MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University Director of Athletics Paul A. Bubb announced the promotion of Chad Boudreau to Leatherneck men’s basketball head coach, becoming the 25th head coach in program history.
“Chad’s influence over the past three years as the associate head coach and the positive results we have seen in the program made this a rather easy decision,” Bubb said. “The volume of interest, from calls to emails and text messages, was refreshing and confirmed to me that the program is definitely in better shape than during other recent searches, and Coach Boudreau has been a big part of making that turn around.”
Boudreau was named interim coach on Friday, April 7.
For the past three seasons, Boudreau has served as associate head coach for the Western Illinois men’s basketball program. During those three years, the Leathernecks saw increases in wins and win percentage, both overall and in the Summit League.
“First and foremost, I want to thank Paul Bubb,” Boudreau said. “I also want to thank the President, Dr. (Guiyou) Huang, the search committee and the Macomb community.
“I’m really excited and honored to be the next head coach at Western Illinois University. I’ve grown to love the city and the people. I grew up not far from here, this is home for me, I want to be here and I’m very proud to be here.”
Before coming to Western Illinois, Boudreau was head coach at Highland College in Freeport, Illinois.
At Highland, Boudreau led the Cougars to three consecutive Arrowhead Conference titles with undefeated conference marks in 2019 and 2020. He earned Arrowhead Conference Coach of the Year honors all three seasons of his Highland tenure and was named NJCAA Region IV’ Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2020.
Before coaching at Highland, Boudreau was an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 005-2016. Boudreau assisted Milwaukee to Horizon League championships in 2006, 2011, and 2014, and the Panthers qualified for six postseason tournaments during the 11 years.
Before Milwaukee, Boudreau was the lead assistant at Indian Hills Community College from 1999-2005 and recruited two eventual NBA draft picks. Indian Hills advanced to the NJCAA Final Four during his tenure.
Boudreau graduated from Hannibal-LaGrange College with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1995 and from Southwest Baptist University with a master’s degree in education in 1999. He began his coaching career as a women’s basketball graduate assistant at HLGC.
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