Western Illinois University Men's Basketball

Get to know Chad Boudreau. On Thursday, April 13, 2023, 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." In his first season as Leatherneck head coach in 2023-24, Boudreau led Western Illinois to a 21-12 overall record. The 21 wins were the most for the program since the 2012-13 season. The 13 conference victories are the most for the program since 2012-13 as well. Boudreau's 21 wins are the most for a first-year coach in program history, breaking Stix Morley's record 19-win season in 1947-48. Western Illinois also won 10 true road games, finishing among the top five in the country. Boudreau was named as a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award. The award is presented annually to the top rookie, first-year head coach in division I college basketball. The Joe B. Hall award is named in honor of longtime Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall who was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp at the school. Boudreau was named interim coach on Friday, April 7, 2023. Prior to being named head coach, 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. 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.   Boudreau and his wife, Stacy, have five children.  

Kris Glover enters his fifth season with the Western Illinois men’s basketball program, recently promoted to Assistant Coach ahead of the 2025–26 season. His primary responsibilities include defensive strategy, opponent scouting, and recruiting. Glover began his basketball career in operations at Xavier University, serving as a student manager under head coaches Chris Mack and Travis Steele. He later transferred to the University of Missouri, continuing in a similar role under Cuonzo Martin, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Parks, Recreation, Sport and Tourism with a focus in Sport Management in May 2021. He joined Western Illinois ahead of the 2021–22 season as a Graduate Assistant under former head coach Rob Jeter before being promoted to Director of Basketball Operations under Chad Boudreau, and later to Assistant Coach. During Glover’s tenure, Western Illinois has achieved: A record-setting 21-win season and a fourth-place OVC finish in 2023–24 Back-to-back 16-win seasons in the Summit League (2021–22, 2022–23) Glover earned his MBA with a marketing emphasis from Western Illinois in May 2023. He resides in Macomb, Illinois.

Charles Ruffing enters his first season with the Western Illinois men’s basketball program after spending the past two seasons as the head coach at Bryant & Stratton College in Wisconsin. During his tenure at Bryant & Stratton, Ruffing led the Bobcats to the most successful stretch in program history. The team captured the Region IV Championship and finished with a 29-7 record, setting a new school record for wins. The Bobcats also made their first-ever appearance in the NJCAA National Tournament, where they earned their first national tournament victory. Ruffing’s accomplishments earned him recognition as both the WBCA Junior College Coach of the Year and the NJCAA Region IV Coach of the Year. Under his leadership, Bryant & Stratton achieved its highest national ranking in program history at No. 11, while also setting multiple program records, including a 14-game winning streak, a single-game scoring record of 114 points, and the highest team GPA in school history (3.6). In his first season, Ruffing guided the Bobcats to a 23-10 record and a Region IV championship game appearance. Before his time at Bryant & Stratton, Ruffing gained extensive collegiate coaching experience as an assistant at several NCAA Division III programs. At Marian University, he helped lead the Sabres to their second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, improving the team’s win total by 15 from the previous season. He also served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College and Rockford University, helping guide Wisconsin Lutheran to a program-record 16 conference wins and its first NACC Conference Championship in 2019–20. While at Rockford, he contributed to a program record for conference wins and the team’s first NACC Tournament berth since 2012. Ruffing also spent one season as the head coach of the West Bend East High School boys’ basketball team, leading the program to its first WIAA Division I Regional Championship in 20 years. A native of De Pere, Wisconsin, Ruffing played collegiately at Marian University and Concordia University Chicago. He appeared in 50 games for Marian, totaling 86 points, 64 rebounds, and 80 assists, including 58 assists as a sophomore—second most on the team. At Concordia-Chicago, he concluded his playing career as a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Scholar-Athlete.