Brad Underwood is an American college basketball coach who is popular as the head coach of the men’s basketball team of the University of Illinois. Underwood has been one of the most successful program-builders in NCAA basketball. He took over Illinois in 2017 and has been able to make the Fighting Illini a nationally competitive program, including several Big Ten championships and a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 2026.
Brad Underwood Biography | |
|---|---|
| Real Name: | Bradly Cole Underwood |
| Birth Date: | December 14, 1963 |
| Age: | 62 Years |
| Birth Place: | McPherson, Kansas, USA |
| Height: | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Wife: | Susan Underwood |
Early Life
Brad Underwood was born on 14th December 1963 and brought up in the small town of McPherson, Kansas, where basketball culture is said to be dominant. He had been brought up in this kind of environment that played a key role in developing an interest in the sport.
Not much information is available about his parents in the public records, but he was exposed to competitive basketball and the hard training of the athletes at a tender age because he was brought up in Kansas.
His first playing experience in college was at Hardin-Simmons University, where he was transferred to Independence Community College, where he turned out to be a good player. He succeeded at Kansas State University, where he played as a guard between 1984 and 1986 and completed a degree in radio and television communications.
Brad Underwood Career
Brad Underwood started his career after completing his graduation as a graduate assistant at Hardin-Simmons University. He then began gradually to begin a career by becoming a coach of assistant and junior colleges in the likes of Dodge City Community College, Western Illinois and Daytona Beach Community College.
Stephen F. Austin State University hired him in 2013, and this became his first breakthrough as a head coach. There, he had been a tremendous success, as the team won three Southland Conference championships in a row and received several Coach of the Year awards. He also led an NCAA Tournament under his reign, and this made his profile very high in the country.
In 2016, Underwood replaced Nebraska coach Davie Bada as head coach at Oklahoma State University, where he got the team to the NCAA Tournament in his first year. His success would not take long to attract the attention of larger programs, and in March of 2017, he was given the job of being the head coach at the University of Illinois.
Illinois Fighting Illini
Brad Underwood engaged in a great rebuilding program at Illinois. During his early frustrations, he made the program an annual powerhouse in the Big Ten Conference. During his tenure, Illinois has taken both Big Ten Tournament titles in 2021 and 2024 and has taken a Big Ten regular-season title in 2022.
His best season in the tenure was the 2025–26 season, where he led Illinois to the NCAA Final Four, the first time the program had reached that point since 2005. This win cemented his image as a high-ranking coach who could take teams far into the postseason.
Brad Underwood has built a strong coaching record over his career, with more than 200 wins and a winning percentage above .650 as a Division I head coach. At the University of Illinois, he has gone roughly 165–101, leading the team to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances and consistent 20+ win seasons.
Personal Life
Susan Underwood is the wife of Brad Underwood, who has had a stable and long-term relationship. The marriage between the two has lasted more than forty years, and this indicates a very strong and lasting relationship that has sustained his rigorous coaching career.
It is said that Susan Underwood would give him some stability and comfort, given the fact that college basketball coaching is a highly pressurized and intense career, and it requires a lot of traveling.
Social Media
Brad Underwood is active on social media and can be found on Instagram, where he is associated with the page @coachunderwood, containing about 26.9K subscribers. The fact that he uses social media shows that he is a collegiate coach and not a personal influencer. The content of the posts usually consists of team updates, behind-the-scenes information about Illinois basketball, and inspirational information regarding leadership and sports culture.
Brad Underwood Net Worth & Salary
Brad Underwood signed a new deal with the University of Illinois in 2025 that keeps him as head coach through 2031. He earns about $4.4 million each year, plus a $1 million signing bonus and extra bonuses that increase over time.
The contract also rewards him for team success, like making deep runs in tournaments, and it even has options that could extend his stay up to 2035. Overall, it shows how much Illinois values him and wants him leading the program for years to come.