Brad Underwood has served as the University of Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball head coach since 2017 and guided the program to a Final Four return in the 2025‑26 NCAA Tournament.
The Illinois ledger under Underwood lists a 193‑109 record and the coach holds an overall NCAA head coaching mark of 302‑136 as reported by his profile.
Underwood’s Illinois teams captured Big Ten tournament titles in 2021 and 2024 and won the Big Ten regular season in 2022, producing multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Illini reached the Elite Eight in 2023‑24, then in subsequent seasons earned a 3 seed in the 2024‑25 and 2025‑26 tournaments, advancing through regionals to the 2026 Final Four.
Underwood signed an initial six‑year contract worth $18 million and later received a series of extensions that moved his base salary and extended his term substantially.
On March 2, 2020 his contract was extended through the 2025‑26 season with a reported base salary increase to $3.4 million, and later extensions extended his deal through the 2030‑31 season, with current reports listing a $4.4 million annual salary.
Background And Compliance Developments
Before Illinois, Underwood was head coach at Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, Dodge City Community College and Daytona Beach Community College, and he served on college staffs at Kansas State and Western Illinois.
At Stephen F. Austin he led dominant conference seasons and NCAA Tournament wins, but in the spring of 2019 the Stephen F. Austin athletics department discovered certification errors and vacated 117 men’s basketball victories from 2014 through 2019.
Oklahoma State’s program later received NCAA penalties in 2020, including a postseason ban for 2020‑21, tied to violations committed during Underwood’s tenure as reported in program documents.
Underwood played collegiately at Hardin‑Simmons, Independence Community College and Kansas State, and he graduated from Kansas State in 1986 with a degree in radio and television communications.
He is a native of McPherson, Kansas, married to Susan Underwood and has three children, including Tyler Underwood who later joined Illinois staff; Underwood also received the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award in 2023 and became Council Chair in 2024.
