Illini assistant coach Geoff Alexander living a dream
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (BVM) — New Illinois assistant coach Geoff Alexander is cut from Hall of Fame thread.
Alexander was promoted to assistant coach on May 21 after spending the previous four seasons with Illinois as an assistant to head coach Brad Underwood. The promotion moves Alexander from an off-court, non-recruiting position to an on-court assistant coach that is allowed to be involved with recruiting.
“I’ve told a lot of people over the last two or three days that I’m living a dream,” Alexander said on the date of his promotion. “Growing up, in the state, knowing how big of a program this is and what it has always been.”
Alexander spent the previous four seasons on Underwood’s staff in the role of assistant to the head coach. In that role, Alexander contributed to scouting reports, game and practice preparation, offensive and defensive implementation, player development planning and video analysis.
His previous responsibilities could potentially help him transition into his new role with more hands-on responsibilities inside the program. In the last year, Alexander was able to be more involved with on-court responsibilities and recruiting, due to relaxed NCAA rules because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was able to be on the floor in a specific capacity,” Alexander said. “I was able to make recruiting calls, due to the pandemic. This last year has been different, it’s making the transition to on the court a little easier with recruiting because of the restrictions that were taken off last year.”
Growing up in Lincoln, Ill., Alexander quickly took a following to Lou Henson’s Illinois teams of the 1980s. He idolized Illini greats Kendall Gill and Kenny Battle. Later in the early 2000s, Alexander and his family would travel to Champaign to see Brian Cook play, his dad’s former player.
Goeff’s dad, Neil Alexander, is the second winningest coach in Illinois high school basketball history, and was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame in 2004. Neil is currently the president of the IBCA and completed his 44th season as a high school basketball coach. Safe to say, Geoff has basketball in his blood.
“Basketball is our family,” Geoff said. “Ever since I was little, I’ve been part of a team and been part of my dad’s teams from an early age. Being at practice, being part of something and just seeing how important relationships are and how they materialize through the years.”
Geoff Alexander is one of three new assistant coaches at Illinois this offseason. Illinois lost all three assistant coaches this offseason despite being a one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman left for Kentucky, and Stephen Gentry packed his bags and returned to his alma mater, Gonzaga.
Underwood knew that he wanted Alexander — a former player of Underwood’s at Western Illinois — to assume one of the vacant positions on staff, and he simply took Geoff out to lunch to tell him that he was being promoted.
“I knew what his reaction would be,” Underwood said in a press conference. “It’s fun to share good news. Sometimes all we hear is bad and you have to have hard conversations sometimes. There’s nothing better than telling him that he was the guy.”
Geoff proceeded to call his family to let them know the news, and it’s a conversation that he’s never going to forget.
“My dad got emotional, he knows I’ve worked long and hard for this,” Alexander said. “This has been a dream and I’ve always known I was going to coach. I didn’t know I wanted to do it at this level until I was in Indianapolis with my dad for the Duke and Kansas National Championship game. From that point on I knew I wanted to do this. I will never forget that. He was a guy that took me to a lot of different things as a young kid that ultimately pushed me to this direction of wanting to do this at the highest level.”
With the NCAA’s recruiting dead period now over, Alexander gets to use his passion on the road recruiting the next generation of Illini.
“I love this program, I love this school, I love this state,” Alexander said. “I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
