University of Minnesota head men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino has announced the addition of Rob Jeter to the Gophers coaching staff. Jeter will join Minnesota as an assistant coach after a decorated career, most recently in the same role at UNLV.
“We are extremely excited to add Rob to our staff,” Pitino said. “He’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience that will make our program better. He knows the league and has terrific connections in the Midwest.”
With more than 20 years in collegiate coaching, Jeter spent the past two seasons at UNLV. In his first season with the Runnin’ Rebels, he assisted in bringing in a recruiting class for the 2017-18 season that was ranked as high as No. 12 in the country and included McDonald’s High School All-American Brandon McCoy and National Junior College Player of the Year Shakur Juiston. This year, he was a part of the UNLV squad that won 20 games and fell to eventual Sweet 16 participant Nevada in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
Prior to coming to Las Vegas, Jeter was the head coach at Milwaukee for 11 years, winning 20 or more games five times, including his last season (2015-16). He led the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament twice, defeating Oklahoma in the 2006 Big Dance, and to the NIT and CBI in back-to-back years.
Jeter recorded a 185-170 mark leading the school, becoming its winningest Division I coach in program history. Additionally, his total of 101 Horizon League victories ranked third all-time in the conference.
In 2012, Jeter earned Horizon League Coach of the Year honors as well as being named the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year for a second time (first was 2006).
Off the court, Jeter’s Panthers team was well-known for its work in the community. It logged over 900 hours as a team and consistently earned the athletics department’s community service award.
Academically, Jeter led the program to much success as well. Many of his teams carried a cumulative 3.0 grade point average and he had multiple student-athletes earn Academic All-Horizon League honors.
His last season at the school, his team was honored by the NABC with the Team Academic Excellence Award, which was created by the organization’s Committee on Academics. The award recognizes outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better during the season. The Panthers were the only Horizon League school on that list.
Before becoming head coach at Milwaukee, Jeter wan an assistant under head coach Bo Ryan at both Wisconsin (2001-05) and UWM (1999-01). He was also an assistant at Marquette (1998-99, under Mike Deane) and an assistant at Wisconsin-Platteville under Ryan (1994-98).
In four seasons at Wisconsin, Jeter helped the Badgers to remarkable success. They won two regular season Big Ten championships and a Big Ten Tournament title. Wisconsin also made four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including berths in the Sweet 16 in 2003 and the Elite Eight in 2005.
Jeter has been a part of 13 conference championships, including 11 as a coach, and three national championships, two as a coach.
In his 12 years as an assistant coach, his teams have posted a 256-106 (.707) combined overall record and a 130-60 (.684) mark in league play.
Jeter played college basketball at UW-Platteville under Ryan, captaining his team to the 1991 NCAA Division III title as a senior and was named to the All-Final Four team. His teams went 102-16 in four seasons as a player and he still holds UW-Platteville records for career field goal percentage (.601) and consecutive starts (89).
He is a 1991 graduate of the school and went on to earn a master’s degree from there in 2001.
He was inducted into the UW-Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 and was also named an inductee into the inaugural hall of fame class for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In addition, his 1991 National Championship team from Platteville was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 2013.
Born in Pittsburgh, he grew up in Chicago as part of an athletic family. His late father, Bob, is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and his brother, Carlton, played basketball alongside him at Platteville.
He attended high school at Quigley South in Chicago and after graduating college, he starred for the Olivias Futebol Clube in Portugal in 1992-93, leading the Portuguese league in scoring. Jeter and his wife, Deanna, have three sons, Robert, Jonathan and Jackson, and a daughter, Jolie.
Jeter replaces Kimani Young, who accepted the same position at the University of Connecticut last week.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041018aaa.html
