John Groce's time on college basketball's unemployment line might not last long.
The former Illinois head coach, who was fired last month, is reportedly close to taking over the head-coaching job at Akron.
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Groce's time as the head coach of the Illini came to an end after a five-year tenure in which the team missed the NCAA tournament in each of the last four seasons.
A move to Akron would mean a return to the MAC and the state of Ohio for Groce, who spent four seasons as the head coach at Ohio prior to taking over at Illinois. He posted a 34-30 conference record in those four seasons as the Bobcats twice won the MAC tournament title.
The Zips need a new head coach after Keith Dambrot took the head-coaching job at Duquesne. Dambrot had plenty of success at Akron, reaching three NCAA tournaments in the past nine seasons and winning an average 23 games a season during his 13-season tenure. The Zips set program records for wins in each of the past two seasons, winning 26 games in 2015-16 and 27 games this past season.
Illinois replaced Groce with Brad Underwood, who was introduced last month.