:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5815407/20120304_jel_ac1_174.jpg)
The Illinois State Redbirds have been looking for a head basketball coach ever since ex-head coach Tim Jankovich unexpectedly resigned from the position in order to join Larry Brown at SMU as an assistant coach and coach-in-waiting. The search is expected to end sometimes this week, as The Pantagraph is reporting that the school is readying to promote assistant coach Rob Judson to the top job sometime this week.
Judson has been a Redbirds assistant for the past five seasons after he was fired by the Northern Illinois Huskies, where he compiled a 74-101 record as head coach. According to The Pantagraph, Illinois State also interviewed Vanderbilt Commodores assistant Dan Muller, who is an ex-Redbirds player, as well as Gonzaga Bulldogs assistant Ray Giacoletti, who was an assistant at Illinois State in the early 1990s.
Aside from getting another shot at a head coaching job, Judson will inherit a Redbirds team that returns the nucleus of a team that went 21-14 last season, and if he's able to lead the Redbirds to their first NCAA Tournament birth since 1998, he'll probably be around just about as long as he wants.
For more on this story stick with SB Nation Chicago. For more news, notes and analysis from around the country, visit SB Nation's college basketball news hub.