The University of Illinois made a bold move in doubling down on the Brad Underwood Experience.
On Tuesday, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman announced that the school and Underwood had come to an agreement on a new six-year contract through the end of the 2030-31 season, pending the approval of the board of trustees at a May 22 meeting.
The news dropped on the same day Illinois gave football coach Bret Bielema a similar extension.
The original Every Day Guy is here to stay.
Read more about Coach Underwood’s extension: https://t.co/kBgwMwWv55 pic.twitter.com/d6uJqEJL1Y
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) May 13, 2025
Under his new contract terms, Underwood would make an annual salary of $4.4 million, with performance, retention and longevity incentives that could pad that figure significantly. It would also come with “meaningful protections” in case Underwood began feeling professional wanderlust or was pursued by other programs.
“It remains an honor to serve as the head coach at the University of Illinois,” Underwood said in a statement. “Every night when I walk out that State Farm Center tunnel and see the sold-out crowd and am greeted by the Orange Krush, I feel that I’m the most fortunate coach in all of college basketball. The tremendous passion of our fans is felt everywhere, both at home and on the road. The support we receive from our fans and donors is truly unmatched. I look forward to many more exciting years ahead as we all continue to work relentlessly in pursuing a national championship for the Fighting Illini.”
Underwood, hired at Illinois ahead of the 2017-18 season, has gone 165-101 (.620 winning percentage) in eight seasons in Champaign. By nearly any measure, he has led the program to tangible growth – in the standings, on the recruiting trail and even in the nebulous-but-important art of culture-building.
“Since Brad’s arrival, he has rebuilt our proud program and reestablished Illinois as a perennial contender for the Big Ten Championship and a regular presence in the NCAA Tournament,” Whitman said in announcing Underwood’s extension. “Against the backdrop of intense change transforming college athletics, he holds steadfast to his core values while continuing to evolve and adapt his program to compete at the highest level.”
Underwood’s Illini teams are 81-39 in Big Ten play over the past six years, tying for the most conference wins over that span. In the past five seasons, the Illini have won two Big Ten tournaments and a regular-season conference championship, and made five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
The rub with Underwood, of course, is how little his teams have accomplished once they land in the NCAAs. Two seasons ago, Illinois broke through with an Elite Eight run, but it squandered a No. 1 seed in 2020-21 and otherwise hasn’t advanced beyond the second round of the tournament – including last season, when an overhauled but promising group were stopped by Kentucky in the Round of 32.
But, similar to the Bielema deal, the Underwood extension is an investment in possibility. Illinois has enjoyed flashes and even brief stretches of national prosperity – a pair of midcentury Final Fours under Harry Combes, a Lou Henson-led revival in the 1980s and a Bill Self-built, Bruce Weber-executed run to the national title game in 2004-05. Sustained success at the top, however, has been elusive.
The Illini are betting on Underwood, 61, parlaying his recruiting breakthroughs and success in delivering players to the NBA into continued overall consistency and improved results in March. Freshman Will Riley was the program’s highest-rated recruit during the internet era, and he and Kasparas Jakucionis are projected first-round picks in next month’s NBA Draft. Although Illinois fizzled in postseason play, looking back, perhaps coaxing 22 wins from such a young, rebuilt roster should be viewed as more of an accomplishment for Underwood.
In any case, in college basketball’s era of NIL and the transfer portal, turnover and one-and-done runs figure to be more the rule than the exception on every campus – not just in Champaign. Which means the pressure will be on Underwood to annually put together a new group of winners built not just to survive the winter but also thrive in the spring.
The Underwood Era has seen Big Ten Championships, NBA Draft picks and NCAA Tournament runs. And lucky for us, it’s far from over. pic.twitter.com/tVHMDG9qUQ
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) May 14, 2025
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