Just a few weeks after the firing of long time men’s basketball coach Rob Jeter, UWM athletic director Amanda Braun has settled on a new candidate to lead the Panthers program.
LaVall Jordan, the 37-year-old who formerly worked as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, has been chosen to take the reigns at UWM. Jordan has helped coach Michigan to 4 straight NCAA Tournament appearances in 5 seasons, including a trip to the Final Four in 2013. His experience does not end there. Jordan was an assistant coach at Butler for 4 seasons before he coached at Iowa for another 3 seasons. He was considered to be a finalist for the Butler head coaching position in 2013, when current Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens left the program for the NBA.
When asked by the Detroit Free Press about interest in his assistant coaches, Michigan head coach John Beilein said, “There is some interest from other universities and I’m thrilled about it.” He then continued saying, “This is long overdue, they are really ready to be (head) coaches.”
Jordan averaged 12.4 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field as a senior at Butler during the 2000-2001 season. He brings experience as a collegiate player and coach to a Milwaukee program searching for a new identity.
After 11 seasons under coach Jeter, the Panthers won the Horizon League regular season in 2006 and 2011 and the Horizon League Tournament championship in 2006 and 2014. He was also named the Horizon League coach of the year after the team’s 2011 campaign. With many players upset at Jeter’s firing last month, Jordan will enter his first season as head coach trying to bring the team back together to compete for a league championship.
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