While Brad Underwood’s intensity is credited for Illinois’s recent Final Four run after 21 years, one of his former players suggests the fire that forged that success has cooled significantly.
“Yeah, he’s gone soft on the guys. Honestly, for the first two years, I didn’t know college basketball was for me. Now the coach has definitely chilled out, but I think that has come with just feeling comfortable with winning a little bit. His first couple of years, he really had to be like that to establish a culture,” said Coleman Hawkins on the Field of 68 podcast on how coach Underwood was during his time at Illinois.
Hawkins was part of Underwood’s team for four years, from 2020-21-2023-24 before making a switch to Kansas. The guard won conference championships, regional championships, and NCAA tournament titles. His performance peaked in his final two years at Illinois, as he averaged 9.9 ppg and 12.1 ppg, respectively, showing the steady growth he had achieved under Underwood.
Hawkins attributes this change in Underwood’s demeanor to his age, and now that he has gotten older, he feels the coach chooses to “take it easy” on the team.
“Getting older, he’s still been able to be a great head coach and kind of take a backseat role and not have to yell as much and kind of chill out a little bit,” admits Hawkins
If not his age, then the way the Illini have been playing recently is also making the coach feel at ease. The team is in good rhythm as the likes of Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic, and Andrej Stojakovic are firing on all cylinders. This is exactly why, apart from Houston and VCU, all the other teams lost by more than 10 points.
Underwood isn’t just relying on his players to navigate the Final Four; he’s also seeking expert counsel from his peers in the coaching world.
Underwood Seeks Expert Counsel From March Madness Regulars
With the Final Four, Brad Underwood is treading on unfamiliar territory. The excitement, adrenaline, and intensity at this level are palpable, and navigating around them could be a major challenge. As such, Underwood is latching onto expert guidance from his peers.
“[Matt] Painter, [Dana] Altman, [Tom] Izzo, [Bill] Self,” said Underwood of the fellow coaches he has talked to in an attempt to help prepare for his first Final Four.
“It’s crazy. Enjoy it. They’ve all had different things that have been very positive. And I’ve asked a lot of questions on practices, dealing with all the different issues and things that go on, and how they did it. And they’ve all been phenomenal in what their experiences have been. So you take a little bit and try to figure out if it works for our team or not,” said Underwood
Underwood is leaning on a wealth of experience, from coaches with a single Final Four trip like Purdue’s Matt Painter and Oregon’s Dana Altman to veterans like Kansas’ Bill Self (four appearances, two titles) and Michigan’s Tom Izzo, who brings an incredible eight appearances and a national championship to the table.
You would want to be a fly on the wall to hear what valuable advice these coaches had to dispense to Brad Underwood and how much he can also absorb by listening to their success stories. But one thing is for certain: he is not taking any shortcuts.
Be it prepping his team or setting up a blueprint to implement his training, everything is being done to perfection because an opportunity like this comes quite rarely, and for Illinois, it came after 21 years.
