Eric Bovaird has been named men’s basketball coach at Chaminade

Courtesy Chaminade University

HONOLULU, HI - Eric Bovaird has been named to replace Jerry Carrillo as men’s basketball coach at Chaminade after Carrillo and his family reconsidered the move to Hawai‘i.

According to Chaminade Director of Athletics Bill Villa, “Jerry really wanted the coaching position at Chaminade but after considerable discussions with his family, it was determined that staying at Cochise was the best decision for his family at this time. We respect his decision and were immediately placed in a position to find a replacement promptly and we have,” he said.

“In an earlier announcement, we stated that there was a strong list of finalists who met our criteria and Eric Bovaird was right up there so we gave him a call and reached an agreement,” Villa stated.

Bovaird has served as the assistant coach at West Liberty University in West Virginia for the past seven years where the team recorded a 175-40 won-loss record - one of the top records over the past five years in the NCAA Division II level.

West Liberty finished the 2010-2011 season ranked #1 nationally with their lone loss coming to BYU-Hawaii.  West Liberty has led the nation in scoring in six of the last seven years. West Liberty has been ranked in the NCAA Division II as one of the top 20 teams nationally in five of the past six years. 

“Coach Bovaird is quite an accomplished basketball player himself with professional playing experience in Australia and Germany.   As a member of the West Liberty team he ranked second and fifth in scoring in the Nation his junior and senior years and is a two-time Collegiate All-American,” said Villa.

Bovaird added, “I am extremely excited to be the next head men's basketball at Chaminade University. Chaminade has had a great tradition of basketball and I am honored to guide its program in the next phase. We have developed an exciting, high scoring, winning brand of basketball at West Liberty University that I plan to implement at Chaminade. Hawai‘i has always been a special place to my wife Leigh and I, and we are so excited to be moving to this magical place that we can now call home.”

Bovaird graduated from West Liberty with a B.A. in physical education and an M.S. in sports science from the United States Sports Academy. He and Leigh are proud parents of a seven-month old daughter.