Eight and a half months ago, the Illini Women’s basketball team was coachless after the retirement of Nancy Fahey. After nine seasons of finishing below .500 over two coaching tenures — and being the laughingstock of Big Ten women’s hoops — Illinois AD Josh Whitman knew the program needed some rebranding.
This wasn’t the first time Whitman had to make a hoops hire. Much like women’s basketball, his men’s team was once in the same boat, but the hire of Brad Underwood turned the Illini basketball program into a well-oiled machine. So, when looking at the potential candidates to turn the Women’s basketball program around, one name stood out from the rest: Shauna Green
At the time, Whitman had this to say about the former Dayton head coach.