 Weber at the2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament | |||||||||||||||
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1956-10-19)October 19, 1956 (age 69) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Western Kentucky (GA) | ||||||||||||||
| 1980–1998 | Purdue (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–2003 | Southern Illinois | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2012 | Illinois | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2022 | Kansas State | ||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| Overall | 497–302 (.622) | ||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 15–13 (NCAA Division I) 3–2 (NIT) | ||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||
| Championships | |||||||||||||||
| NCAA Division I Regional – Final Four (2005) 2MVC regular season (2002, 2003) 2Big Ten regular season (2004, 2005) Big Ten tournament (2005) 2Big 12 regular season (2013, 2019) | |||||||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||||||
| Adolph Rupp Cup (2005) AP Coach of the Year (2005) Henry Iba Award (2005) NABC Coach of the Year (2005) Naismith College Coach of the Year (2005) MVC Coach of the Year (2003) Big Ten Coach of the Year (2005) Victor Awards National Coach of the Year (2005) AP Big 12 Coach of the Year (2013) Big 12 Coach of the Year (2013) USBWA District VI Coach of the Year (2013, 2019) NABC District 8 Coach of the Year (2013) Saluki Hall of Fame Class (2018) USA Basketball National co-Coach of the Year (2019) | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bruce Brett Weber (born October 19, 1956) is an American former men's basketball coach who was most recently the head coach atKansas State University.[1] Prior to his tenure at Kansas State, Weber was the head coach atSouthern Illinois University and theUniversity of Illinois.[2]
Weber won conference championships and conference coach of the year awards at each of the three schools where he served as head coach. He guided his teams to a combined total of 13NCAA tournaments in 24 seasons, including an appearance with Illinois in the championship game of the2005 NCAA tournament. Weber was the consensus national coach of the year in2005.
Weber began his coaching career with a brief stint as a graduate assistant coach atWestern Kentucky University during the 1979–80 season under head coachGene Keady. In 1980, Weber moved toPurdue University along with Keady. He remained an assistant coach at Purdue for 18 seasons before becoming the head coach atSouthern Illinois University in 1998.
In his five seasons at Southern Illinois, Weber led the Salukis to consecutiveMissouri Valley Conference championships andNCAA tournament appearances in2002 and2003, including aSweet Sixteen finish in 2002.
On April 30, 2003, Weber was hired byIllinois to replaceBill Self, who had departed from Illinois to take the head coaching job atKansas.
The Illini played a tough early season game againstNorth Carolina on December 2 in Greensboro, and were tied at 69 with just six minutes to go. Illinois eventually lost the game 88–81, but it proved to be a good test for the young team with no seniors in the starting lineup. Weber faced his toughest test after starting the conference schedule with an even 3–3 mark. He changed many doubters' minds by winning the remaining ten games on the conference schedule, winning theBig Ten title outright for the first time since 1952. The Illini finished second losing toWisconsin in theBig Ten tournament championship game. They received a bid as a #5 seed in the2004 NCAA tournament, defeatingMurray State andCincinnati in the first two rounds to reach the Sweet Sixteen. A 72–62 loss to top-seededDuke ended their tournament run, but capped a solid first season for coach Weber.
The 2005 season opened with high expectations and the return of all the team's starters. On December 1, the Illini defeated the number-one ranked team,Wake Forest, 91–73, atAssembly Hall. Weber sported a glowing orange blazer for the game, and Assembly Hall was painted orange by the 16,618 fans wearing school colors. The pressure grew for Weber as the victory vaulted the Illini to the top spot in the polls the following week, a spot they would carry for the rest of the season. Regular season perfection and their 29–0 record ended on the last game of the regular season, however, as Illinois lost a 12-point, second half lead toOhio State and lost on a last second shot to theThad Matta-coached Buckeyes, 65–64. The Illini won the Big Ten regular season andTournament titles.
In the2005 NCAA tournament the team received the overall #1 seed, and top seed in the Midwest Regional. Illinois defeatedFairleigh Dickinson andNevada in the first two rounds inIndianapolis. In the Sweet Sixteen, Weber led the Illini to a victory over his alma-mater,Milwaukee, then defeatedArizona in an amazing comeback to advance to the Final Four.[3] After leading Illinois to a win overLouisville in the Final Four, Weber could not deliver the Fighting Illini their first national championship, falling 75–70 toNorth Carolina in theNational Championship game.
Weber coached the team to the best record in school history, finishing 37–2, and tying the NCAA record for most wins in a season. Weber won many coaching awards after the season, including theNaismith Award and theHenry Iba Award.
Despite losing three starters to theNBA, the Illini finished the2005–06 season with a 26–7 record and reached the second round of theNCAA tournament.
The2006–07 season had a disappointing start, including the first three-game losing streak in Weber's tenure. However, the Illini rebounded to finish 23–11 and again qualify for theNCAA tournament.
