CHAMPAIGN -- Jerrance Howard's career has been on the fast track since he finished his playing career at Illinois.

The path has led him back to his alma mater.

A two-week search will end with Howard being named an assistant coach on Bruce Weber's staff at Illinois, the News-Gazette has learned. Multiple sources close to the situation said today that Howard, a player at Illinois from 1999-2004, will fill the position vacated by Tracy Webster.

Howard wrote in a text message he is scheduled to meet with athletic director Ron Guenther this afternoon.

One of several candidates who interviewed for the position since Webster resigned at Illinois on Sept. 5, Howard has spent his postgraduate years with Gillispie at Texas A&M and Kentucky. Howard said last week his title at Kentucky is director of basketball operations.

Howard, 27, is expected to bring elements of passion and energy to Bruce Weber's staff, qualities the head coach has said he was looking for. Howard's primary function will be as a recruiter. Webster, who was hired as an assistant at Kentucky, was the program's lead presence in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest.

"I've said all along that I'd like somebody to sell Illinois and sell our program and have great energy. I'd like him on the youthful side," Weber said by phone Saturday. "Years ago I never even thought about that. You've got to have a team with different roles. Besides the recruiting, Tracy gave us a little youth. Kids could say things to Tracy that maybe they

couldn't say to the rest of us."

Weber said Saturday there was "some pressure" to hire a candidate with either UI or Chicago-area ties. Interest in the vacancy was tremendous. The Illinois coach had received input and suggestions from high school coaches, AAU coaches, former Illinois players, administrators and fellow college coaches, among others.

The post at Illinois will be Howard's first experience as a full-time assistant. Former Illini like Luther Head and Deron Williams voiced their support of Howard as the right man for the job, as did certain administrators and boosters. The timing of the opening made it a difficult hiring process for Illinois and potential candidates, both of whom are in the midst of the important September recruiting period and preparations for the season. Weber spent parts of last week in St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta and Florida, while juggling the hiring process.