List of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball head coaches

Last updated October 01, 2022

The following is a list of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball head coaches.

The men's college basketball program of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was founded in 1905 and is known competitively as the Fighting Illini . The team has had 18 head coaches in its history, and they have won 2 Helms and Premo-Porretta National Championship. Ralph Jones won the first national championship while finishing his career with an overall record of 85–34 (.714 winning percentage). Douglas Mills coached the second national champion while finishing his career with an overall record of 151–66 (.696 winning percentage). Lou Henson, after a 21-year stint as head coach, compiled the most wins in Illini history finishing his time in Urbana-Champaign with a record of 423–224. Additionally, Bill Self maintains the highest winning percentage of all-time at .765 (78 wins and only 24 losses).

Coach	Years	Conference Record	Winning Pct	Overall Record	Winning Pct	Conference Titles	Conference Tournament Titles	NCAA Tournament/NIT Appearances	National Championships
Elwood Brown	1905–1906	3–6	.333	6–8	.426	0	–	–	0
Frank L. Pinckney	1906-1907	0–8	.000	1–10	.090	0	–	–	0
Fletcher Lane	1907–1908	6–5	.545	20–6	.769	0	–	–	0
Herb Juul	1908–1910	10–10	.500	12–10	.545	0	–	–	0
Thomas E. Thompson	1910–1912	10–13	.435	14–14	.500	0	–	–	0
Ralph Jones	1912-1920	64–31	.674	85–34	.714	2	–	–	1
Frank Winters	1920–1922	14–10	.583	25–12	.676	0	–	–	0
J. Craig Ruby	1922–1936	94–74	.559	148–95	.609	2	–	–	0
Douglas R. Mills	1936–1947	88–47	.652	151–66	.696	3	-	1*	1
Harry Combes	1947–1967	174–104	.626	316–150	.678	4	-	4	0
Harv Schmidt	1967–1974	43–55	.439	89–77	.536	0	-	0	0
Gene Bartow	1974–1975	4–14	.222	8–18	.308	0	-	0	0
Lou Henson	1975–1996	214–164	.566	423–224	.654	1	-	15	0
Lon Kruger	1996–2000	38–28	.576	81–48	.623	1	0	3	0
Bill Self	2000–2003	35–13	.729	78–24	.765	2	1	3	0
Bruce Weber	2003–2012	92-65	.586	210-101	.675	2	1	7	0
John Groce	2012–2017	37–53	.411	95–75	.559	0	0	1	0
Jamall Walker	2017	0–0	.000	2–1	.667	0	0	0	0
Brad Underwood	2017-current	55-43	.561	94-66	.588	1	1	2	0
Totals	18 coaches	966-738	(.567)	1,829–1030	(.640)	17	2	34	2

The National Invitation Tournament began in 1938.
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship began in 1939.
The Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament began in 1998.
Jamall Walker coached 3 games as interim head coach in the National Invitation Tournament.

*The 1942-43 team elected not to enter the NCAA tournament; however, it was named national champion by the Premo-Porretta foundation.

Related Research Articles

The Illinois Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.

Thomas Dwight "Dike" Eddleman was an American athlete who was generally considered the greatest athlete in the history of athletics at the University of Illinois. Eddleman participated on the university's basketball, track and field, and football teams between the years of 1942 and 1949. Eddleman earned a combined 11 varsity letters in his career at the university, during which he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Eddleman was born in Centralia, Illinois, and attended Centralia High School. On October 24, 2008, Eddleman was named a Distinguished Alumni of Centralia High school. He, along with five others, including James Brady, were the first to be named Distinguished Alumni. His wife, Teddy Eddleman, accepted his award.

