Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood has announce his departure from the team earlier today….

Illinois basketball assistant coach Chester Frazier is leaving the Illini program to take a job as a West Virginia assistant, Brad Underwood told Illini Inquirer on Tuesday. Frazier is expected to be associate head coach at West Virginia and join first-year Mountaineers coach Darian DeVries, who was hired after a successful six-year tenure at Drake, which included three NCAA Tournament appearances during the last four seasons

We thank Chester for his undying loyalty, his dedication. Nobody bled orange and blue more than him. He’s a guy that has lived it. But I’m excited for him. He came here wanting to win championships because he didn’t as a player, and he came away with two. I’m excited his path as associate head coach is the next step. Excited it puts him back in a vicinity where his name recognition will really I think pay off for him in his desire to be a head coach. He was fantastic and wish him nothing but the best.”

Brad Underwood has an assistant coach position to fill for the first time in three years. Underwood hired Frazier and Tim Anderson and promoted Geoff Alexander for assistant roles in the summer of 2021 after all three previous assistants left after Illinois earned a No. 1 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament: Stephen Gentry to Gonzaga and Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman to Kentucky