Weber lands at Kansas State

Wichita, KS – It didn't take long for Kansas State to find a new men's basketball coach and Bruce Weber apparently didn't have to search too hard for another job after being fired at Illinois.

Kansas State has scheduled a Saturday news conference and the Wichita Eagle reports that Weber will replace Frank Martin as the Wildcats' head coach.

Martin left Manhattan on Monday and was introduced as the new coach at South Carolina on Tuesday. K-State officials moved quickly and found its new leader in Weber, who had great success at Illinois before being fired on March 9.

Weber was dismissed one day after the Illini completed a 17-15 season, one that started 15-3 and ended with 12 losses in 14 games. He spent nine years in Champaign and finished his tenure with a record of 210-101, a pair of Big Ten regular-season championships and one Big Ten Tournament crown.

The highlight of Weber's time at Illinois was an appearance in the NCAA Tournament championship game in the spring of 2005. The Illini lost to North Carolina in that game, but posted just two NCAA tourney wins in the seven years after that magical run.

Weber was a long-time assistant under Gene Keady, first at Western Kentucky in 1979-80 and at Purdue for the following 18 seasons. He was given his first head coaching position at Southern Illinois in 1998 and guided the Salukis to a record of 103-54 with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons before taking over for Bill Self at Illinois for the 2003-04 campaign.

In 14 seasons as a head coach, Weber owns a record of 313-155.

Martin spent the past five years at Kansas State and led the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament four times. This year's squad finished 22-11 overall and lost to Syracuse in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.