On Thursday, the University of Illinois announced that Illinois assistant basketball coaches Tim Anderson, Chester Frazier and Geoff Alexander all received contract extensions through the 2025 season. Illinois previously announced a contract extension in March for head coach Brad Underwood through the 2028 season.
Anderson, Frazier and Alexander all completed their first season as full-time assistants with the Fighting Illini after the 2021-22 season. Illinois went 23-10 overall in 2021-22 and 15-5 in conference play, the program’s third consecutive season of at least 20 wins.
The Illini ended the season ranked No. 19 by the AP – the third straight season the Illini have finished in the top-25 and the longest streak since 2000-06.
Underwood has helped guide the Illini to a Big Ten best 44-16 record in league games over the last three seasons, the conference’s premier win total and highest winning percentage. But the Illini fell to No. 5 seeded Houston in the Round of 32 to conclude this season, marking consecutive seasons where the Illini earned a top-4 seed but failed to make it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
Both Anderson and Frazier joined Underwood’s staff last summer after the departures of Chin Coleman and Orlando Antigua to Kentucky and the loss of Stephen Gentry to his alma mater, Gonzaga. Alexander served in the role of assistant to the head coach from 2017-2021 on Underwood’s staff at Illinois before being elevated to an on-court assistant coaching role last summer.
Anderson and Frazier helped the Illini land a top-10 ranked recruiting class in their first seasons with Illinois. Frazier was the lead assistant for both of the Illini’s first two commits – Sencire Harris and Jayden Epps – before Anderson led the charge for Ty Rodgers and Skyy Clark. Anderson also played an important role in the Illini landing Texas Tech transfer wing Terrence Shannon Jr. this offseason.
While Alexander didn’t land a recruit in the 2022 class, he played an integral role in the return of Kofi Cockburn to the Illini for junior season. Cockburn would go on to be a consensus All-American last season and was the only player in the country to average 20 points and 10 rebounds a game.
In 2021-22, Alexander served as the “offensive coordinator” for an Illini team that finished the season with a top-30 ranked offensive efficiency, according to Kenpom. Frazier served as the “defensive coordinator,” helping lead the Illini to the 29th ranked defensive efficiency in the country last season.
Before coming to Illinois last summer, Anderson spent 15 years coaching and training players. Anderson was an assistant coach at DePaul for four seasons after starting his own training organization – Ground Zero Training – where he helps prepare college players for the NBA Draft while also working with NBA players. Anderson has spent time training NBA stars Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Derrick Rose of the New York Knicks.
Frazier, an alum and former player at Illinois from 2006-09 was an assistant coach for two seasons at Virginia Tech under Mike Young. Prior to his time with the Hokies, Frazier worked under his former Illinois coach Bruce Weber at Kansas State for seven seasons. Frazier helped lead the Wildcats to a pair of Big 12 championships in 2013 and 2019 while on staff with the Wildcats.
Alexander joined Underwood’s original coaching staff in 2017 after working as an assistant coach at Evansville for five seasons. Alexander’s coaching career started when he was a graduate assistant at Western Illinois from 2001-02 after playing two seasons with the Leathernecks. Underwood was an assistant coach at Western Illinois during Alexander’s time as a player at Western Illinois.
Anderson was paid a base salary of $425,000 last season while Frazier was paid a base salary of $525,000 and Alexander was paid $350,000.
