Illinois State men’s basketball coach Dan Muller has announced that former McDonald’s All-American, NCAA National Champion and nine-year NBA veteran Chris Duhon has been added to the coaching staff for the 2018-19 season.
“Chris brings a high level of on-the-court experience and success to our program,” said Muller. “His playing career speaks for itself. He is a leader, a teammate, a worker, and a winner. As a coach, Chris helped a tremendous amount with the turnaround at Marshall under Coach D’Antoni, and is eager to continue to grow here with us.”
Duhon, a native of Slidell, Louisiana, had a hand in Duke winning the 2001 National Championship. He graduated from Duke with a 123-21 record – the program and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s second-winningest player. He graduated as Duke’s all-time leader in steals (300), minutes (4,813), and second in assists (819). When he graduated, he was the only player in ACC history to record 1,200 points, 800 assists, 475 rebounds, 300 steals, and 125 three-point field goals.
“I’m very thankful to Coach Dan Muller and the University for giving me the opportunity to be an assistant basketball coach,” said Duhon. “I’m excited to be working for a University as prestigious as Illinois State, and I’m looking forward to coaching and working with a great group of student-athletes.”
Duhon was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls with the 38th overall pick in 2004. He played four seasons with the Bulls, including playing in all 82 games during his rookie season. During his second season in Chicago he averaged 8.7 points and 5.0 assists per game. During the 2008-09 season he signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks, and had career-high averages of 11.1 points and 7.2 assists per game. He spent one additional season in New York, before playing two seasons with the Orlando Magic, and one with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Following his playing career, he became an assistant coach with the Marshall Thundering Herd from 2014 until 2017. Duhon came into the Thundering Herd program with then-new head coach Dan D’Antoni – who Duhon had met when he played for the Knicks and D’Antoni was an assistant coach – and helped in a nine-win turnaround in just three seasons and a school-record conference win total.
His first season in Huntington the squad went 11-21; however, put up a 7-11 mark in Conference USA play. A year later, the team had its first winning season in four years with a 17-16 record. That season the team’s 12 C-USA wins were the most in program history. A year later, in 2016-17, Marshall finished with a 20-15 overall record, the first 20-win season since 2011-12, before falling in the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament to Middle Tennessee.
Duhon helped build and recruit the core of players that advanced to the second round of the 2017-18 NCAA Tournament, including a win over fourth-seeded Wichita State in the opening round.
The Redbirds enter the 2018-19 season returning their top four scorers, and 88 percent of the squad’s overall scoring from a team that finished the season with an 18-15 record and fell in the championship game of the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
