Robert DeLafayette Jeter III (born May 15, 1969) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and current head coach at Western Illinois.

Personal life

Born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, Jeter grew up in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. His father, Bob (1937–2008), was a Rose Bowl MVP as a halfback for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

and a

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

pick in the

1960 NFL draft The 1960 National Football League Draft in which NFL teams take turns selecting amateur college American football players and other first-time eligible players, was held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on November 30, 1959. Many players, i ...

. He was later a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

under

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

and a member of the Packer Hall of Fame and Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. His brother, Carlton Jeter, played basketball alongside him at UW–Platteville. His uncle,

Tony Jeter Tony Jeter (born September 8, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). Biography Jeter was born Anthony John Jeter on September 8, 1944, in Steubenville, Ohio. He is th ...

, played football at

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

under head coach

Bob Devaney Robert Simon Devaney (April 13, 1915 – May 9, 1997) was a college football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1957 to 1961 and at the University of Nebraska from 1962 to 1972, compiling a career record of . ...

and was a tight end in the NFL for two seasons with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

. Jeter and his wife, Deanna, have three sons, Robert, Jonathan (J.T.) and Jackson, and one daughter, Jolie.

Playing career

Jeter attended high school at

Quigley South Quigley Preparatory Seminary South was a Catholic high school administered by the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1961 through 1990. Quigley South was located at 7740 South Western Avenue on the South Side of Chicago. Quigley North and Quigley Sout ...

Preparatory School in Chicago, and then played collegiate basketball at the

University of Wisconsin–Platteville University of Wisconsin–Platteville (UW–Platteville) is a public university in Platteville, Wisconsin. Part of the University of Wisconsin System, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The university has three colleges that serve ov ...

, where he played under coach

Bo Ryan William Francis "Bo" Ryan Jr. (born December 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball coach and player. He was the head coach of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Badgers men's basketball team from 2001 to December 2015. Ryan se ...

from 1987 to 1991 as a starting forward. Jeter was the captain of his team when it won the 1991 NCAA Division III tournament and was named to the all-Final Four team. He holds the UW–Platteville records for career field goal percentage (.601) and consecutive starts (89). In his four years playing, UW–Platteville went 102–16 while Jeter was a two-time All-Wisconsin State University Conference selection and two-time All-Midwest Region choice. He was also named to the Wisconsin State University Conference honor roll three times. He graduated with a B.S. in business administration in 1991. He also earned a master's degree in adult education at UW–Platteville in December 2001. Following graduation, he played professionally overseas from 1992–93, with Olivias Futebol Clube in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, leading the Portuguese national league in scoring. Jeter was inducted into the UW–Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2006.

Coaching career

Jeter returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1994, where he'd stay until 1998 and as part of the Pioneers national title teams in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

before having a one-year stopover at Marquette under Mike Deane. He'd then reunite with Ryan at Milwaukee, and would subsequently follow Ryan as an assistant coach to

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In four years with the Badgers from 2001 to 2005, He was the Badgers' lead recruiter, while also coordinating Wisconsin's scouting and academic efforts. While at Wisconsin, they won two regular season

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championships and a Big Ten tournament title. They also made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including berths in the Sweet 16 in 2003, losing to Kentucky, and the Elite Eight in 2005, losing to North Carolina, who eventually became the national champion. Wisconsin averaged nearly 23 wins per season under Ryan and Jeter and posted a school record 38-game home court winning streak. In 2005, Jeter was hired to replace

Bruce Pearl Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Souther ...

at Milwaukee, who led the Panthers to the Sweet 16 in the previous season during the 2005 NCAA tournament. Jeter would guide the Panthers to another

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

conference and tournament title and a first-round win over Oklahoma in the 2006 NCAA tournament. During the next 10 seasons, Jeter would help the Panthers to another Horizon League regular season title and a berth in the 2011 NIT as well as a

2012 CBI 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

appearance and another Horizon League conference tournament title for a spot in the 2014 NCAA tournament. At the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, Jeter was fired by Milwaukee by Athletic Director Amanda Braun. Jeter would return to coach, accepting an assistant coaching position at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the ...

, where he would stay from 2016 to 2018. He'd then join

Richard Pitino Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team. From 2013 to 2021, he was head coach of the University of Minnesota Golden ...

's staff at

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

. On March 30, 2020, Jeter was named the 21st head coach at Western Illinois, replacing Billy Wright.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeter, Rob 1969 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Portugal American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Basketball players from Pittsburgh College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball coaches Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Chicago Sportspeople from Pittsburgh Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball coaches Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball coaches Wisconsin–Platteville Pioneers men's basketball players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople