By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Jesiah West was happy when Chad Boudreau was promoted to the head coaching job at Western Illinois.

Boudreau, the Leathernecks’ associate head coach for three seasons under Rob Jeter, had recruited West from Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa, an hour’s drive away from the WIU campus.

Jeter’s departure to become the head coach at Southern Utah made West, a forward who had one season of eligibility remaining, ponder his future.

Boudreau’s hiring made that decision easy.

“This guy, he recruited me,” West said as he sat next to Boudreau during the Leathernecks’ media day. “Our relationship is beyond basketball. He was the guy who showed up at a lot of my games in junior college. He had that connection with me — called my mom, called my people, made sure I was good. It was beyond basketball with me.

“I was relieved when he got the job.”

It is the perfect pairing. West’s career started at a junior college, and so did Boudreau’s. Boudreau, like West, played at SCC after growing up in nearby Farmington, Iowa. He’s been an assistant coach and head coach at the juco level.

And as Boudreau assembled this year’s roster, he went with a juco approach.

“It’s a different dynamic,” Boudreau said. “Jesiah and I are used to it, coming from a junior college. You see it in Burlington, you see it in Ottumwa (at Indian Hills Community College), you see it in Moberly. Every year you’re taking a new group and you’re putting it together, and you’ve got to build a team dynamic right away.”

Boudreau took a roster of seven returning players and added eight newcomers as the Leathernecks begin their first season in the Ohio Valley Conference.

It’s an era of college basketball when the rebuilding process is a quick fix, a shopping spree in the NCAA’s transfer portal. Boudreau did some of that — center Joe Petrakis came from Illinois State, center Drew Cisse came from Division II Missouri-St. Louis, and forward Rodrick Payne came from Division III Wisconsin-River Falls.

But the spring/summer recruiting class also included players from some of the top junior college programs in the country — guard James Dent came from NJCAA Division I champion John A. Logan, and guard Ryan Myers came from Indian Hills, which also qualified for the NJCAA national tournament.

“Part of it is getting guys who are very similar,” Boudreau said. “You want guys who are winners, and we have a collective group of guys who have won where they’ve been, whether it’s in high school or in college. You want competitors. You want guys who are going to compete.”

But Boudreau also wanted experience because he wanted depth. The Leathernecks have posted back-to-back 16-win seasons, but they faded down the stretch of both seasons because of a lack of depth. Western Illinois ranked 354th in bench minutes last season, 333rd in 2022.

“I want 1 through 10 to be able to start, I want 1 through 10 to be able to come in at any point, and we don’t drop off,” Boudreau said. “And that’s what it’s been.”

The Leathernecks, though, have a core of returning players. West started all 30 games last season, and guard Quinlan Bennett started 28. They each averaged 9.7 points per game.

West’s game will have a different look this season. He is expected to step out to the wing since the Leathernecks have more frontcourt options.

“It wasn’t a big (change) for me, because I knew what I came back to do, the role I came back to fill,” he said.

Still, West said, he’ll want to mix it up inside.

“I’ll always play bigger than I was, because in my heart, I’ve always been a dog,” he said.

“There are a lot of people who talk, but don’t do it,” Boudreau said. “A lot of people who say things they don’t mean. Jesiah is one of those players who talks less and does more. And those are the people you want around you in life, those are the people you want in your family, those are the people you want to work at your business. Those are the people you want to be around.”

It’s a mentality Boudreau wants for his team.

“We have a bunch of older guys,” he said. “I told them on the first day, I was going to coach them like a professional team. The best players are going to be on the floor, the best players are going to play, and we’re going to put you in the best position to help us win. Because that’s what we’re here to do.”

Boudreau also takes the out-of-the-way juco route when promoting his program. Having grown up in the area, he understands how a small gym can be packed on a cold winter night. He wants that at Western Hall, which is not the easiest place to get to and has an old-school feel.

“This area loves basketball, whether it’s in southeast Iowa, northeast Missouri, central Illinois,” Boudreau said. “Quincy (Illinois) is the king of basketball, high school basketball. People will come. We win, people will come. They’ll want to be here. And they want to support a winner. But they’ll also support a group of guys who work hard, who are tough, because that’s the area. We’re very blue-collar in our approach, in what we do.

“I want all of Farmington, Iowa over here cheering for us. And also Farmington, Illinois. We want everyone here.”

It’s a mentality Boudreau appreciates. It’s a mentality he wants in his program, and it’s a style that seems fitting for the OVC, where it’s going to be a lot of bus rides to a lot of small markets that have their own basketball histories.

It’s a mentality Boudreau sees in West.

“We’re from different places. I’m from Iowa, he’s from New Jersey,” Boudreau said. “But we’ve walked the same path. Once you’ve been in junior college, it’s not the easiest path, but it’s the path you’re proud of. We stick together in the end. It’s loyalty, it’s a friendship. And we’ll talk forever.”

Photo: Forward Jesiah West (right) is one of the returning players for Western Illinois this season. (Dave Eggen/Inertia)