Illinois Basketball: Five Illini Head Coach Options for 2017

Tim Jankovich

The next three coaches are a stretch but I wouldn’t mind having one of them.  The next candidate is SMU’s head coach Tim Jankovich.

Jankovich has the SMU Mustangs playing well this season.  They are 20-4 and looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

The coaching record for Jankovich is solid.  He started out in 1993 with North Texas and then eventually started to learn under Bill Self.

Jankovich was even an assistant under Self at Illinois for the 2002-03 season.  That year the Illini went 25-7 and won the Big Ten Tournament.

After spending time under Self with Illinois and Kansas, he decided to take his coaching talents to Illinois State.

With the Redbirds, Jankovich was successful.  He had over 20 wins in four out of five seasons with Illinois State.

The Illinois State job was good but Jankovich decided to accept the assistant coach in waiting position under Larry Brown at SMU in 2012.

After a few years of turmoil, Brown resigned and Jankovich took over the program.  He picked up right where Brown left off record wise.

I think Jankovich would be a solid candidate because he has recruited the state of Illinois and he was a coach for the Illini under a great mentor in Self.

I would not be opposed to hiring Jankovich for the Illini head coaching position.