List of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball head coaches
The following is a list of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball head coaches.
The men's
Douglas Mills coached the second national champion while finishing his career with an overall record of 151–66 (.696 winning percentage). Lou Henson, after a 21-year stint as head coach, compiled the most wins in Illini history finishing his time in Urbana-Champaign with a record of 423–224. Additionally, Bill Self
maintains the highest winning percentage of all-time at .765 (78 wins and only 24 losses).
Coach | Years | Conference Record | Winning Pct | Overall Record | Winning Pct | Conference Titles | Conference Tournament Titles | NCAA Tournament/NIT Appearances | National Championships |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elwood Brown | 1905–1906 | 3–6 | .333 | 6–8 | .426 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Frank L. Pinckney | 1906-1907 | 0–8 | .000 | 1–10 | .090 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Fletcher Lane | 1907–1908 | 6–5 | .545 | 20–6 | .769 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Herb Juul | 1908–1910 | 10–10 | .500 | 12–10 | .545 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Thomas E. Thompson | 1910–1912 | 10–13 | .435 | 14–14 | .500 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Ralph Jones | 1912-1920 | 64–31 | .674 | 85–34 | .714 | 2 | – | – | 1 |
Frank Winters |
1920–1922 | 14–10 | .583 | 25–12 | .676 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
J. Craig Ruby | 1922–1936 | 94–74 | .559 | 148–95 | .609 | 2 | – | – | 0 |
Douglas R. Mills |
1936–1947 | 88–47 | .652 | 151–66 | .696 | 3 | - | 1* | 1 |
Harry Combes | 1947–1967 | 174–104 | .626 | 316–150 | .678 | 4 | - | 4 | 0 |
Harv Schmidt | 1967–1974 | 43–55 | .439 | 89–77 | .536 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 |
Gene Bartow | 1974–1975 | 4–14 | .222 | 8–18 | .308 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 |
Lou Henson | 1975–1996 | 214–164 | .566 | 423–224 | .654 | 1 | - | 15 | 0 |
Lon Kruger | 1996–2000 | 38–28 | .576 | 81–48 | .623 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Bill Self | 2000–2003 | 35–13 | .729 | 78–24 | .765 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Bruce Weber | 2003–2012 | 92-65 | .586 | 210-101 | .675 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
John Groce | 2012–2017 | 37–53 | .411 | 95–75 | .559 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Jamall Walker | 2017 | 0–0 | .000 | 2–1 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Brad Underwood | 2017-current | 66-52 | .559 | 114-79 | .591 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Totals | 18 coaches | 977-747 | (.567) | 1,849–1043 | (.639) | 18 | 3 | 37 | 2 |
- The National Invitation Tournament began in 1938.
- The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championshipbegan in 1939.
- The Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournamentbegan in 1998.
- Jamall Walker coached 3 games as interim head coach in the National Invitation Tournament.
*The
NCAA tournament; however, it was named national champion by the Premo-Porretta
foundation.