The2007–08 season marked the first time during Weber's tenure that the Illini did not qualify for a postseason tournament, finishing the season with an overall record of 16–19, 5–13 in theBig Ten.
The team improved markedly thefollowing year, however, finishing 24–10, 11–7 in theBig Ten and returning toNCAA tournament.
After a 10–0 start to the2011–12 season, Weber's Illini went 7–15, finishing the season with a 17–15 record.
On March 9, 2012, one day after the Illini lost itsBig Ten tournament opening-round game to Iowa, Weber was relieved of his duties.[4] During his nine-year tenure as Illinois coach, Weber amassed a Big Ten record of 89–64, and an overall record of 210–101. At the time of his firing, his overall win percentage with Illinois (67.5%) stood as second only to Bill Self in the modern era and his 210 wins were the third-most in school history, behind onlyLou Henson andHarry Combes.
On March 31, 2012, Weber was hired as head coach atKansas State University, replacingFrank Martin, who had departed to become head coach atSouth Carolina.[5]
In hisfirst season at K-State, Weber led the Wildcats to 27–8 record and tied for theBig 12 Conference title with a 14–4 conference mark. The title was K-State's first regular-season conference championship since 1977. Weber was named the 2013Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year. His first season at KSU ended with an upset loss in the second round of theNCAA tournament toLaSalle, 63–61, in Kansas City'sSprint Center.[6] The team finished ranked #12 in the nation in the AP Poll and #20 in the Coaches Poll. SeniorRodney McGruder was named first-team all-conference.
Shortly after the end of Weber's first season, starting point guardÁngel Rodríguez and two other players announced their intentions to transfer.[7] Kansas State's roster was further thinned when incoming freshman Neville Fincher was declared ineligible for the2013–14 season, and incoming point guard Jevon Thomas was declared ineligible for the fall semester.[8][9]
Weber started his second season at Kansas State 0–1, but finished the non-conference schedule with an 8-game winning streak and a 10–3 record. In its first conference game, Kansas State upset #6Oklahoma State and earned a #25 ranking in the following week'sAP Poll. The team finished the regular season with a 20–12 record, 10–8 in the Big 12, and returned to theNCAA tournament for a school-record fifth straight season.
Weber'sthird season at Kansas State ended with a 15–17 record (8–10 in Big 12 play), and the school did not advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since2009. The losing record was only the second for Weber in his first 17 seasons as a head coach. Following the season, Weber's squad saw the transfer and departure of six scholarship players, includingMarcus Foster, Jevon Thomas, Nigel Johnson, Tre Harris and Malek Harris.[10] The following season, Weber's Wildcats finished the2015–16 season 17–15, 5–13 inBig 12 play.
In2016–17, the Wildcats returned to the NCAA tournament and finished with a 21–14 (8–10) record. In2017–18, the team improved to 25–12 (10–8) and advanced to the Elite Eight of the2018 NCAA tournament, including a 61–58 win overKentucky in the Sweet Sixteen. The team received a #19 national ranking at season's end in the Coaches Poll.
In2018–19, the team tied withTexas Tech for its second regular-season Big 12 Conference title under Weber, with a 14–4 conference record. For the third consecutive season, Kansas State was invited to theNCAA tournament. After an upset first-round loss in the NCAA tournament, the team finished with a 25–9 record and a #18 national ranking in the AP Poll, and #19 ranking in the Coaches Poll. Two players from the team were named first-team all-conference:Dean Wade andBarry Brown Jr.
After winning two conference titles and making five NCAA tournament appearances in his first seven seasons at KSU, Weber's final three teams posted losing records: 11–21 in2020, 9–20 in2021, and 14–17 in2022. The day after a loss toWest Virginia in theBig 12 tournament, Weber announced his resignation from Kansas State.
Weber's tenure with Kansas State concluded with two conference co-championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including an appearance in the 2018 Elite Eight. At the time of his resignation, he ranked third on K-State's all-time total wins list, behind onlyJack Hartman andTex Winter, and 11th in overall winning percentage.[1]
In the summer of 2019, Weber coached theUnited States national under-19 team at the2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup inHeraklion, Greece. His team won the tournament championship with a 7–0 record.
Weber joinedBig Ten Network as a studio analyst in 2022 and occasionally serves as a color commentator.[11]
Weber was born in Milwaukee to Louis and Dawn Weber, growing up with two sisters and two brothers. Weber attended theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and playedcollege baseball for theMilwaukee Panthers. He graduated from UWM in 1978 with abachelor's degree ineducation. Weber added amaster's degree in education administration and physical education fromWestern Kentucky University in 1981.[5] He is married to Megan Weber, and has three daughters – Christy, Emily, and Hannah.[5]
