Who Will Replace Rashon Burno at Northern Illinois?

Since Northern Illinois’ season is officially over, the Huskies, more or less, have come under our jurisdiction.

When NIU announced its return to the Horizon League, one of the big question marks was whether or not certain coaches would be a part of that transition. We received the answer on the women’s side in 2025, when Lisa Carlsen was replaced by Jacey Brooks.

And now, at least on the basketball side, the other shoe has dropped.

Rashon Burno, who replaced current Detroit Mercy head coach Mark Montgomery, is gone, officially announced on Saturday. His five-year tenure was, to say the least, a forgettable one. In fact, one of the recurring themes at the helm was his failure to advance the Huskies to the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, appearing only once, in 2023.

So it probably came as no surprise to Northern Illinois fans that upon the close of this season, in which the Huskies once again fell short of the top-8 finish required to be eligible for the league tourney, NIU athletic director Sean Frazier pulled the trigger, and Burno found himself unemployed.

Given that the next Northern Illinois head coach will lead a team that will be part of the Horizon League, it’s only right that we take a look at some of the candidates that we think may fit the bill for the Huskies as they return to the conference after a 29-year absence.

Bryan Mullins, assistant coach, DePaul
Mullins’ name has been kicked around among fan circles for quite some time, and there’s no reason to think that he wouldn’t be a top candidate for the NIU gig. He’s been a staple in Illinois coaching, having worked his way up at Loyola-Chicago before becoming Southern Illinois’ head coach. Despite a winning record with the Salukis, he was dismissed and replaced by another former Horizon League coach, Scott Nagy. You’d expect that he’d want another bite at the head coaching apple, and Northern Illinois would be the perfect opportunity.

Billy Donlon, associate head coach, Clemson
Donlon was on the verge of turning things around at Kansas City, notching a 19-12 record in his second year. Then Clemson and his old boss at Wright State, Brad Brownell, came calling. Before we knew it, he was on the Tigers’ sidelines. A former Raider coach himself, Donlon’s name has come up on more than one occasion in years past as coaching jobs around the league opened. Would he leave Clemson to get another shot in the Horizon League? It’s possible.

Matt Majkrzak, head coach, Northern Michigan
Division II coaches have gotten a lot of interest in recent memory, especially where the Horizon League is concerned. It’s where Jerrod Calhoun and Linc Darner cut their teeth, as did current IU Indy head coach Ben Howlett. The transition, however, can be an arduous process, as witnessed by the first couple of years of Calhoun’s tenure and this past season for Howlett. And sometimes, the transition is never fully realized (see Ryan, Will). Enter Majkrzak (pronounced MACK-er-zack), who’s built a strong program at Northern Michigan. His name is starting to make the rounds as a possibility for Division I jobs, and it only makes sense that he’d be a part of this conversation as well.

Brian Barone, head coach, SIU Edwardsville
When Brian Wardle left Green Bay for Bradley, Barone, his top assistant, was the favorite to take over. But the Phoenix ultimately opted for Darner, who was fresh off a Division II championship with Florida Southern. Barone eventually got the call to become a head coach at SIU Edwardsville and took the Cougars to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2025. It’s unclear if his contract, which was scheduled to expire at the end of this season, has been extended. If not, the lure of NIU, which is close to his hometown of Chicago, may be too much to ignore.

Gerald Gillion, assistant coach, Florida State
Gillion conjured a lot from very little as the head coach of Chicago State at a time when the Cougars played as an independent, a daunting task in college basketball to be sure. And even though 13-19 doesn’t sound like a great record, the campaign was full of near-misses against power-conference teams, plus a first-round upset of UC San Diego in the first round of the CBI. Then, on the cusp of Chicago State finding a home with the NEC, Gillion did the inexplicable: he left the Cougars to join the staff of conference rival LIU. Now an assistant at his alma mater Florida State, Gillion may see the appeal of a better-funded NIU program and seek out the opportunity.

Jordan Fee, associate head coach, Florida Atlantic
The Horizon League already has one coach who champions The System. Why not another? Like IU Indy head coach Ben Howlett, Fee is a product of West Liberty under Jim Crutchfield. In fact, Howlett was a Hilltoppers assistant in the two seasons Fee was a player there. While Howlett remained at West Liberty until taking the job with the Jags, Fee spent time on coaching staffs in both Division I and II, including a two-year stint at Detroit Mercy under Ray McCallum and a season as a head coach at Gannon, where he helmed an Elite Eight squad. He’s spent the last two seasons back in Division I at Florida Atlantic, but Northern Illinois might intrigue him enough to throw his hat in the ring.