Is Illinois' Brad Underwood a Top-25 College Basketball Coach of the Century?

After the Athletic recently released its top 25 coaches from the 2000s, we're here to make a case for the Illini's Underwood

Feb 2, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood before the start of a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Impossibly broad, almost wholly subjective lists are nitro fuel for driving the sports outrage machine, which may be why they're so much fun to knock around. From GOAT arguments to pound-for-pound debates to whatever other arbitrary silliness fans can concoct for screaming at each other about, we can't seem to get enough of it.

So here comes The Athletic and CJ Moore with its men's college basketball's top 25 of the 2000s list, and let me be the first to tell you – brace yourself – it is ... reasonable. Sober and smart. As someone who has maintained a pretty keen eye on college basketball for the past quarter century, I can say that Moore's list is, by any measure, comprehensive and well-considered. Do I agree with every choice down to the number? No. But there's a strong argument to be made for each inclusion at its chosen ranking.

There are arguments for some exclusions, however. One of them (as you might imagine would be written in this space) is Illinois' Brad Underwood. But first, take a moment to hear Moore's criteria:

"I considered six categories: national titles, Final Fours, conference regular-season championships, conference tournament championships, NCAA Tournament appearances, and total wins, with a dash of subjectivity thrown in. Longevity mattered as well, but there were a few coaches with shorter stints this century who were so overwhelmingly successful that they had to be included."

Immediately, those standards put Underwood behind the 8-ball. He has been a college basketball head coach only since 2013, while several of his peers – including former Illinois coach and current Kansas head man Bill Self, who ranked No. 1 on the list – have been at it for the entirety of the 2000s. And because Moore doesn't limit his scope to active coaches, there are those have retired (No. 2 Roy Williams, No. 3 Mike Krzyzewski and No. 4 Jay Wright, for instance) or leapt to the NBA (No. 6 Billy Donovan and No. 11 Brad Stevens) that couldn't be ignored. Making the list proved to be a high bar to get over.

Underwood would almost certainly make the cut of a similar list focused on the 2020s – and likely even one that assessed coaches from the past decade. Maybe he'll even make an appearance when Moore revisits his list in 2050. (Let's all be sure to meet back here then.)

In the meantime, here's how an entry for Illinois' Underwood might have read:

Brad Underwood, Illinois

Teams: Stephen F. Austin (2013-16), Oklahoma State (2016-17), Illinois (2017-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 0
Conference regular-season championships: 4
Conference tournament titles: 5
NCAA Tournament appearances: 8
Wins: 274 (22.8 per season)

Underwood has been an excellent recruiter and an open-minded strategist ever since he first took the reins of a college hoops program in Nacogdoches, Texas. The stakes were a bit lower at Stephen F. Austin, but Underwood instantly turned the Lumberjacks into the best thing going in the Southland Conference, parlayed his success into the gig at Oklahoma State, then, after a 20-win season and an NCAA Tournament appearance in his first season in Stillwater, took over a middling Illinois program. After convincing recruits Trent Frazier and Da'Monte Williams to stick with the Illini and then signing Ayo Dosunmu and Giorgi Bezhanishvili a year later, it was off to the races. Illinois has won at least 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament in each of five seasons since. He averages more wins than Bob Huggins (No. 25) and Gary Williams (No. 23), has more conference tournament titles than Sean Miller (No. 24) and has more combined conference regular-season and tournament championships than any coach outside the top 10 – including two for UConn in Dan Hurley (No. 14) and Jim Calhoun (No. 13).

So what's missing? A national championship. A Final Four run. Just time. Underwood has been a head coach for half as long as the majority of the others on The Athletic's list, yet he was likely knocking on the door. And now, with Illinois perhaps on the verge of a breakthrough in 2025-26, he may be ready walk through the threshold.

Brad Underwood on people not liking his coaching style

“I’m never going to apologize for coaching with passion"pic.twitter.com/Z27mwFGRnI

— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) November 8, 2023

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