Brad Underwood finished assembling his coaching staff Wednesday, adding a Chicago presence to the Illinois bench.
After announcing the retention of Jamall Walker and the addition of Orlando Antigua as assistant coaches last week, Underwood announced that Ron "Chin" Coleman will be his third and final assistant in his first season in Champaign.
Coleman, a Chicago native, spent the past two seasons as an assistant at UIC, and prior to that he was an assistant for three seasons at Bradley.
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Coleman also worked as a coach with Chicago-based AAU program Mac Irvin Fire from 2005 to 2011. That program has boasted tons of top talent, including recent Chicago mega-recruits Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander.
"We're excited to bring Coach Ron 'Chin' Coleman on board. He is a terrific young coach who has worked hard to earn his way up the ranks," Underwood said in the announcement. "He has tremendous knowledge of the state of Illinois and city of Chicago, growing up and playing there, and then cutting his coaching teeth at the high school and grassroots level with the Mac Irvin Fire. He is a student of the game, a great teacher, and will be an outstanding addition to the University of Illinois basketball program and for our players."
Coleman joins the two previously announced members of Underwood's staff. Walker has been an Illinois assistant since 2012 and has been a recruiting presence in the St. Louis area. Antigua, whose brief tenure as the head coach at South Florida ended last season, was a longtime member of John Calipari's coaching staffs at Memphis and Kentucky, where he helped recruit some of the highest-ranked players in the country.