Who Is Brad Underwood's Wife, Susan Underwood?

Brad Underwood's net worth is just one indicator that he is one of the NCAA's most successful basketball coaches. He is the head coach for Illinois Fighting Illini of the Big Ten, and under his guidance, the team won two Big Ten Tournament Championships during his first seven years as its coach and earned the No. 1 seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament. The team's success can be attributed to his experience. He coached junior college and mid-level colleges for 18 seasons across "six states and nine universities" before Illinois hired him in March 2017, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Brad's journey to becoming a successful head coach was arduous, but he could count on his wife, Susan Underwood, for being with him throughout his decades-long career. The couple has three children — Tyler, Katie, and Ashley — with the former spending four years playing on the same team his dad coaches and later becoming the Illini's assistant coach in 2023. (Yep, nepo baby surprises aren't just for Hollywood, as also proven by Bronny James playing alongside his father, LeBron James, in the NBA). However, Susan is more than just a wife and a mother. Keep scrolling to find out more about her.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Brad Underwood met his wife Susan Underwood in college. They married shortly after he graduated. Brad worked in insurance while applying to coaching jobs on the side. "I made more money in my first month in the insurance business than I made for about the first 10 years in coaching," he told the outlet. "But I didn't enjoy (working in insurance) ... We threw everything in a U-Haul. What a way to start a marriage."

Before supporting her husband on his coaching journey, Susan had a teaching degree but wasn't licensed in Texas where they moved after Brad quit his insurance job. To make ends meet, she worked as a cashier at JC Penny. Eventually, Brad joined Western Illinois University as an assistant coach in 1992 and settled there for 11 years. In that time, Susan taught elementary school and gave birth to their three children. Brad said that his wife "let [him] chase" his coaching dreams and did not pressure him to do anything else.

Part of Susan's support had to do with how much she believed in Brad's abilities. "Our family knew what Brad was capable of," she told the Chicago Tribune. "We had so much fun along the way. It made us a very tight-knit family. We could be happy wherever we were." Susan often spends her time cheering on her son and husband at games.

When Brad Underwood left his head coach position at Oklahoma State to serve as the head coach at the University of Illinois, he left behind a lot of disgruntled fans. Unfortunately, his whole family felt the repercussions of his controversial career move. "That was a really hard three months," Brad recalled during an interview for "What Drives Winning." He went on to reveal that during the transition, his daughters' cars were vandalized, and his son even got "roughed up," while leaving a local recreation center one evening. 

According to Brad, however, it was his wife, Susan Underwood, who really rose to the occasion during such a difficult time, as he had made the move to Illinois ahead of her. "It shows how strong my wife is because she was there the whole time, and she had to deal with going to the grocery store or going to church ... and feeling that 'you left us' type of looks and things," he explained. He went on to commend her, even admitting that there were times he was "probably not a very good spouse" as new coaching jobs tend to be all-consuming.