Brad Underwood joins growing list of Final Four coaches with ties to K-State
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Brad Underwood, former K-State assistant, leads Illinois to the Final Four.
- K-State has multiple former coaches who reached Final Four with other programs.
- An Illinois title would make Underwood the first ex-K-State coach to win one.
Shortly after Brad Underwood helped Illinois clinch its first trip to the Final Four in more than two decades, one of his former players took to social media to celebrate.
Former Kansas State forward Darren Kent, who spent three years with Underwood when he was an assistant for the Wildcats, wanted to remind the world that he once played for an elite coaching staff.
In 2006, the head coach at K-State was Bob Huggins. The lead assistant coach was Frank Martin. Further down the bench was Underwood. Together, they formed quite the trio of basketball minds inside Bramlage Coliseum.
Now that Underwood has led Illinois to the biggest stage in college hoops, they have something else in common. They have all guided a team to the Final Four.
“Three Final Four coaches on one staff,” Kent wrote on X. “How lucky were we?”
In hindsight, it is now easy to understand why that group of coaches was able to quickly rebuild a struggling basketball program that hadn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 1996.
Huggins only stayed in Manhattan for one season before he accepted the head coaching job at West Virginia, his alma mater. But he led K-State to 23 wins and the NIT that year. The Wildcats promoted Martin to build off that momentum. Underwood remained on staff. Michael Beasley and Jacob Pullen joined Kent on the roster. K-State kept winning.
Between 2006 (when Huggins was hired) and 2012 (when Martin left for South Carolina), the Wildcats reeled off six straight seasons with at least 20 wins. They also reached the NCAA Tournament four times, winning at least one game in March Madness all four times. The zenith of that era came in 2010 when the Wildcats won 29 games and made a run to the Elite Eight.
That success continued after K-State hired Bruce Weber, another Final Four coach, to lead the team. The Wildcats shared a Big 12 championship in 2013 and kept their postseason streak alive in 2014.
Underwood, a McPherson native who played for K-State, remains popular in Manhattan because of his role during that turnaround.
Several other former K-State players and fans took to social media to congratulate Underwood for his Final Four berth. Jordan Henriquez wrote that he “couldn’t be any happier” that once overlooked Kansas City recruit Keaton Wagler was able to become a star point guard while playing for Underwood.
But Underwood’s run to the Final Four hasn’t made everyone in EMAW Nation feel warm and fuzzy.
His success has left some to lament the fact that K-State didn’t hire Underwood as head coach when it had the chance, as he moved up the ranks from Stephen F. Austin to Oklahoma State and then to Illinois.
His trip to the Final Four also continues an upsetting trend for K-State basketball fans. The Wildcats’ last Final Four appearance came in 1964. Many coaches with K-State ties have been there more recently, just not while wearing purple.
Lon Kruger (Florida and Oklahoma), Dana Altman (Oregon), Bob Huggins (West Virginia), Frank Martin (South Carolina), Bruce Weber (Illinois) and Underwood (Illinois) have all reached the Final Four with different programs.
Underwood can separate himself from the pack this weekend, though.
If Illinois defeats Connecticut on Saturday and then beats Arizona or Michigan on Monday, he will become the first coach in that group to win a national championship.
Some of his former K-State players will be rooting hard for Underwood to make that happen.