Jolette Law has been fired as Illinois women's basketball coach.

Law told The News-Gazette this afternoon that "I will release a statement. Other than that I don't have anything else to say."

Illinois scheduled a news conference for 5:30 p.m. today where athletic director Mike Thomas is expected to announce the change.

Law, hired to replace Theresa Grentz in 2007, was 69-93 in five seasons at Illinois, failing to once reach the NCAA tournament. Her final team went 11-19, losing to Michigan in a Big Ten tournament game Thursday.

Law called a team meeting this afternoon at Ubben Basketball Complex. Thomas was scheduled to address media later at Memorial Stadium.

Law was making $310,000 annually in a deal that goes through April 30, 2014. Her contract was extended by two years by then-athletic director Ron Guenther in 2010.

Law's best season was her first, the Illini finishing 20-15 and reaching the third round of the WNIT.

A star player at Iowa and longtime assistant under legendary C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers, Law failed to revive an Illinois program that flourished in the late 1990s. Recent seasons have been plagued by poor play and dismal attendance at the Assembly Hall.

She made a quick impact by signing a 2009 recruiting class that was ranked as high as second nationally. However, the star of that group, Destiny Williams, left Illinois early in her freshman season.

It looks to be the second high-profile coaching change made by first-year athletic director Thomas, who fired football coach Ron Zook in November. Still uncertain is Bruce Weber's status. The men's basketball coach has come under fire for failing to meet expectations in his ninth season.

Possible replacements for Law include Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Matt Bollant, who has led his No. 11-ranked team to a 26-1 record; Toledo's Tricia Cullop, who played at Purdue and has led the Rockets to consecutive MAC titles; Bowling Green coach Curt Miller, who is 259-90 at the school; and Arizona State assistant coach Chris Mennig, a former Illini assistant and high school head coach at Champaign's St. Thomas More.

In a wide-ranging interview earlier this week, Law was asked where she expected to be at this time next year:

"Still here. I'm hopeful that I'm here, I'm prayerful that I am. If I'm not here, I'll be involved in something with coaching. I'll get a job. When people ask me if I'm worried about getting fired, no. My provider, the God I serve, I trust him. I know that I will get another job. I've lost a job before, and I've bounced back. I've been in a situation where time ran out there, but I got another job. I was at Rutgers for 12 years, thought that was going to be my job and I was going to stay there for the rest of my life. Went to a national championship game and as long as (Stringer) was eating, I was eating. They called me here; I was getting kids ready to come to Rutgers. But God wanted more and I came here sight unseen. I played in the conference, my interview wasn't here and this was my will and here I am."

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