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By Kermit Rowe, Staff Writer 11:27 PM Saturday, September 24, 2011

During his nearly two decades of coaching the Urbana University women’s basketball team, Rob Phillips would always hear about coaches who would shock everyone by suddenly stepping away from all they had built. And he couldn’t understand it.

“I’ve heard so many coaches talk about making decisions for family reasons, and that’s what it came down to for me. You look at where you are, and where you are going to be in five years.

“It was a family decision, and we are very much at peace with it.”

Phillips resigned last Friday. His basketball teams averaged 16 wins per season during his 17 years at the helm. In coaching hoops and softball, he had 537 career collegiate wins. So to follow as his heart led him out of Champaign County was a test of faith to say the least.

“As a Christian man, it’s something that I’ve prayed about, and God will answer prayer,” said Phillips. “And when He does, you can’t say, ‘Well, that’s not exactly what I was thinking of.’

“As a coach and a father, you know what you have to do. You know what you want to do, you just can’t put that ahead of your family.

“I had 23 years as a college coach. I’ve been very blessed. But we’ve been provided an exciting opportunity in a place where we all wanted to live some day.”

That would be Hilton Head, S.C., where Phillips will still be recruiting — in the business world instead of the basketball world.

“In one sense, it’s something new for me,” he said. “But I spent 23 years recruiting, so I have the background. Everything just fell into place like that.”

He’ll be starting in October. His wife, Teresa, has some teaching obligations in the Northmont school district and will stay behind until spring.

“I’ll miss the teams,” said Phillips. “I really haven’t had a lot of time to reflect. But when you do, you think a lot about people. There are very few games that come to mind, but you think about people you’ve run into. It’s been very rewarding to see the success they’ve had.”

Phillips reaped some satisfying rewards in the process.

“I’ve always tried to maintain a program that is very comprehensive,” he said. “I’ve never wanted our people to think that they are just basketball players. I’m very proud of the 34 straight semesters that our teams have averaged a 3.0 GPA or better.

“And if someone is in need, they call us. Our players understand how important that is, and what a platform it is to use in a positive way.”

For the most part, Phillips’ teams have achieved their potential. The Blue Knights have been in the hoops postseason about 90 percent of the time.

“I was very happy there,” he said. “I didn’t come to Urbana with the idea that if I turn this program around, I could move on to some place better. I feel very fortunate to be able to be there for so long.”

But at age 52, Phillips was at a crossroads.

“I was to that point of whether it (coaching at Urbana) is going to be for life, or are you going to make that one more move. You have to think what is best for your family, and act on that.”

Still, it hasn’t been an easy week.

“The toughest part of this was to stand in front of them and tell them I was leaving,” he said. “The team responded the way a coach would want them to respond. There was a lot of emotion, then they straightened their backs and went out and played ball. Career choices are just a part of life. They’ve all understood the reason and have given me nothing but support over the last few days.”

What will be Phillips’ mark on the program?

“It’s what we speak about every year; we want to be the standard of excellence at our university,” he said. “And we want to stand for all the things that are good about collegiate athletics.

“I had one player who didn’t get her degree in my 17 years, and it may still work out that she’ll get it. We wanted to be known as a team that is serious about academics. We’re going to do the right things in the classroom, and be good citizens in the community. And we always played hard and came prepared.

“This is what a quality program looks like. I’d stack us up against anybody.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364.

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