Illinois Basketball: Who belongs on the Mount Rushmore?
Lou Henson (Head Coach 1975-1996)
The easiest pick for the Illinois basketball Mount Rushmore is former Illini head coach and all-time great, Lou Henson. He built the foundation for a legendary program that has reached great heights since taking over in 1975.
Henson has coached more games than any other Illinois head coach. He has 647 games under his belt; second place is Harry Combes with 466 games. He also has the most wins in the history of the program with 421 victories and 226 losses. That is a winning rate of 65.1-percent, and the only reason that winning rate isn’t higher is because he took over a program that only made one NCAA tournament appearance in the previous 22 years.
The legendary coach owns the second highest single-season wins total of 31 victories in program history. That was in 1988-89 when, at the time, the best team in Illinois basketball history made it all the way to the Final Four.
At one time in Henson’s coaching history, he took the Illini to eight straight NCAA tournaments, which included the Final Four run. He also sent 10 of his players to the NBA as well. And to top it all off, the State Farm Center now has a court named Lou Henson Court. His legend carries through every generation of Illinois basketball fan.