A reformatted, one-day clinic built for working coaches.

Coaches, mark your calendars. The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association is bringing back its annual statewide coaching clinic in a reformatted, one-day experience — and it's coming to Bradley University on Saturday, September 26, 2026, from 8:45 AM to 6:00 PM.

This year's clinic is built around a simple promise: pack a full day with the speakers, ideas, and on-court access that move your program forward, and make it easy enough to bring your entire staff with you. No multi-day hotel block. No lost weekend. Just one focused day of great basketball coaching education, a short drive from almost anywhere in Illinois.

The full card

2026 Statewide Clinic Schedule

Saturday, September 26 · Bradley University, Renaissance Coliseum, Peoria

  • 8:45 AM

    Welcome and IBCA Announcements

  • 9:00 – 9:50

    Topic to be announced

    Kevin Kruger · University of Illinois

  • 10:00 – 10:50

    Stolen, Borrowed & Kept Coaching Ideas That Work

    Will Rey · Northridge Prep

  • 11:00 – 12:30

    Practice Organization — Live On-Court Practice

    Brian Wardle and the Bradley staff · Bradley University Men's Basketball

    The Bradley staff runs the Braves through a live practice session and breaks down the drills and skills they are working on.

  • 12:30 – 1:15

    Lunch & Networking

    Provided on site by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.

  • 1:20 – 2:10

    Split session — choose one

    Coliseum

    Early Practice Routines That Translate to Game Play

    Chris Pickett · Kankakee

    Braves Room

    Strength Training Outside of the Weightroom

    Eddie Papis · Bradley Director of Sports Performance

  • 2:20 – 3:10

    Split session — choose one

    Coliseum

    All Things Switching in Your Defensive Game Plans

    Jarrett Brown · East Peoria

    Braves Room

    Coaching the 3rd Skillset: Training the Brain to Regulate, Focus & Respond

    Matt Thomann · Mental Mettle Coaching

  • 3:20 – 4:10

    Transition Offense

    Chaia Meier · Bradley University Women's Basketball

  • 4:15 – 5:05

    Building Our Conceptual Offense

    Matt Monroe · St. Ignatius

  • 5:10 – 6:00

    Topic to be announced

    Brian Barone · SIU Edwardsville

Speaker Biographies

Kevin Kruger

University of Illinois

Coach Kruger was hired for the 2025-26 season as Special Assistant to the Head Coach at Illinois and was an integral part of the Illini's Final Four run. Prior to coming to Illinois, Coach Kruger was the head coach at UNLV. During his four-year tenure, the Rebels won 21 games in 2024 and made their first post-season appearance in 11 years with a quarterfinal run in the NIT tournament.

Will Rey

Northridge Preparatory School

Will Rey currently serves as the head varsity basketball coach at Northridge Preparatory School. He is the author of 11 instructional basketball DVDs and has been featured in multiple on-court and virtual clinic sessions around the country. He is a lecturer and instructor in the Five-Star Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2015), with over four decades of coaching experience at both the high school and NCAA Division I levels, including five years as Loyola's head coach and fourteen years as an assistant at Evansville and Wright State.

Brian Wardle

Bradley University Men's Basketball

Coach Wardle is starting his 12th season as the head coach at Bradley. During his tenure, the Braves have won three MVC Championships. They have advanced to the semifinals of the MVC tournament the past four years, with two trips to the championship game. Coach Wardle and the Bradley coaching staff will share and demonstrate their practice procedures as they take the team through a 90-minute segment.

Chris Pickett

Kankakee High School

Chris Pickett is the current varsity boys coach at Kankakee High School. In 21 years as a varsity head coach, he has a 428-176 overall record. He coached for 12 years at Chicago Vocational, where he put together a 220-125 record, before his nine years with the Kays, where he currently holds a 208-51 record. Coach Pickett has been named IBCA District Coach of the Year 11 times.

Eddie Papis

Bradley Director of Sports Performance

Papis has been at Bradley for 12 years and has served as the Director of Sports Performance for the past seven. During his tenure, he has worked with 17 teams that have won Missouri Valley Conference Championships, and with numerous athletes who have continued their careers at the professional level.

Jarrett Brown

East Peoria High School

As a successful head coach at Tolono Unity, Morton and East Peoria, Coach Brown's teams have won nine Regional and three Sectional Championships. During his career he has earned six IBCA District Coach of the Year awards. He has also had stints as an assistant coach at South Dakota State and Millikin.

Matt Thomann

Mental Mettle Coaching

Matt Thomann is a highly regarded sports mental performance coach and life coach with over a decade of experience in public education as a teacher, coach and administrator. His journey to becoming a life coach was shaped by a series of life-altering events in 2020, including a cancer diagnosis and an ischemic stroke while managing a school during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chaia Meier

Bradley University Women's Basketball

Coach Meier takes over the Bradley University women's program this year. Prior to arriving in Peoria, she served as an assistant at Marquette for two seasons. Meier has 16 years of head coaching experience on her resume and is the all-time winningest coach in Edgewood University history across her eight years guiding that program.

Brian Barone

SIU Edwardsville

With a strong background in the game of basketball, Coach Barone came to SIUE as head coach in 2019-20. The Cougars went 8-23 that season, but Barone has guided a program rebuild over his seven seasons there. In 2025, SIUE won their first Ohio Valley Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

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What's on the agenda:

  • A live Bradley men's basketball practice. Get a behind-the-scenes look at how a Division I staff runs a workout — the teaching, the pace, the standards — right on the floor.
  • A loaded slate of speakers. Actionable offensive, defensive, player-development, and program-building sessions you can install with your team the very next week.
  • A meal provided on site. Stay, eat, and keep the conversation going without ever leaving the clinic.
  • Time built in to network. Trade ideas with fellow coaches from every corner of the state — one of the most valuable parts of any clinic.

Why this clinic, why now?

The IBCA Clinic Committee redesigned this year's format with one goal: deliver maximum value in a single day. Whether you're a head coach mapping out the season, an assistant sharpening a specialty, or a young coach building your network, the 2026 clinic is built to send you home with concrete ideas you can use right away.

Bring your whole staff. The best programs learn together — and this format makes that easy.

Date

Saturday, September 26th

Time

9:00am - 6:00pm

Location

Bradley University
Renaissance Coliseum

Address

1600 W Main St, Peoria, IL 61606

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Mike Neighbors
Mike Neighbors
Shauna Green
Shauna Green
Bill Self
Bill Self
Kristen Gillespie
Kristen Gillespie
Jon Scheyer
Jon Scheyer
Randi Henderson
Randi Henderson
Drew Hanlen
Drew Hanlen
Kevin Eastman
Kevin Eastman

Vendors & Sponsors

Put your product in front of hundreds of Illinois basketball coaches in one day. Four ways to be part of the 2026 Statewide Clinic:

Vendor Table
Exhibit table in the main concourse, all day		 $375
Vendor Table + Speaking Slot
Your table, plus 5 minutes at the podium introducing your company before a featured speaker		 $500
Vendor Table + On-Court Demonstration
Your table, plus a live on-court demonstration of your product during the day		 $750
Lunch Sponsor
Everything above — table, speaking slot, and on-court demonstration — plus recognition as the clinic's lunch sponsor		 $1,000

Register as a vendor

 

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Full speaker announcements, the official schedule, and early-bird registration details will all be posted here. Seen enough already?

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