Jun. 3—The list of former Illinois women’s basketball players who have coached at the Division I level has recently included the likes of (Southern Illinois), (also at Southern Illinois) and (Loyola Chicago). Guth resigned as the coach of the Ramblers after the 2025-26 season, while Stein retired from coaching in 2022.
Stein basically handed the reins to Bond-White after the longtime assistant coach at Texas A&M left College Station, Texas, to return to her home state and lead the Salukis starting with the 2022-23 season. Bond-White just wrapped up her fourth season in Carbondale and is 37-85 as the SIU coach.
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The dearth of former Illini standouts turned coaches got me to thinking, and I came up with five names that should be considered as head-coaching material by Division I women’s basketball programs in the future.
Bryant is already doing well as a studio analyst with the Big Ten Network and ACC Network, and her ability to break down the game is impressive. She’s also one of the most likable athletes I’ve covered. Her openness to discuss her struggles from little-used guard at North Carolina State to Second-Team All-Big Ten selection as a fifth-year senior with Illinois would be relatable to current college players. Bryant is the kind of success story that is worth telling over and over again.
Bostic would be a home-run hire for any program one day. Bostic joined Bryant as part of a senior class that completely changed the trajectory of the Illini women’s basketball program with as coach. The all-time leading rebounding in Illinois history has been a hit since partnering with radio play-by-play announcer on WDWS for the call of Illinois games. Bostic’s career could go in a lot of different directions, but coaching should be one the Kokomo, Ind., native definitely considers.
Smith played one season for Hall of Fame coach before playing for . That Law didn’t win at nearly the same level as Grentz did in Champaign takes nothing away from what Smith accomplished on the court as the all-time leader in points (2,160), rebounds (1,217), blocks (231) and double-doubles (53) when the former Minnesota Miss Basketball ended her Illini career. Smith, a Hall of Famer herself, has all the credentials to be a head coach coach having also played in the WNBA.
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Catchings played a big part in the best stretch of women’s basketball played in C-U as the Illini won the program’s only-ever Big Ten title when the Stevenson High School alumna was a freshman at Illinois. The co-founder alongside her sister — four-time Gold medalist — and current executive director of the Catch the Stars Foundation, Tauja Catchings finished her Illinois career with 1,502 points, which ranks 12th in program history en route to being a third-round pick of the Phoenix Mercury in the 2000 WNBA draft.
Another star from the Grentz era had one of most productive careers in Illini history with the second-most points (2,089). The Barrington native was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 1997, a three-time All-Big Ten First-Team selection and an Associated Press Third Team All-American in 1998. Check out a video of Berggren talking to last season’s young Illini team during a pregame shooutaround this past February before Illinois played at Washington (a 75-66 Illinois win in Seattle, by the way). Impressive stuff.
