Washington Hires Illinois State’s Bender

Bob Bender of Illinois State was hired Friday to coach men’s basketball at the University of Washington.

Bender, Illinois State’s head coach for the past four years, replaces Lynn Nance.

Bender, 35, was an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke for six years before taking over at Illinois State. He played college basketball for both Krzyzewski at Duke and Bob Knight at Indiana.

During his four years with the Redbirds, his teams won three Missouri Valley Conference titles, including two regular-season championships and one postseason tournament crown. Illinois State made it to the NCAA tournament once under Bender.