Tracy Dildy leaves UIC

Dildy leaves his alma mater without a clear successor to Jimmy Collins

UIC Flames Associate Head Coach Tracy Dildy will be leaving the program to take over the Chicago State Cougars, anonymous sources confirmed Monday.

Dildy comes to the Cougars from his alma mater after spending three years as an assistant to Jimmy Collins, currently the longest-tenured coach in the Horizon League.  Speculation that Dildy was a candidate came recently, as he has a reputation as a dynamite recruiter and extremely strong ties to the city of Chicago, CSU’s main stomping ground for recruiting.

Coach Dildy’s unconfirmed Twitter account posted on July 10th that he is “Getting ready to go recruiting, as a Head Coach!”  Calls to anonymous sources around both the UIC and Chicago State athletic program confirmed that Dildy will be the next head coach of the Cougars.

Sources requested anonymity based on the fact that Chicago State has not made a formal announcement introducing Dildy as head coach.  Dildy replaces Benjy Taylor, who coached CSU since the 2007-08 season until the end of the current season.  Dildy’s hiring brings an end to an unusually long process.  Taylor was let go on April 19th, and nearly four months later his permanent replacement has agreed to coach the Cougars.

There is no word on whether or not acting head coach Matthew Muhammad or assistant James Farr will be retained by Dildy as he builds his coaching staff.

In Taylor’s final season, Chicago State finished 9-23 overall with a 4-8 record in their inaugural season in the Great West Conference.