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Illinois men's basketball coach Bruce Weber has been fired after nine seasons at the school.
The school made the announcement at a news conference Friday after Weber was informed of his removal earlier in the day.
"It's difficult to make these decisions when you are talking about someone the quality of person that Bruce Weber is," athletics director Mike Thomas said. "Bruce is everything you'd want in a coach as it relates to how he represents the university, his student-athletes, his programs and that makes it much more difficult."
The move comes less than 24 hours after the Illini fell to 17-15 with a loss to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
Weber will receive a $3.9 million buyout that is spread out equally over three years.
Assistant coach Jerrance Howard will serve as interim coach until a successor is hired and will lead the team if it is selected to the NIT.
In his second season at the school in 2005, Weber took the Illini to the national title game against North Carolina. But he could never duplicate that success after the departure of Deron Williams and Dee Brown.
Since that season, Illinois has won two NCAA tournament games and will miss the field for the third time in five seasons.
After beating Ohio State in early January, Illinois was 15-3 before losing 12 of its last 14 games. Weber finishes with a 210-101 record at the school.
"It's really how we were trending. I looked, as I said before, the total body of work, not just the last three or four months or not just the last month, but really the last nine years," Thomas said.
Thomas, who has been on the job since August, has also fired football coach Ron Zook and women's basketball coach Jolette Law.
The opening should attract quality candidates. ESPN is reporting that VCU's Shaka Smart could be the No. 1 target. Smart was an assistant at Akron when Thomas was its athletics director.
Thomas said it would be a national search.
"We will move quickly but we will move diligently," Thomas said. "I am excited about the prospects of this program for the future. Certainly, the key to that is feeling like we have the right person in place to lead what is a very national program that has a history of great success."
Weber could be a candidate at Southern Illinois, where he coached for five seasons after being a longtime assistant at Purdue under Gene Keady. The Salukis fired Chris Lowery last week.
The school made the announcement at a news conference Friday after Weber was informed of his removal earlier in the day.
"It's difficult to make these decisions when you are talking about someone the quality of person that Bruce Weber is," athletics director Mike Thomas said. "Bruce is everything you'd want in a coach as it relates to how he represents the university, his student-athletes, his programs and that makes it much more difficult."
The move comes less than 24 hours after the Illini fell to 17-15 with a loss to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
Weber will receive a $3.9 million buyout that is spread out equally over three years.
Assistant coach Jerrance Howard will serve as interim coach until a successor is hired and will lead the team if it is selected to the NIT.
In his second season at the school in 2005, Weber took the Illini to the national title game against North Carolina. But he could never duplicate that success after the departure of Deron Williams and Dee Brown.
Since that season, Illinois has won two NCAA tournament games and will miss the field for the third time in five seasons.
After beating Ohio State in early January, Illinois was 15-3 before losing 12 of its last 14 games. Weber finishes with a 210-101 record at the school.
"It's really how we were trending. I looked, as I said before, the total body of work, not just the last three or four months or not just the last month, but really the last nine years," Thomas said.
Thomas, who has been on the job since August, has also fired football coach Ron Zook and women's basketball coach Jolette Law.
The opening should attract quality candidates. ESPN is reporting that VCU's Shaka Smart could be the No. 1 target. Smart was an assistant at Akron when Thomas was its athletics director.
Thomas said it would be a national search.
"We will move quickly but we will move diligently," Thomas said. "I am excited about the prospects of this program for the future. Certainly, the key to that is feeling like we have the right person in place to lead what is a very national program that has a history of great success."
Weber could be a candidate at Southern Illinois, where he coached for five seasons after being a longtime assistant at Purdue under Gene Keady. The Salukis fired Chris Lowery last week.
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