Tyler Underwood To Return To Illini For Sixth Season

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- As it turns out, Tyler Underwood can’t get rid of his dad easily.

The son of the Illini head men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood has elected to spend his sixth year of eligibility as a walk-on being coached by his father for one more season. Illinois basketball spokesperson Derrick Burson confirmed this news after a photo surfaced of Tyler Underwood inside the practice facility on the first day the NCAA allowed basketball workouts with coaches and players together.

The Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette, and reporter Scott Richey, was the first to report this story.

According to his dad, Tyler Underwood was supposed to finish his master’s degree program, in recreation, sport and tourism in May, which he did, and then spend the summer trying to find a coaching job either as a graduate assistant or at a high school.

"I say it everyday that you’re truly blessed when you can go to the court and see your son every day and dap him up and say hello, kid around and have fun, enjoy the moments in the locker room, enjoy the tears in the locker rooms." - Illinois head coach Brad Underwood

However, the coronavirus pandemic has halted most employment opportunities with school districts across the country still contemplating what they’re doing when classes are supposed to begin next month.

"I say it everyday that you’re truly blessed when you can go to the court and see your son every day and dap him up and say hello, kid around and have fun, enjoy the moments in the locker room, enjoy the tears in the locker rooms," Brad Underwood said last March. “I’m going to try to be really happy for him because he’s had a very unique experience. He’s had to overcome a lot because of his dad: Three high schools and kind of took him away from a lot of AAU basketball. There were a lot of challenges for my kids, not just him, to overcome because of dad’s profession."

Tyler Underwood’s first and only career start was supposed to be his final home game at Illinois, a 78-76 win over Iowa on March 8. After going through the Senior Day pre-game with his mother, father and sister, Tyler Underwood played three minutes and earned two assists in what would be the final game of the 2019-20 season for the Illini after COVID-19 shut down the rest of the season the following week.

Tyler Underwood will use a medical redshirt season guaranteed to him after sitting out his first season at Stephen F. Austin due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in his senior year of high school. After Brad Underwood agreed to leave Oklahoma State for Illinois, Tyler joined him immediately but was forced to sit out the 2017-18 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Tyler Underwood, who has attended three different schools (Stephen F. Austin, Oklahoma State and Illinois) got his bachelor's degree from the U of I in sociology in Aug. 2019 and will now work toward a third degree as a walk-on in the upcoming 2020-21 season.

“I honestly wouldn’t change it for anything," Tyler Underwood said last March before his Senior Day game versus Iowa. "I think it’s helped me grow as a person and helped me grow as a player. I learned so many things along the way. I kind of looked at the whole thing as a journey. To know he appreciates that means the world to me. (My dad and I) both made sacrifices along the way. I think that’s what the whole thing is about, making sacrifices and helping each other out and just figuring it out."

Can’t wait to get back to work with my brothers! So excited to rock the orange and blue one more year! #EveryDayGuys https://t.co/fVfZuqvbQh
— Tyler Underwood (@TyUnderwoodILL) July 21, 2020