Illini assistant Chew to leave for Marquette

After roughly six weeks on the job, Illini men’s basketball assistant coach Isaac Chew appears to be leaving for Marquette, according to several reports.

Chew, a Chicago native, was hired in April to join new head coach John Groce’s staff and was expected to help boost recruiting in his hometown. Chicago is home to the No. 1 high school player in the country, 6-foot-8 senior-to-be Jabari Parker of Simeon. Before arriving at Illinois, Chew was an assistant coach for one season at Missouri and four seasons at Murray State.

The Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times both cited anonymous sources confirming that Chew had left the program to join head coach Buzz Williams at Marquette. A source told the Daily Herald that Marquette was the destination, but neither the University of Illinois nor Marquette University had made an official announcement.

The move would be a blow to rebuilding efforts at Illinois, which lost top recruiter Jerrance Howard to SMU after head coach Bruce Weber was fired. Groce, however, has some ties to the region from when he recruited the area for Ohio State as an assistant, and one of his top players at Ohio University was a Chicagoan, guard D.J. Cooper.

Chew’s departure continues a year of dramatic change for Illinois athletics. Since Mike Thomas took over for longtime athletic director Ron Guenther in 2011, the school has seen major coaching shake-ups in three sports. Along with Weber, football coach Ron Zook and women’s basketball coach Jolette Law were fired after the conclusion of their seasons. They were replaced by Ohio University’s Groce, Toledo’s Tim Beckman, and Green Bay’s Matt Bollant, respectively.