Bruce Weber is looking for a recruiter, preferably a native of Illinois.
It’s important to get a person who will sell Illinois, who has a passion for Illinois and can create a good relationship with Chicago-area coaches and throughout the state, the Illinois coach said Thursday, a day after losing assistant Tracy Webster to a similar job at Kentucky.
Webster, a native of south suburban Harvey, had been recruiting forward Darius Miller of Mason County, Ky., for Illinois, which is competing with Kentucky and others.
Weber said Webster told him he felt the move would help him improve his resume and bring him closer to his goal of being a head coach.
Webster’s move comes at a difficult time for Illinois, with recruiting re-opening next week. Illinois has no commitments from the high school class of ’08 and has two scholarships to give. Illinois also is talking to 6-foot-5-inch forward Mario Little, a Chicago Washington graduate who’s at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College.
Weber said Thursday he might not use both scholarships this year if the right prospects aren’t there.
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tabannon@tribune.com
