As Illinois men’s basketball enjoys its most successful season in a decade, the university moved quickly to try to keep coach Brad Underwood in Champaign for years to come.
Underwood received a three-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season, Illinois announced Monday. The deal bumps his base salary to $3.4 million — which would rank second in the Big Ten this season behind Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ($3.9 million) and 14th in the country, according to a list of coaches’ salaries that Stadium published in October — with annual increases that raise it to $4 million by the final year.
The deal includes subsequent extensions every time the Illini qualify for the NCAA Tournament from 2022 to 2025, allowing the contract potentially to extend through 2029-30.
If Underwood leaves for another job, his buyout is $8 million and decreases each year of the agreement. He would receive a $750,000 retention bonus if he remains through the final year of the contract.
The contract also keeps Underwood’s assistant coaching staff — Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman and Stephen Gentry — and athletic trainer Adam Fletcher on board through 2021-22. Their salary pool will increase by more than 25%, the school said.
“Serving as head coach at the University of Illinois is a professional dream come true,” Underwood said in a statement. “I am honored to be one part of what is a collective effort in working to get Illinois basketball where it needs to be. Building a program is hard work; there are no short cuts. But I am excited by the growth we’ve seen. We are gaining momentum and continuing to climb that mountain.”
The Illini (20-9, 12-6) are tied for second in the Big Ten and will finish with their first winning conference record since 2010. They’re likely assured of an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since 2013.
Illinois’ turnaround in Underwood’s third season, after finishing 12-21 and tied for 10th in the Big Ten at 7-13 last season, is the largest among teams from the six major conferences.
“I am extremely pleased with the upward trajectory of our Fighting Illini men’s basketball program and believe we are headed toward a championship future,” athletic director Josh Whitman said in a statement. “Under Coach Underwood’s leadership, our student-athletes have showed steady progress on the court and in the classroom.
“He has instilled a culture based on competitiveness, toughness, preparation and accountability that is yielding exciting results. His ability to project a vision for the program’s future, to recruit elite players to Champaign-Urbana and to develop them into a winning team has exceeded even my admittedly high expectations at this relatively early stage in his tenure.”
The first, and most important, of those recruiting successes was landing Morgan Park star Ayo Dosunmu, now a sophomore guard who is the face of the program, making a series of clutch shots while leading the Illini in scoring (16.4 points per game) and assists (3.1 per game).
Freshman center Kofi Cockburn, another top-50 national recruit who has 12 double-doubles this season, followed in last year’s class.
Signing Dosunmu marked a change in Illinois’ record of missing out on top-flight Chicago-area recruits, and Underwood has a commitment from four-star Morgan Park guard Adam Miller. He’s expected to join the Illini next season with four-star point guard Andre Curbelo of New York and three-star forward Coleman Hawkins of California.
Illinois hired Underwood in March 2017 from Oklahoma State, where he led the Cowboys to a 20-13 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in his only season there. The Illini went 14-18 and 4-14 in the Big Ten in his first season.
Before going to Oklahoma State, Underwood coached three seasons at Stephen F. Austin after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Kansas State and South Carolina.