Illinois hires Oklahoma State's Brad Underwood as head coach

Illinois made a massive splash in hiring a new head coach Saturday with the announcement it's named Oklahoma State's Brad Underwood as Illini bench boss.

"Coaching basketball at the University of Illinois is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Underwood said in a statement. "During my time at Western Illinois, I always saw the Illinois coaching job as one of the truly best in the nation. I want to thank (athletic director) Josh Whitman for the opportunity to join the Fighting Illini family and look forward to working with him to build a championship program."

Underwood just completed his first season as Cowboys head coach after coming over from Stephen F. Austin, and led the Big 12 club to a 20-13 record and a fifth-place conference showing.

The announcement comes one day after Oklahoma State fell to Michigan by a single point in arguably the most entertaining game of the NCAA tournament thus far.

The Illinois position became available earlier in the week after the school fired John Groce following a five-season run with a 95-75 overall record.

The move comes as a surprise to many since Underwood just completed the first season of a five-year contract with the Cowboys. While the $1-million salary he received in 2016-17 represented a massive increase from the $400,000 he made at Stephen F. Austin, it's still one of the lowest head coach salaries in the Big 12.

Groce's contract paid him $1.6 million annually.

The Cowboys are now tasked with finding the program's third head coach in the span of a year.