Illinois Basketball: Illini lose assistant coach Jamall Walker

The Illinois basketball team lost a member of the coaching staff on Wednesday afternoon.

Grand Canyon University posted on Twitter the assistant coaches for new head coach, Bryce Drew. The assistant coaches who Drew hired were Ed Schilling, Casey Shaw and Illinois assistant coach, Jamall Walker. This came as a surprise to some fans, but the consensus seems to be happy for Walker.

Walker joined the Illinois program back in 2012-2013 when John Groce took over. He followed Groce to Champaign after coaching with him at Ohio University. The stint with the Illini was a little shaky, to say the least.

Illinois managed to make the NCAA tournament and advance to the second round in the first year Walker was an assistant coach. This was a great start to what was hopefully going to be a promising run with the Orange and Blue.

After that NCAA tournament appearance, the Illini hit a roadblock. They couldn’t get back to the Big Dance for the rest of the time Groce was at the helm. At the end of the 2016-2017 campaign, Groce was let go and Walker actually took over the reins of the program for three games. He finished his head coaching stint with a 2-1 record and all of these games were in the NIT.

The Groce era ended and the Brad Underwood era started. This usually means a complete coaching staff turnover, but Underwood kept Walker on his staff. This was a solid move to help with recruiting and coaching in general.

Walker’s first two years under the Underwood regime weren’t good. Illinois was even further from the postseason than before. But this past season is where everything came together. The Illini were sensational and would have made the NCAA tournament if it wasn’t canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Walker now steps away making the NCAA tournament in his first and last seasons with the Illinois basketball program. The Antelopes are getting a solid assistant coach who will represent the program well. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.