Former Illini coach Weber lands Kansas State job

Former Illinois coach Bruce Weber has landed on his feet.

Kansas State hired him Saturday less than a month after Illinois fired him.

He replaces Frank Martin, who left the Wildcats for a job at South Carolina, and received a five-year contract worth $1.5 million in 2012-13 and increasing $100,000 in each subsequent year of the deal.

Illinois still is on the hook for $3.9 million to Weber for the three years that were left of his contract.

?I could not be more excited about the opportunity that has presented itself here at K-State,? Weber said in a statement the school released. ?I?m happy to come to a place that has great tradition. When

"I?ve talked with people over the last couple of weeks, the main thing they emphasize to me ? my mentors and peers ? that I just don?t take any job. So I?m very fortunate to take a job where there is already something built.?

There are some who aren?t so happy with the hiring.

Former Wildcats star guard Jacob Pullen tweeted he didn?t like the choice at all.

?Bruce Webber (sic) didn?t think I was good enough to play at Illinois and I don?t think he is good enough to coach at Kansas State,? wrote Pullen, whom Weber didn?t recruit out of Proviso East.

Pullen, who now plays professionally in Italy after being bypassed in the 2011 NBA draft, later tweeted: ?I support Kstate for life no matter what but ? Kstate can do a lot better.?

Weber was fired from Illinois on March 9 after nine seasons with a 210-101 record. He had led the Illini to NCAA tournament title game in 2005, but the team declined recently and missed out on three of the last five tournaments.

This season the team started 10-0 but went 17-15 overall, collapsing into a 2-12 finish with a first-round loss to Iowa in the Big Ten tournament. Illini athletic director Mike Thomas fired him the next day and replaced him Wednesday with John Groce from Ohio University.

Weber inherits a Wildcats team that returns all but one scholarship player from a group that finished 22-11 and advanced to the NCAA round of 32 this season.

Weber reportedly interviewed for the SMU job Thursday. He had been linked to the Southern Illinois job, where he previously had had a successful run including a NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, but the Salukis hired Barry Hinson.

sryan@tribune.com
Twitter @sryantribune

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