3. Brad Underwood (Illinois)
The work throughout Underwood’s coaching career has been fantastic and the recent success of Illinois only exemplifies this. Underwood was a JUCO head coach and a D1 assistant for a long time before winning a pair of Tourney upsets in his first real shot at Stephen F. Austin. After a brief stop at Oklahoma State, he arrived at Illinois back in 2017 and has already become a legend in Champaign.
After a few rebuilding seasons, Underwood has turned the Fighting Illini back into contenders. Not only has he taken Illinois to six straight NCAA Tournaments, he’s won a few Big Ten titles and even made an Elite Eight run in 2024. Obviously, this past March’s success blows that out of the water, leading Illinois to the Final Four for the first time in more than two decades.
Underwood has brought incredible players both foreign and domestic into this program and put them in position to succeed. He’s no spring chicken but is a rising name among the best in the business and has really flourished in recent years. It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Illinois is in prime position to contend again next year, though it would take quite a bit to catch these top two coaches.
Add us as a preferred source on Google