Illinois basketball assistants Orlando Antigua and Ron Coleman join Kentucky coaching staff

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has added former Illinois assistants Orlando Antigua and Ron Coleman to the coaching staff.

Antigua, who served five years with the Wildcats before becoming head coach at South Florida for 2½ seasons, will be an associate coach while Coleman will be an assistant. In his previous stint at Kentucky, Antigua was praised for his skills as a recruiter and developer of talent along with forging relationships with players on and off the court.

Antigua spent the past four seasons as an Illinois assistant with Coleman as they helped guide the Illini to consecutive 20-win seasons and a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeding this spring. The coaches are credited with developing Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu and 7-footer Kofi Cockburn into All-American selections.

Coleman, a 10-year veteran, also coached at UIC, Bradley, Nebraska and Colorado State.

Antigua and Coleman will fill voids left by the departures of Tony Barbee to become Central Michigan’s head coach and Joel Justus to Arizona State as a top assistant. A school release on Thursday stated that Bruiser Flint will be elevated to associate to the head coach while Jai Lucas remains as an assistant.

To fill one spot, Chester Frazier is returning to Illinois as an assistant. Frazier, a former starting point guard for the Illini, spent the last two seasons as an associate head coach at Virginia Tech under Mike Young. Frazier previously served seven seasons as an assistant at Kansas State for former Illini coach Bruce Weber.