John W. Mauer was an American college basketball, baseball and football coach and multi-sport college athlete. During the course of his 36-year collegiate coaching career, Mauer was the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, Miami University (Ohio), the University of Tennessee, the U.S. Military Academy, and the University of Florida. John was the head coach of the Tennessee baseball team. John also served as the defensive backs coach for Tennessee under head coach General Robert Neyland. After coaching his college coaching career, John worked under Vince Lombardi scouting players for the Green Bay Packers. Mauer also scouted for the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and New York Giants.

Bruce Brett Weber is the former men's basketball head coach at Kansas State University. Prior to his tenure at Kansas State, Weber was the head coach at Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois.

Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip was an American professional basketball player. Born in Granite City, Illinois, Phillip had an 11-year career and played for the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America and the Philadelphia Warriors, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics, of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Daniel "Dee" Brown is an American former professional basketball player and current college coach. Brown played at the University of Illinois from 2002 to 2006, receiving numerous awards and accolades, including the 2005 Sporting News National Player of the Year. Brown was selected in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. Brown played for several international basketball teams from 2007 to 2015.

Harry Combes, a native of Monticello, Illinois, served as head men's basketball coach at University of Illinois between 1947 and 1967.

The 2004–05 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team marked the 100th season of men's basketball at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. After starting the regular season with a record of 29–0 and winning the Big Ten Conference regular season title outright at 15–1, the Illini were Big Ten Tournament champions. They advanced in the NCAA tournament to the national championship, marking the school's first appearance in the championship game, but lost to North Carolina, 75–70. They ended the season at 37–2, tying the record for most victories in a season for a men's college basketball team.

John Manfredo Giannini is an American college basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Rowan University from 1989 to 1996, the University of Maine from 1996 to 2004, and La Salle University from 2004 to 2018. Giannini led Rowan to an NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament championship in 1996.

The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. Home games are played at the State Farm Center, located on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's campus in Champaign. Illinois has one pre-tournament national championship and one non-NCAA tournament national championship in 1915 and 1943, awarded by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Illinois has appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 32 times, and has competed in 5 Final Fours, 9 Elite Eights, and has won 18 Big Ten regular season championships.

Duane W. "Skip" Thoren is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of 6 ft 10 in tall, he played at the center position.

The Illinois Fighting Illini men's ice hockey team is a college ice hockey program that represents the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The Illini play on campus at historic 2,000-seat University of Illinois Ice Arena. They are a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) at the ACHA Division I level. The team is a member of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League (CSCHL) within the ACHA. The team operates as a registered student organization (RSO) at the University of Illinois. The University does not currently have an NCAA varsity team, and thus the club team is the highest level of hockey offered by the University. A feasibility study published in March 2018, and commissioned by the NHL, NHLPA, and College Hockey, Inc., found a high probability of success for the hockey program to transition to NCAA Division I. Illinois however reversed course in May 2022, announcing that they were no longer exploring adding a varsity hockey program.

The 1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Bertil William Erickson was an NCAA All-American basketball player at the University of Illinois during a career that spanned from 1947 to 1950, and then a player in the National Professional Basketball League for the Saint Paul Lights.

The 2002–03 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 2002-03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bill Self's third season at Illinois.

The 2003–04 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented 98th season University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 2003-04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bruce Weber's first season at Illinois.

The 1947–48 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

The 2013–14 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by second year head coach John Groce, the Illini played their home games at State Farm Center and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 20–15, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament where they lost to Michigan. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Boston University in the first round before losing in the second round to Clemson.

Arthur Fremont Mathisen was an American college basketball standout for Illinois in the 1940s. A center, Mathison led the Fighting Illini in rebounding while scoring over 500 points in his three years of varsity play earning a varsity letter each year. Graduating from Dwight High School, Mathisen was the son of James Mathisen and Mary (Jensen) Mathisen, marrying Virginia Mae DeLong in 1946. While in high school, Mathisen led his basketball team to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the IHSA state tournament in 1939.

Efrem Zimbalist Winters is an American former collegiate basketball player. At a height of 6'9" tall, he played at the Power Forward position.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics