NCAA Basketball: Ranking best head coaching hires from the year 2000

2. Bill Self (Illinois)

This past season notwithstanding, Illinois basketball was pretty meek in recent years, making it hard for some to remember that this was one of the nation’s more successful programs a few decades ago. Lou Henson built great success with the Fighting Illini and Lon Kruger had built on that before departing for the NBA in 2000. With this Illinois program still in fantastic shape, the next head coach was going to be another important hire.

Enter Bill Self, who had just led Tulsa to the Elite Eight as a 7-seed. Self spent time as a player and assistant at Oklahoma State before beginning his head coaching career with Oral Roberts and then Tulsa. Self was already a rising name in the coaching ranks and a fantastic man to lead the Illini.

Results would come, as Self would lead Illinois to the Elite Eight in his first season and then a Sweet Sixteen in his second. Though he stayed just three seasons, he put in a lot of work both on and off the court, recruiting much of the team that would make the national championship game in 2005. Self departed for Kansas and became a Hall of Famer along the way, but there’s no doubt that he played an important role in one of the greatest periods of success in Illinois basketball.