Champaign, Ill ? Illinois fired Bruce Weber on Friday, letting go of a fiery coach whose first three years with the Illini included a run to the national championship game before a long slide the past six years ended with a 17-15 mark this season.

“Bruce is everything you’d want as a coach,” athletic director Mike Thomas said. “We had great success here but in the last four or five years, I don’t know if you want to say (that) we’re running in place, or maybe even digressed.”

Thomas, who also has fired football coach Ron Zook and women’s basketball coach Jolette Law in his first year on the job, said fans expect the Illini to be “a factor” in the Big Ten and the “national conscience” each season.

Weber met separately with reporters, joined by his family and most of his young team.

“This is a bottom-line business. We all know it,” Weber said. “It’s the reality of the coaching profession. But I leave here with no regrets. I believe this program is on solid footing. I am very proud of what this basketball program has accomplished in my tenure.”

Weber choked up when he thanked his wife, Megan, for being with him “as he lived his dream to be a college basketball coach.”

Weber spent nine years at Illinois and led the Illini to the 2005 NCAA title game, losing to North Carolina. He finished 210-101 at Illinois, trailing only Lou Henson and Harry Combes in wins at the school.

However, his teams were just 55-66 in the Big Ten over the last six seasons, including 6-12 this year. The Illini closed the year 2-12 and lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday, beaten by Iowa, 64-61 — a far cry from January, when they were atop the Big Ten.

Thomas said the school would accept an NIT bid if one is offered and assistant Jerrance Howard is the interim head coach. The athletic director said Howard has expressed interest in staying on as an assistant.

A national search for Weber’s replacement will begin immediately, and Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall and Butler’s Brad Stephens, among others, all could be candidates for the job. Thomas said he wouldn’t rule out hiring an assistant coach, but said, “I think that there’s a preference for someone who has head coaching experience.”

Firing Weber will cost Illinois $3.9 million to cover the three years remaining on his contract.

Weber faced criticism from some fans from virtually the moment he was hired in 2003. Some saw the coach from Southern Illinois — where he took the Salukis to two NCAA Sweet 16s — as a downgrade from Bill Self, who left for Kansas.