How Brad Underwood Sold New Associate Head Coach Orlando Antigua on a Return to Champaign
With an opening on his coaching staff, the recruitment of Orlando Antigua back to an Illinois program started with a check-up phone call by Illini head coach Brad Underwood.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer
April 24, 2024
CHAMPAIGN — Not unlike the recruitment of a player, the acquisition of a well respected assistant coach back to the Illinois bench began with a simple question in a phone call from Brad Underwood.
“We’ve stayed in touch and I asked him. I reached out just to see what his interest level might be in terms of coming back to help an old friend,” Underwood said Tuesday morning in a media session from the Ubben Basketball Complex.
The seventh-year head coach at Illinois was pleasantly satisfied when Orlando Antigua didn’t immediately dismiss the notion of a return to Champaign-Urbana for a second stint on Underwood’s coaching staff.