As the price for success, Jim Molinari will soon begin his third job in as many years.

At a Friday press conference in Peoria, Molinari, who led the Huskies to a 25-6 record and an NCAA Tournament bid this season, announced his acceptance of the head coaching job at Bradley University.

“Bradley has more of a national name,” Molinari said at the press conference. “I still have a love for Northern Illinois. People there were great to me.”

NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell said a search for Molinari’s replacement will have a goal of selecting a coach before the spring semester is over.

On Sunday, Molinari, who was a DePaul assistant before arriving at NIU in 1989, reflected on his decision. “It was difficult,” he said. “The toughest thing is leaving people who’ve meant a lot to you. We don’t control when we get certain opportunities—the Lord controls those things in my life.”

As for the factors that led to his departure, Molinari cites “the overall great interest in basketball at Bradley. I think another difference was the facility (the 10,000 seat Peoria Civic Center), and a better chance to be an NCAA team at Bradley.”

At NIU, Molinari had a base salary of $69,000 in the second year of a three-year pact. Outgoing Bradley coach Stan Albeck earned approximately $175,000, an amount believed to be close to the package Molinari will receive. “I don’t think it (the money) was a huge factor, it was one of many factors,” Molinari said. “Basically, as time went on, the money factor there wasn’t that big a difference. They (NIU) really tried to show me as things went on that they wanted me to stay.”

In his two years at NIU, Molinari compiled a 42-17 record, which caught the interest of several schools looking for a new coach. At Bradley, Molinari will be trying to rebuild a program that has suffered back-to-back 20-loss seasons.

Molinari said he didn’t view NIU as a stepping stone, despite his short stay. “When I went to Northern, I never looked at a time frame,” he said.

“People say two years is a short time … (but) I don’t feel like I used the program. I gave my heart and soul to the program. I came (to NIU) when we were down and we went to the (NCAA) Tournament. I don’t think we ran a perfect program, but our motives were sound.”