By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Rob Jeter was officially named the new head men’s basketball coach at Southern Utah on Sunday, ending his three-season run at Western Illinois.

Jeter, who won 16 games in each of the last two seasons at Western Illinois, will be introduced as the Thunderbirds’ new coach on Thursday.

The announcement wasn’t a surprise — reports on Friday had Jeter working on finalizing a deal at Southern Utah, and later that day WIU associate head coach Chad Boudreau was named the Leathernecks’ interim head coach.

Western Illinois went 16-14 this season, finishing in a tie for fourth in the Summit League with a 9-9 record. It was the best record, conference and overall, and highest conference finish for the program since 2013.

Jeter took over the Leathernecks just weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, having to rebuild a program while being unable to make recruiting visits or having summer workouts. With limited practice time in the fall, Western Illinois opened the season by losing 12 of its first 14 games. But the Leathernecks followed that with a five-game winning streak and finished the season with a 7-15 record.

Western Illinois went 16-16 last season, then behind first-team all-conference selection Trenton Massner went on a memorable run this season. The Leathernecks, who had a six-game winning streak in late November and early December and a five-game winning streak in January, were in second place on January 28 after winning three games in a week in which Massner scored 99 points in wins over North Dakota, South Dakota and South Dakota State.

Jeter takes over a program that went 24-13 this season that included two wins in the CBI.

Jeter had five seasons of 20 or more wins in 11 seasons as Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s head coach. Jeter led the Panthers to two NCAA tournament appearances, including a first-round win over Oklahoma in 2006.

Jeter left Milwaukee as its all-time winningest coach in the program’s Division I era with an overall record of 185-170. The Panthers claimed the Horizon League’s regular-season titles in 2006 and 2011 and tournament titles in 2006 and 2014.

Photo: Rob Jeter was named the new head coach at Southern Utah on Sunday. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)