CHAMPAIGN, Ill., April 30 (UPI) -- Bruce Weber, the men's basketball coach at Southern Illinois the past five years, Wednesday was named to a similar post at Illinois.
Weber, who went 103-54 in five seasons at Southern Illinois, replaces Bill Self, who left last week to become coach at Kansas.
During his tenure at Carbondale, Ill., he went 103-54, taking the Salukis to the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament in 2002. They lost, 72-71, to Missouri in the first round of the tournament this year on foul call in the final seconds.
Southern Illinois was 24-7 this past season, and won the regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship.
"I'm honored and humbled to be named coach at this institution," Weber said Wednesday at a news conference. "It's a dream job. It's a tremendous honor. Everybody talks about dream jobs, I had a dream to be a Big Ten coach, to be in a program that can be in the top 15 in the country, and truly has that chance to win a championship."
Creighton Coach Dana Altman and Northern Illinois Coach Rob Judson were considered the front-runners for the Illinois job after Tom Crean elected to stay at Marquette, but Illinois apparently decided on the Weber, 46, who has roots in the Big Ten after spending 18 seasons as an assistant under Gene Keady at Purdue before going to Southern Illinois in 1998.
"Bruce Weber is the coach to lead us to the next level," said Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther. "We wanted to have a guy who had midwest roots who had Big Ten experience. Our kids are going to like working for him because he's honest. We brought toughness and heart to the program."
His association with Keady allowed Weber to gain experience on the international level. He was an assistant coach for the USA Team at the World University Games in 1989, and the Pan American Games in 1991.
The Omaha World-Herald had quoted a person close to Altman as saying the Bluejays coach informed the Illini that he was no longer interested. That person also said no formal contract was offered to Altman.
"The pieces are in place to make that next run," said Weber, who will stress a strong man-to-man defense, and an aggressive offense. "I truly believe I was the right fit. Integrity, honor and committment; I think that's what I'm about. I have said I would only take a job where I felt I had an opportunity to be at a national program where I can finish my career and win a national championship, and I think this is it."
Illinois went 78-24 in three seasons under Self, sharing two Big Ten regular-season titles, and winning a conference tournament championship. The Fighting Illini advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons, and reached the "Sweet 16" in 2002.
There was a vacancy at Kansas after Roy Williams left for North Carolina.
