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Legendary Illinois basketball coach Lou Henson passes away at 88
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Legendary Illinois head basketball coach Lou Henson died on Saturday at the age of 88, the News-Gazette is reporting. He was buried on Thursday morning.
According to the report from the News-Gazette, it was the family’s wish to keep Henson’s passing private due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Henson was the longtime head coach at Illinois, leading the Fighting Illini from 1975-96. In over 20 seasons in Champaign, Henson racked up a career record of 423-244, which included a 216-164 mark against B1G opponents. He led the program to 15 postseason appearances, which included 12 visits to the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois’ best run under Henson came during the 1988-89 season, when the Fighting Illini finished the year with a 31-5 record and appeared in the Final Four. He also led the Illini to one B1G regular season title (1983-84) and was named the B1G Coach of the Year after the 1992-93 season.
Henson’s time at Illinois was sandwiched between stints at New Mexico State. He landed his first major college basketball coaching job with the Aggies, coaching the program from 1966-75 before departing for Champaign. After two decades at Illinois, Henson returned to New Mexico State where he led the team from 1997-2005.
In four decades as a head coach, Henson compiled an overall record of 779-412 and had 18 appearances in the NIT and NCAA Tournament.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB