HOUSTON – The road to Brad Underwood’s first Final Four featured several stops along the way long before his arrival at Illinois in the spring of 2017. It’s a story of patience, belief and determination after he had to wait nearly three decades for his first head coaching job.
Twenty-six years. Nine schools. Six states.
Now in his 39th year as a coach, Underwood admits to regularly reflecting on the steps that brought him this far. This season, the 62-year-old Kansas native has guided his third-seeded Fighting Illini (28-8) to their first Final Four appearance since 2005 with No. 2 seed UConn (33-5) awaiting them Saturday in the national semifinals in Indianapolis.
“It’s been maybe a different path than most, but there’s not one step of it that I would give up,” Underwood said when recently asked by Hoops HQ about his coaching journey. “Because I’ve been beyond blessed to work for great people who have helped prepare me to get these moments.”
Underwood’s story begins in the central Kansas community of McPherson. The local high school is rich with basketball tradition as the McPherson Bullpups have won 15 boys state championships – the second-most in Kansas history.
The town is also home to the McPherson Glove Refiners, an AAU team that in 1936 won a gold medal after representing the United States at the first Olympic basketball tournament in Berlin. That team also pioneered modern offensive strategies, including the dunk.
After scoring more than 25 points per game as a senior at McPherson, Underwood averaged 6.3 points over 20 appearances as a 6-foot-4 freshman guard for Jim Hatfield in 1982-83 at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Hatfield left after that 3-25 campaign to become an assistant at Kentucky, then Underwood transferred to Independence (Kan.) Community College, where he averaged 17 points on a team that played for the 1984 NJCAA national championship.
Underwood played his final two seasons for Kansas State under Hall of Famer Jack Hartman, who won nearly 600 college games after claiming a JUCO national title and NIT championship at other stops earlier in his career. After limited playing time in his first year, Underwood averaged 3.1 points over 20 games during his senior season and was a vital role player and occasional starter for the Wildcats.
Now an assistant coach at Baylor, Steve Henson played for McPherson and Kansas State after Underwood. Henson finished as Kansas State’s all-time leader in assists before going on to play and coach in the NBA.
“We didn’t play together because I was four years younger than him, but he was such a good shooter with size,” Henson told Hoops HQ. “In our hometown we all looked up to the older guys who came before us, and Brad was one of the best players to come out of there in a long time. Being able to learn from Jack Hartman was tremendous for him.”
Underwood’s first coaching job took him back to a familiar place in West Texas when Dick Danford hired him at Hardin-Simmons prior to the 1986-87 season as a 23-year-old graduate assistant. Danford was an assistant for the Cowboys when Underwood played there.
Newly married at the time to his wife Susan, Underwood also served as the school’s cross country head coach. The Cowboys went 13-15 that season, but the knowledge learned during that year proved invaluable for Underwood as he worked alongside a young assistant named Dennis Harp, who later coached the program for two seasons before it dropped to D-III in 1990.
“Brad was unique as a young coach and an X-and-O guy with tremendous interpersonal skills after playing for Jack Hartman at Kansas State,” Harp told Hoops HQ. “He was an absolutely wonderful coach for us. He wasn’t making much money, but he loved the game of basketball, and his enthusiasm and knowledge were exceptional.”
Harp recalled a scouting trip that he and Underwood made together to the University of Texas at Arlington campus during the 1986-87 season. It’s about a five-hour roundtrip drive from Abilene to Arlington. “He just talked about basketball and the way it should be played,” says Harp, who has retired from coaching and now lives in Montana. “It was just really refreshing because he was just so beyond his years. It’s easy to say now, but you could see that he was going to have a bright future. I learned a lot from him.”
After his time at Hardin-Simmons, Underwood had a one-year stint as an assistant at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College before three seasons as the school’s head coach. He went 57-63 with the Conquistadors – winning 20 games in 1991-92 – while also driving the team bus on road trips and being the school’s audio visual coordinator.
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His tenure at Dodge City propelled him to Western Illinois, where he got his first D-I assistant job under Jim Kerwin. Over 11 years in Macomb, Underwood helped the Leathernecks post five consecutive winning seasons – the longest stretch in program history – with three straight appearances in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament finals from 1995-97.
