Illinois basketball’s news-filled spring continued on Friday when Geoff Alexander was promoted to on-court assistant coach.

Alexander spent the last four seasons at Illinois in a support staff role as assistant to the head coach.

“Geoff has more than earned this opportunity; he has been an integral part of the everyday operation of our program these past four years during a period of tremendous growth and success,” Illini coach Brad Underwood said in a press release.

Two coaching positions became open on the Illini staff when Orlando Antigua and Ronald “Chin” Coleman left to join John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky. Both were key recruiters in the Illini’s resurgence, landing future All-Americans Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn, rising star point guard Andre Curbelo, and several others.

Now that he’s a full-fledged assistant coach, Alexander will hit the recruiting trail this summer and try to fill the void. Underwood said that Alexander has some built-in ties that will aid in that effort to keep talent flowing to Champaign.

“He has countless connections throughout his home state of Illinois and extensive recruiting experience across the country and internationally from his previous stops,” Underwood said. “I've always said that Geoff is a student of the game.

In a separate much-expected move that became official on Friday, assistant coach Stephen Gentry announced he is leaving Illinois for Gonzaga, where he previously played and coached. With Alexander in and Gentry out, the Illini have one on-court assistant opening and one support staff role opening. Former Illini player Chester Frazier recently joined Underwood’s staff.

With all-three on-the-court assistant coaches from last season departing, continuity became an issue. Alexander’s hire means Underwood will have one less coach that he has to bring up to speed on the Illini’s roster and schemes.

“He has great relationships with our players and familiarity with our systems, making this a very smooth transition,” Underwood said. “That love and passion he has for basketball comes through in his coaching.”

Alexander and Underwood have a deep history together. They were assistants for two years at Western Illinois from 2001-02, and later Alexander was an assistant when Underwood was head coach at Daytona State College in Florida from 2004-06. Prior to joining Underwood’s Illinois staff in 2017, Alexander spent five seasons as an Evansville assistant coach.

Alexander comes from a legendary state of Illinois basketball family. His father, Neil, is the head coach at Lincoln High School and ranks second all-time in IHSA coaching wins. Geoff Alexander graduated from Lincoln in 1995 and attended Western Illinois, where he earned two degrees.