Illinois has announced that it will be holding a press conference on Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm EST to introduce their new men's basketball coach. By all accounts and reports, it will be an introduction of John Groce, the now former Ohio University men's basketball coach. The official Illinois basketball Twitter account set out the following tweet.
Via @IlliniHoops:
It's official - we will have a press conference at 1 pm CT at @Assembly_Hall to introduce our new #Illini men's basketball coach.
— Illinois Basketball (@IlliniHoops) March 29, 2012
There was heavy speculation all week that Groce and Illinois were hammering out the final details of a deal. It was originally rumored that there was a press conference scheduled as early as Tuesday, but there were reportedly a few hang-ups in the final steps of negotiations.
Via Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune:
Differences in contract length and assistant coaches salaries had been the major obstacles in a deal being reached between Groce and Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas.
Ohio, coming off an impressive run to the Sweet 16, is now left looking for a new head coach. Jeff Boals, who played at OU and is now an assistant to Thad Matta at Ohio State, is a name that's come up as a potential replacement.