Western Illinois lost in the league tournament final each of those seasons to Valparaiso, which was coached by Homer Drew and led by star guard Bryce Drew. Current Baylor head coach Scott Drew was an assistant for the Crusaders at that time.
“Western Illinois was at the bottom of the league when coach Underwood got there, but through his international ties he was able to recruit a lot of the players that turned that program around,” Scott Drew told Hoops HQ. “He’s always been a tremendous X-and-O coach, a great guy and a hard worker.”
After Kerwin retired in 2003, Underwood became the head coach at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Community College. He posted a 70-24 record and claimed two Mid-Florida Conference championships with the Falcons, who won at least 21 games in each of his three seasons.
In 2006, Underwood returned to the D-I level as the director of operations for Bob Huggins at Kansas State. He was promoted to be an assistant coach for the Wildcats in 2007-08, which was Frank Martin’s first year leading the program.
Southeastern Louisiana coach David Kiefer graduated from Kansas State after being a student manager while Underwood was an assistant for the Wildcats. He’s won at least 18 games in three of the past five seasons with the Lions.
“Coach Underwood was one of those guys who treated a student manager like he mattered,” Kiefer told Hoops HQ. “I was just trying to find my way in the profession, and he poured into me like I was a young coach. He coached hard, he demanded a lot, but he always did it the right way. That left a lasting impression on me.”
After helping Kansas State make four NCAA Tournament trips in his six seasons there, Underwood then followed Martin to South Carolina, where he was associate head coach in 2012-13. “You work for Bob Huggins, you work for Frank Martin, you learn winning,” Underwood said. “They helped.”
After one year with Martin in Columbia, Underwood finally got his first D-I head coaching job in 2013 when he was hired to replace Danny Kaspar at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Kaspar left behind a winning program as he had won 246 games with four Southland Conference regular-season championships and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009, but Underwood took it to another level. The Lumberjacks went dancing in each of his three seasons at the helm and three-peated as Southland regular-season and league tournament champions while posting an 89-14 record, including a 53-1 conference mark.
“Stephen F. Austin was a great starting point and an incredible job with great people,” Underwood said.
After tying Brad Stevens for the most wins ever by a head coach in his first three seasons at a D-I school, Underwood landed his first high-major head coaching position when he went to Oklahoma State in 2016. The Cowboys had just fired Travis Ford after going 12-20.
Underwood quickly turned around OSU, which won 20 games and earned a trip to the 2017 NCAA Tournament. His time in Stillwater was short, though, as Illinois came calling that spring following the dismissal of John Groce.
The Illini, who hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2013, needed a new leader and found one in Underwood. After two losing seasons to start his tenure in Champaign, Underwood has won at least 20 games in each of the past seven years. The last six seasons have included NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight run in 2024 and now this year’s Final Four berth.
“This is what our program always aspired to do,” Illinois director of athletics Josh Whitman told Hoops HQ after the Illini’s South Regional win over Iowa. “Obviously, we’ve got a couple more steps to go, but my hat’s off to coach Underwood and our guys. He’s been so consistent in his effort, and to be here now is amazing.”
Illinois star freshman guard Keaton Wagler appreciates what Underwood has done for him and the program. After having only two high-major offers coming out of Shawnee Mission (Kan.) Northwest, Wagler has developed into a consensus second-team All-American and is now a projected lottery pick.
“He’s a winner, and he hates losing,” Wagler told Hoops HQ. “He’s as competitive of a person as there is, and he means so much to the community. He believes in everyone here, and he’s pushed me to get better.”
Underwood’s son, Tyler, went to three high schools growing up before playing on NCAA Tournament teams for him at SFA, OSU and Illinois. Now he coaches with his dad at Illinois, which is two wins away from claiming the program’s first national championship.
“Those are the moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Tyler Underwood told Hoops HQ. “Playing for my dad and now coaching with him has been special, and it’s been amazing to see him be able to do what he loves and realize his dreams.”
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