Before Thursday, you may not have been aware that Illinois basketball was in the market for another assistant coach. And if you’re an Illini fan, or even just a typical Midwestern college basketball follower, you may be even less likely to know the name of Camryn Crocker.
Oon the surface, though, Illinois’ hiring of Crocker – which the program announced Thursday through a press release – appears to be a net positive for the Illini.
Crocker, 33, is a native of Cypress, California, a former Penn basketball team captain as a player and a 10-year coaching veteran who most recently aided in the building of back-to-back Patriot League champions as an assistant at Colgate. His contacts on both the West Coast and East Coast should amplify Illinois’ expansive recruiting efforts.
“Camryn Crocker is a dynamic coach who will fit perfectly into the Illinois family,” Illini coach Brad Underwood said in a statement. “He has experience from coast to coast, growing up in California, playing in the Ivy League, working the prep school ranks in the Northeast and having Division I experience at Stanford and Colgate; he has clearly achieved a lot in his young career.”
Given what his role will entail at Illinois and the needs of the program, Crocker could very well be the right hire at the right time. Colgate had seasons of 26 and 25 wins during Crocker’s tenure in Hamilton, New York, and while he served as director of player development at Stanford, the Cardinal landed McDonald’s All-Americans in consecutive years for the first time and sent four players to the NBA. The program also finished as high as No. 7 in kenpom’s defensive rankings.
“Camryn has an outstanding defensive mind, a great understanding on that side of the ball,” Underwood said. “He also is known as an elite on-court teacher. And his biggest strength is that he builds tremendous relationships and is a connector. He is very smart, someone who really understands the modern game, and will bring fresh and innovative ideas to our program.”
Crocker also has extensive experience (and enjoyed wild success) in the East Coast prep school ranks, and coached on the Nike EYBL circuit.
If the Crocker hire strikes some observers as un-splashy for a program with legitimate national title aspirations, keep a few thoughts in mind: Crocker was hired for a third assistant spot, and Illinois’ Orlando Antigua is already one of the highest-paid assistants in the country. Moreover,Underwood just received a big contract extension, the NCAA recently expanded allowable staff from three to five assistants, and NIL puts new financial demands on university athletics budgets. The money flowing through college basketball is significant – but not unlimited.
Besides, the next generation of great coaches have to come from somewhere. Who says it isn’t Hamilton by way of Stanford by way of Philadelphia by way of Cypress?
Crocker’s precise influence on the Illinois program remains to be seen, but he at least should bring some new ideas to the table. And given Underwood’s emphasis on offense and his staff’s recent lukewarm domestic recruiting results (as compared to its talent-mining abroad), Crocker may get a chance to bolster some of the Illini’s relative areas of weakness.
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