New Men’s Basketball Assistant Rob Judson Brings Seasoned Voice To Young ISU Bench

Image courtesy of goredbirds.com

NORMAL, Ill. – First-year ISU coach Ryan Pedon has completed his coaching staff with the hiring of Rob Judson.

Judson, who is making his second assistant stint in Bloomington-Normal, played at Illinois under Hall of Famer Lou Henson from 1976-1980 and served as an Illinois assistant coach from 1996-2001. He then was the head coach at Northern Illinois from 2002-2007 before staff stints at Illinois State (2007-13), Indiana (2013-17), Marquette (2017-21) and most recently at DePaul (2021-22) as the special assistant to the head coach.

“Rob Judson is a home run hire for our basketball program,” said Pedon. “I couldn’t be more excited about adding Rob to our staff. Both Rob and his wife Kim – who is an ISU professor – have great familiarity with Illinois State University and our Bloomington-Normal community.”

The veteran coach has seen over 22 players that he either recruited or coached play in the NBA and one find a career in the NFL. During his time serving as a top recruiter for Lon Kruger and Bill Self in Champaign, he recruited three consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball winners to the Fighting Illini: Sergio McClain, Frank Williams and Brian Cook. Williams and Cook went on to become Big Ten Players of the Year.

“It is a special privilege and honor to be appointed to a coaching staff position under the leadership of Ryan Pedon at Illinois State University,” said Judson. “Coach Pedon is an exceptional person and rising star in college coaching who has a sensational vision for ISU Basketball. My excitement to coach again in Redbird Arena is at the highest level. This is a special time to compete for excellence in the Missouri Valley Conference with our goal to cut down the nets.”

In 1990, Judson was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame as a player. The IBCA also recently awarded Judson the prestigious Herrin Award in 2021, for his dedication to the IBCA & its coaches.

“His coaching resume speaks for itself as he has worked with some of the best coaches in college basketball,” said Pedon. “These experiences, combined with his knowledge and feel for basketball in our home state of Illinois were very attractive to me and will strengthen Redbird Basketball moving forward.”

Judson joins fellow newly-hired assistants Walter Offutt and Andrew Dakich in what is Pedon’s first official coaching staff as head coach.