New Illini head coach Brad Underwood hiring ex-Bradley assistant Chin Coleman

[tornado]

Bradley former assistant who is now at UIC, Ronald Chin Coleman is being offered an assistant spot at Illinois and will likely take it
The position will likely more than double his current salary.... as well as give Chin a much stronger recruiting profile & prowess in the Chicago area
It is quite possibly a "package deal" to get some Mac Irvin players, especially Ayo Dosunmu

[Da Coach]

Congratulations to Coach Coleman. He is a great guy and this is a great move for him.


However, I have always been a bit mystified about his reputation as a great recruiter of the Chicago kids, and his ability to deliver the Mac Irvin kids.
He was at Bradley for 3 years, and in that time, there were only 2 Chicago kids recruited to Bradley. One was Xzavier Taylor, who was not highly recruited, was never a significant contributor at Bradley, and left after 2 years. And the other was Josh Cunningham, who was a quality player, but he left after just 1 year.
Plus, there were no recruits committed to Bradley in 2015 when he and Geno left. It is pretty obvious that the recruiting in the last 3 years of the Geno era, when Coleman was an assistant at Bradley, was substandard.

Then he was at UIC for the last 2 years. He has not landed a single Chicago kid or Mac Irvin kid at UIC in his 2 years there, and they have no Chicago commitments for the future either.
In fact, UIC's roster contains only 1 Chicago kid on the entire team, Dominique Matthews, but he committed to UIC before Coleman was hired there, and Matthews was not a Mac Irvin player, either.
So in 5 years of coaching at Bradley and UIC, I count only 1 significant contributor he has recruited from Chicago (Cunningham), it is arguable how much he contributed since Bradley finished in dead last place the only year he was here, then he left after that 1 year.
It will be interesting to see what he can do for Illinois.

[Braves2006]

With all due respect.... who in their right mind would've wanted to play for UIC or Bradley with the state of the programs being as they were/are? I honestly don't think there is a recruiter in the country that could get the highest quality recruits to come to either schools. Now that Chin is at Illinois, the product (school) will be the sales point. Chin will get some talent (and the credit) because of the name of the school.

[Da Coach]

Well, you make a strong point, but Coleman was getting paid twice what any prior assistant coach at Bradley was ever paid, and there were quality Chicago kids being landed by other schools that were at lower levels than the MVC, and which were not in significantly better shape than the Bradley program was in 2012-2015. For what Bradley was paying for an assistant with such a high reputation as a recruiter, what did we get for it? Again, note that after being with Bradley for 3 seasons, and with a team that was in dire need of new talent, and with open scholarships, they had not landed a single recruit their final season. What were they doing all that time and with a recruiting budget that was doubled and tripled over what Jim Les was allowed?

[Vent]

I think it's a great move for Illinois. Recruiting players to the U of I is much more attractive than Bradley or UIC. I'm a Bradley fan but the college life of Big 10 football in the fall plus playing in the Big 10 for basketball is more appealing. The only person that has been half way able to recruit at UIC was Jimmy Collins.

[Vent]

Well, you make a strong point, but Coleman was getting paid twice what any prior assistant coach at Bradley was ever paid, and there were quality Chicago kids being landed by other schools that were at lower levels than the MVC, and which were not in significantly better shape than the Bradley program was in 2012-2015. For what Bradley was paying for an assistant with such a high reputation as a recruiter, what did we get for it? Again, note that after being with Bradley for 3 seasons, and with a team that was in dire need of new talent, and with open scholarships, they had not landed a single recruit their final season. What were they doing all that time and with a recruiting budget that was doubled and tripled over what Jim Les was allowed?

There were also a lot of negative rumors swirling that Geno's days were limited. That didn't help.

[Vent]

To the best of my knowledge, we only have one player on scholarship from Chicagoland. He was recruited by the previous coaching staff. I may be wrong but I do not think we even have one player on scholarship from the state of Illinois.

[tornado]

Nate Kennell?? Antoine Pittman?? Lou Griffith/Alex Foster/Peter Hanley/Donte
..we had SIX Illinois guys last season...

agree- but that's what the former admin did - completely destroying every recruiting connection we have built over 115 years of college basketball

[Vent]

Forgot about Pittman and Kennell. I wasn't a fan of the previous administration, and I'm glad a change was mad. I think saying they destroyed 115 years of recruiting contacts is a bit of hyperbole. If the previous administration destroyed those 115 years of recruiting contacts, those recruiting contacts weren't very stable to begin with.

I think we will see U of I basketball really excell with Underwood as the head coach. He won't always get the top player from our state but I think he will get more top high school players from our state than any other university in our state. I still think it was a brilliant move for Underwood to hire Coleman and keep the communication pipeline open to Chicago.

Often times on this message board people will talk about the he glorious years of Dick Versace. That is exactly how Dick went from last place his first season to MVC champions and an NCAA tournament in his second season. Underwood sees the wealth of high school talent and wants to cultivate it.

[tornado]

... I think saying they destroyed 115 years of recruiting contacts is a bit of hyperbole. ...

it was...
but as many here said...the instant we aligned with one certain AAU program in Chicago - we alienated Bradley from all the other good programs in the Chicago area and the state -
which is why we didn't get a sniff or a visit from any kid from the successful Illinois Wolves program under Geno...
Once that connection was gone, we start getting the Wolves kids again (Kennell plus offers & interest from others)

[Chico]

Vent, you mentioning Dick Versace has me wondering if Illinois will fire Underwood if he goes 32-3.

[lefty]

Vent, you mentioning Dick Versace has me wondering if Illinois will fire Underwood if he goes 32-3.

You crack me up Chico......you don't give up

[Chico]

You crack me up Chico......you don't give up

As a very very long Bradley fan, I never will.

[MacabreMob]

I think we will see U of I basketball really excell with Underwood as the head coach. He won't always get the top player from our state but I think he will get more top high school players from our state than any other university in our state.

Northwestern is making a strong case to get top talent from the state of Illinois.

[Vent]

Northwestern is making a strong case to get top talent from the state of Illinois.

Why wouldn't they? They have a coach that was an all-state high school player in Illinois, that played at Duke. He realizes the importance of tapping into the wealth of high school talent in our state. It only makes sense. It is time Bradley starts doing it.