about basketball. First, and as I mentioned in my post, he was making $1.3M ($1.1M to $1.4M) at OSU which is good for a coach whose previous experience was at Stephen F. Austin where he made $400K. Next, you should see where I indicated that his salary would have been likely increased after he showed success as it is customarily done.

    If you read the various stories on the subject, he did not appear to have a good relationship with the AD and this is more like to be the cause of his departure and not money. He informed OSU that he was leaving AFTER he accepted the Illinois job which clearly indicates he did not have the intention to negotiate. Now, if he was told he would not be getting a raise, I could see him pursuing other opportunities but I have not seen any evidence that he was told this was the case. There is no question he left because of the money Illinois offered. Is he worth the $3M per year that has been reported? In my opinion, not yet…but then, Martin is getting that much at MU so maybe he is worth that much; Illinois seemed to think he is but then, Illinois has gone steadily downhill since Bill Self left and they are desperately trying to get back to being a respectable program once again. As a big program they have the money and now they have the coach they think will lead them back to the top.



  • @truehawk93 I think TBoone tried to lure Self a few years back with a ton of money.



  • Weis got paid and it didn’t make him a good coach, Gill got paid and it didn’t make him a good coach. Beaty is earning his raises. I assume OSU was doing something similar, but were too slow with the raise. The problem as I see it is Underwood clearly didn’t want to be in Stillwater since he left the day after they lost. He must’ve had a deal in the works already to be gone that fast.



  • The salary situation is what cost UW to lose Brett Bielema to Arkansas. He’d been to three straight Rose Bowls but left before they played the 3rd. The issue there was more what they pay assistants and the Badgers have lost 2 very good DC’s in the last two years, in part because of salaries. I don’t blame Underwood for leaving.



  • @wissox Underwood leaving is not analogous to Bielema leaving Wisconsin. This situation is analogous to Frank Martin leaving KSU. This was not a money issue.



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 said:

    This was not a money issue.

    If the issue was being at odds with the AD, I can see leaving. If I’m a successful basketball coach at KU I have leverage. At a football school like OSU I have little to none, so if the AD and I don’t get along I may as well hit the road.



  • @ParisHawk Mike Gundy has threatened to leave multiple times including looking at the Baylor job because of OSU’s AD being incompetent at his job.



  • Absolutely a no brainer. He leaves $1,000,000+ contract at a school where recruiting is difficult for a 6 or 7 year contract in neighborhood of $3,000,000 in a robust recruiting region. Heck, who wouldn’t make the leap? This guy is on the path of upward mobility. A done deal, prestigious move for an upwardly intent head coach. Now the fun and conjectures begin. Who will OSU hire to replace him…and at what salary?



  • Personally, I hope that OSU finds a solid coaching replacement. Underwood was/is one hell of a good coach.



  • @Texas-Hawk-10 Thanks for clarification, I was reading comments above talking about his salary at OSU and assumed it was part of the reason. I’ve been so busy the last couple of days reading/watching about KU and that other team that I haven’t really paid much attention to Underwood.


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