COLUMN: Whitman Shows Underwood One Thing He Values

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- You might not know this but Brad Underwood has received a doctorate degree.

The Illini head coach received his unofficial PhD education from the Bob Huggins-Frank Martin University. Among the majors and classes offered at this institution of higher learning include on-court practice drills, advanced referee manipulation, analytical mathematics, media communication, modern-world recruiting and history of the NCAA compliance.

And as a note: If Susan Underwood, the wife of the Illini coach, is even a little responsible for her husband not using the principles taught in the ‘Sideline Attire’ class taught at Huggins-Martin University, which features understanding the art of the Huggins pullover/hobo look and mastering Martin’s 70s lounge singer appearance clothing, the entire fan base thanks you ma'am for your service as the First Lady of Illini Basketball.

Underwood’s transcript from Huggins-Martin, that appears to be a checklist on a bar napkin signed by Huggins himself, which might or might not have been obtained by going through Frank Martin’s Kansas State trash can, shows another of Underwood’s honors-level classes that only selected doctoral candidates are eligible to qualify to take: Advanced Contract Negotiations.

Monday’s announcement of his new contract extension shows why Underwood received an ‘A’ in this course created by department chair Frank Martin with Huggins as the school president. As he finishes his third season at Illinois, Underwood has had one positive season (the current one) and nobody with a working medulla oblongata wants to question this investment. In the three-dimensional chess world of contract negotiations, Underwood understood that Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman understood a question could’ve been asked before the silly season of coaching moves start to happen later this month.

Imagine the following conversation:

(Cell phone of Brad Underwood’s agent Bret Just rings)

Just: "Hello?"

Power 6 Conference Athletics Director: “Bret, I’m thinking about moving on from my head coach and I need to know if any of your clients are interested in our position. Are there any?"

Just: "Hey, it’s funny you called because I just spoke to Brad Underwood..."

And I hope I don’t need to tell you how this usually goes from that exact moment. Scary huh? Whitman, an actual attorney with a law degree (not one that I clearly made up with the beginning of a column) experienced this and knew he needed to eliminate that conversation.

So, for anybody who still thinks it was a premature preventive measure of spending, let me remind you Underwood and Just have pulled this move before. Underwood’s mentor in the business, Frank Martin, pulled this move. It’s how and why Underwood is at Illinois. After reaching the NCAA tournament in his first season, Underwood reportedly had an impasse with his boss Oklahoma State athletics director Mike Holder. Holder, who allows himself to be a contractual punching bag to football coach Mike Gundy after he travels to flirts with athletics directors nearly every winter and suddenly gets a warm hug importantly followed by more money in Stillwater, was holding firm on Underwood’s demands for a pay raise, an increase for his assistants and a practice facility. So, when Whitman called in March 2017, Just’s answer went something like “Josh, I’m so glad you called. We should talk.”

The same thing happened in 2012 when Frank Martin couldn’t wait to unshackle himself from the control of then-Kansas State athletics director John Currie. Underwood, Martin’s lead assistant, watched this process and like any solid student, took notes on what to do. When he found himself in a similar spot at Oklahoma State, Underwood and his agent knew how to handle the situation.

In terms of a relationship between a coach and athletics director, once the level of satisfaction dips, it almost never returns back to the original honeymoon phase. In an ESPN radio interview for The Jeremy Warner Show on Tuesday morning, Underwood confirmed this ideal.

“It’s kind of the corny cliche that you don’t mess with happy, and that’s the way (my wife) Susan and I feel,” Underwood said on ESPN Radio 93.5 in Champaign.

It’s one thing to learn from your mistakes. Whitman, however, learned a lesson from clearly his most successful hiring act. The lesson? Nobody in the coaching business is off-limits but they can come with contractual red flags. Does this deal preclude Just from taking a future job opening phone call from Duke or North Carolina or even yes Kansas (remember Bill Self was Underwood’s recruiting host on his trip to Oklahoma State)? Of course not. However, by starting the talks about a new deal last month for Underwood and those assistants who have built back Illini basketball to relevance, Whitman’s objective was making it extremely difficult for Underwood to “mess with happy”.

After not getting a head-coaching job until he was 50 years old and being fought every step of the way in his first power conference coaching job, Whitman put on paper the thing Underwood was taught to value most - being wanted.