My Illini are my niche on here, and I know Jamall Walker's name has been mentioned over the years in different ways on here.
At one point he was a guy considered locked into the STL market who was speculated to be a target of Cuonzo's when both teams were changing coaches. More recently something happened with him at U of I last offseason where he was demoted (spun as a coaching tasks promotion). That meant an exit from U of I seemed imminent at some point, and again it was somewhat speculated maybe he'd wind up in Columbia. Illinois actually spun it as a chance for him to get nitty gritty experience to take the step to head coach somewhere.
Well his departure did come, but it's as an assistant again, this time for Bryce Drew at Grand Canyon. Unverified info suggests Illini alum (and GCU mega donor) Jerry Colangelo worked with both programs to make this happen and that it's thusly on all good terms.
Walker did seem locked into STL, but after the mass exodus of STL kids from Illinois (or committed to Illinois) to Mizzou, I he never got anyone else locked up. This past year he wasn't in a recruiting role, but was focused on defensive scouting and prep, and Illinois did have massive improvement there this year, so I do think he was doing important stuff demotion or not.
As stuff starts to come to light from the FBI stuff, I'm hoping Illinois stays clean (enough). Obviously Underwood's past assistant from OSU was involved. And I've seen Walker's name come up too. I suspect that was primarily from his brief time under Sean Miller at Arizona, but the rumblings were also that Illini AD Whitman was the man behind the demotion because he didn't trust Walker to stay clean. It's always assumed everyone is at least operating in the gray area, and so I can only hope Walker didn't go beyond that.
Anyways. More than any of you probably cared to know, but since he's been relevant before, figured I'd update y'all.
At one point he was a guy considered locked into the STL market who was speculated to be a target of Cuonzo's when both teams were changing coaches. More recently something happened with him at U of I last offseason where he was demoted (spun as a coaching tasks promotion). That meant an exit from U of I seemed imminent at some point, and again it was somewhat speculated maybe he'd wind up in Columbia. Illinois actually spun it as a chance for him to get nitty gritty experience to take the step to head coach somewhere.
Well his departure did come, but it's as an assistant again, this time for Bryce Drew at Grand Canyon. Unverified info suggests Illini alum (and GCU mega donor) Jerry Colangelo worked with both programs to make this happen and that it's thusly on all good terms.
Walker did seem locked into STL, but after the mass exodus of STL kids from Illinois (or committed to Illinois) to Mizzou, I he never got anyone else locked up. This past year he wasn't in a recruiting role, but was focused on defensive scouting and prep, and Illinois did have massive improvement there this year, so I do think he was doing important stuff demotion or not.
As stuff starts to come to light from the FBI stuff, I'm hoping Illinois stays clean (enough). Obviously Underwood's past assistant from OSU was involved. And I've seen Walker's name come up too. I suspect that was primarily from his brief time under Sean Miller at Arizona, but the rumblings were also that Illini AD Whitman was the man behind the demotion because he didn't trust Walker to stay clean. It's always assumed everyone is at least operating in the gray area, and so I can only hope Walker didn't go beyond that.
Anyways. More than any of you probably cared to know, but since he's been relevant before, figured I'd update y'all.
