Rob Judson was born into a basketball family. There are a lot of basketball families, particularly in Illinois.
This was different.
Judson’s arrival on January 13, 1958, ushered him into basketball royalty. His basketball family was, and is, the stuff of legend.
Judson’s father, Phil, and Phil’s twin brother, Paul, made Illinois high school basketball history six years earlier, leading tiny Hebron to the 1952 state championship.
A school of 98 students, Hebron beat Quincy in the title game at the University of Illinois’ Huff Gym. It was the first state championship game to be televised and first to be decided in overtime.
There was this “first” as well.
“At that time, there were no classes in the state of Illinois. Before you even made a regional tournament, some of the smaller schools had to play in a district tournament,” Judson said. “Hebron was the only state champion to come from a district.”
With such roots, it was perhaps inevitable that Rob Judson live a basketball life. He tagged along to the gym as a boy with his father, who was a coach. He became an all-state guard while playing for his father at Zion-Benton High School. He played at the University of Illinois, just as his father and uncle had.

The game flowed through him at every step and still does in his 45th and final season of coaching basketball. An Illinois State assistant coach, Judson announced in November he will retire at season’s end.
“As far back as I can remember, with my dad coaching and me following him to the gym and the Hebron legend that surrounded him all the time, basketball has been a very big part of my growing up experience and my life,” Judson said.
Judson, 67, has never run from the weight of the Hebron legacy. Others might have. He chose to embrace it and, at the same time, be driven by it.
“It seemed like every time someone would talk about me and my basketball, it would immediately shift to Hebron,” Judson said. “That wasn’t really a burden to me, but it did motivate me to try and make my own name.
“It was a good thing for me. Actually, the whole Hebron legacy has been a very positive thing in my basketball life. That story is so well known.”
Any historical account of Illinois high school basketball must include Hebron’s Green Giants. Yet, their legend is not confined to Illinois.
Judson discovered that while playing for the Illini. Coach Lou Henson’s team was in South Carolina and had a shootaround the night before the game.
“One of the custodians in the arena saw my name on the back of my warmup and asked me if I was related to the Hebron Judsons,” Rob said. “It’s a far-reaching legacy.”
Judson’s imprint on the game as a coach began at the high school level. He was freshman coach at Palatine for a year, then head coach for two seasons at Wauconda and six at Glenbrook South.
He also taught social studies and driver’s education.
“When you teach five classes a day, it’s a terrific learning experience on how to communicate because your instructions have to be precise. You have to be clear in your directions,” Judson said. “When you’re giving information, you have to be sure the students understand. As I moved into college coaching, that communication style really helped me.”
In the summers, Judson gained basketball knowledge by helping at college camps in the Chicago area. The Chicago Bulls also held a camp and it was there he met former Illinois State All-American Doug Collins, coach of the Bulls at the time.
Judson said the experience “continued to build my passion for the game.”
While at Glenbrook South, DePaul assistant coach Jim Molinari recruited one of Judson’s players. When Molinari became head coach at Northern Illinois, he made Judson part of his staff.

In their second season together, Northern Illinois won the Mid-Continent Conference title and played in the NCAA Tournament. Molinari was hired as head coach at Bradley soon after and Judson followed him to Peoria.
During his five-year stay, he recruited Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and first-round NBA draft pick Anthony Parker, who led Bradley to a MVC championship.
“We had an unbelievable rivalry with the Redbirds at that time with Coach Bob Bender, who had some outstanding teams, and then Kevin Stallings,” Judson said.
In 1996, Judson moved on to Illinois, serving as assistant coach and top recruiter for Lon Kruger and then Bill Self. He helped attract three straight Illinois Mr. Basketball honorees to Champaign in Sergio McClain, Frank Williams and Brian Cook.
Illinois won Big Ten Conference titles in 1998 and 2001, reaching the 2001 NCAA Elite Eight.
“Those were good days,” Judson said. “We recruited the state of Illinois really well. Those were great years, exciting years, and really a strong run for Illinois in the Big Ten.”
The success led to Judson being hired as head coach at Northern Illinois, where his six-year tenure included the school’s only outright Mid-American Conference West Division championship (2006).
Judson inherited a program that won five games the previous year. His first NIU team won 12 games and he had two 17-win seasons.
“Northern, if you look at the history, has been a tough situation,” he said. “So the fact we won that championship was really good. I learned a lot as a head coach.”
Judson returned to assistant coaching in 2007 under newly hired Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich. In six years – five under Jankovich and one with Dan Muller – the Redbirds earned four NIT berths and made three Missouri Valley Tournament championship game appearances.
“That’s where it gets a little painful because we did not win those,” Judson said. “We were so close … lost two of them in overtime. Yet, those were really solid, good basketball teams.”
Judson went on to assistant coaching stints at Indiana, Marquette and DePaul before returning to ISU in 2022 under current head coach Ryan Pedon. His time at Indiana under Tom Crean included a Big Ten championship, giving Judson the distinction of winning three Big Ten titles under three different coaches (Kruger, Self, Crean).
Judson called that “a real blessing,” as well as coaching on both sides of the ISU-Bradley, Illinois-Indiana and Marquette-DePaul rivalries.
He’s packed and unpacked a lot of boxes, all while staying committed to his Christian faith.
“I really have to credit my maternal grandmother, who gave me my spiritual side,” Judson said. “It’s been the main part of my life since I was about 8 years old. If you go through coaching, there are ups and downs. If you have a strong faith, if you have a spiritual side, you can make sure that you are able to continue on with your real purpose.”
Also by Judson’s side has been his wife, Kim, a retired Illinois State professor. They have three grown children: Karin, Matthew and Kristin. Karin and her husband, Jay Sutton, have two sons: Judson and Liam.
Retirement plans include splitting time between a home in Florida and the Midwest. There will still be a Judson linked to basketball. Kristin, a former player at University High and Miami of Ohio, is senior manager for player relations for the WNBA champion New York Liberty.
Rob Judson’s parents, Phil and Lesley, live in Gurnee. They watch ISU games on television and have attended one game this season.
Phil Judson, 90, joins Ken Spooner as surviving members of the 1952 Green Giants.
They left their mark on basketball and so has Rob Judson, who said he will miss the competition the game provides. He is walking away, but for how long?
“With all of the friends and people I know in basketball at every level, I’m sure there’s some way I’ll be back in touch with that,” he said.