Illinois Basketball: Five Illini Head Coach Options for 2017

Feb 26, 2014; Champaign, IL, USA; A general view of State Farm Center before the game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Illinois Fighting Illini. Mandatory Credit: Bradley Leeb-USA TODAY Sports

The Illinois basketball team has struggled over the last five seasons.

Illinois has only made the NCAA Tournament one season out of the five that John Groce has coached, and that year they barely made it in.

With the declining record and the constant fan disapproval, I think it is time for a change at the top for the Illinois basketball program.

Listen, do I think Groce is a good guy? Sure, but if you are hired into any profession and all you bring to the table is being a good guy then you aren’t likely to keep your job very long.

The course of Groce’s tenure with the Illini has been rough. There hasn’t been much success and the only glimpse of it happened so long ago people are starting to forget.

But, thankfully, Illinois is still a good program. They have a newly renovated arena and they are in a location that is near a hotbed of talented recruits.

Illinois also has a nice stable of players already with the program and committed for 2017. That is a huge bonus for whoever comes in.

I have no doubts that this program will rise again. There is way too much upside for the Illini to be at rock bottom for too long.

Here is a list of the top five candidates I am looking at right now, in no particular order.

Jan 14, 2017; Lawrence, KS, USA; A general view of the court as the Kansas Jayhawks players warm up before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Norm Roberts

Norm Roberts is the current Kansas Jayhawks assistant coach under former Illinois head coach Bill Self. He is one of my top candidates who I want to fill the Illini head coaching position.

Roberts is a seasoned veteran in the college coaching game. Since 1995 he has been in some type of coaching capacity at a big-time level.

As far as head coach experience goes, Roberts has only had a job with St. Johns from 2004 through 2010.

Roberts took over a Red Storm program that the year before went 6-21. He helped build St. John’s into a team who could compete again until being let go for Steve Lavin. The following season the team went to the NCAA Tournament.

I like Roberts’s pedigree because he has been in the coaching game for quite some time. He even spent time as an Illinois assistant as well.

From 2000-03 Roberts was an assistant under Bill Self. These years were some of the best in Illinois history. The team went to the Elite 8 and Sweet 16 in two of the three seasons.

Getting a candidate like Roberts who has the pedigree, who can recruit well, and who has once coached the Illini would be huge for this program. I would love for him to be the future head coach.

Lon Kruger

One name that many Illinois fans are familiar with is Lon Kruger. He started the Illini resurgence in the mid-1990’s and he could have a chance to do it again.

Kruger is the current head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and after a pretty decent run things are starting to go south this season.

The Sooners record is 8-14 and maybe it is time for a fresh start. But, it could be tough to pull him from that program because they just went to the Final Four last season.

I still think there is a possibility to snag Kruger, though. He has a great history of coaching and he has coached in the NBA as well.

Kruger started coaching back in 1982 and quickly developed into one of the best. He has 17 NCAA Tournament and 2 Final Four appearances in his career.

I also like how Kruger has coached at Illinois too. He knows the state and was successful recruiting during his time with the Illini.

In the four years Kruger was with the Illinois program he made the postseason three times and advanced to the second round all three years.

If Illinois went after a coach like Kruger it would be good for the program. He knows how to recruit the area well and he is a proven head coach.

Tim Jankovich

The next three coaches are a stretch but I wouldn’t mind having one of them. The next candidate is SMU’s head coach Tim Jankovich.

Jankovich has the SMU Mustangs playing well this season. They are 20-4 and looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

The coaching record for Jankovich is solid. He started out in 1993 with North Texas and then eventually started to learn under Bill Self.

Jankovich was even an assistant under Self at Illinois for the 2002-03 season. That year the Illini went 25-7 and won the Big Ten Tournament.

After spending time under Self with Illinois and Kansas, he decided to take his coaching talents to Illinois State.

With the Redbirds, Jankovich was successful. He had over 20 wins in four out of five seasons with Illinois State.

The Illinois State job was good but Jankovich decided to accept the assistant coach in waiting position under Larry Brown at SMU in 2012.

After a few years of turmoil, Brown resigned and Jankovich took over the program. He picked up right where Brown left off record wise.

I think Jankovich would be a solid candidate because he has recruited the state of Illinois and he was a coach for the Illini under a great mentor in Self.

I would not be opposed to hiring Jankovich for the Illini head coaching position.

Dan Muller

Dan Muller is probably the riskiest option I have on the top five board. He is a good coach that hasn’t proven a ton in the college game yet.

Muller took over at Illinois State after Jankovich left the program to go to SMU. He has really done a solid job with the Redbirds and has the team looking good this season too.

Right now, Illinois State has a 19-5 record and could possibly be looking at the NCAA Tournament. This hasn’t happened since the 1997-98 season.

Muller also has a lot of coaching experience at a big-time program as well. He was the assistant at Vanderbilt for 12 years.

In those 12 seasons, Vanderbilt went from a joke of a program who barely made the NCAA Tournament to making the postseason six times.

I also think Muller would be a good recruiter as well. He was one of the top assistants and recruiters for Vanderbilt and he has the Illinois State program doing well.

Muller has also coached in the state of Illinois, so he knows the coaches from the high schools in and around the state.

Would Muller be my first choice? No, but he still is a good candidate for the head coach of the Illinois basketball team.

Fred Hoiberg

A long shot, but someone similar to Lovie Smith in the NBA would be Fred Hoiberg. Let me explain my mindset on this option.

Hoiberg is the current head coach of the Chicago Bulls. He was two games over .500 in year one with the Bulls and is currently one game under .500 this season.

The Bulls have a lot of turmoil on that team as well. Players are fighting with players and the chemistry is just not there. There have also been reports of Hoiberg being on the hot seat as well.

So, the only way this option would work is if Hoiberg is let go before the season ends for the NBA.

Illinois will need to make a quick hire and the NBA season is a lot longer than the college basketball season.

This actually could happen sometime after the All-Star break. I have seen it before many times.

If Hoiberg is available he will be looking for a coaching job and the NBA was a bad experience. I assume he would want to go back to college.

In addition to wanting to coach college again, Hoiberg wouldn’t have to move his family if he coached the Illini.

Hoiberg would be a good coaching candidate too. He was successful with Iowa State taking them to four straight NCAA Tournaments and winning two conference tournaments as well.

High school players are looking for ways to get to the NBA and Hoiberg played professional basketball. That is another benefit to hiring him.

So, Hoiberg has coaching experience at both levels, he can recruit, he has been successful in college, and people are familiar with him in and around the Chicago area.

If Hoiberg is available, I think Josh Whitman should at least put out a feeler to see if he would be interested. I would take him in a heartbeat.