Rob Jeter

Personal

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jeter grew up in Chicago, Illinois. His father Bob (1937–2008) was a Rose Bowl MVP as a halfback for the Iowa Hawkeyes and a second round pick in the 1960 NFL draft. He was later a defensive back in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers under Vince Lombardi 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, played football at Nebraska under head coach Bob Devaney and was a tight end in the NFL for two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jeter and his wife, Deanna, have three sons, Robert, Jonathan (J.T.) and Jackson, and one daughter, Jolie.

Early athletics

Jeter attended high school at Quigley South Preparatory School in Chicago, and then played collegiate basketball at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville, where he played under coach Bo Ryan 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 he was named to the All-Final Four team. Jeter holds UW–Platteville records for career field goal percentage (.601) and consecutive starts (89). He played on a national championship team that averaged more than 97 points per game. In four years as a player, Jeter's teams passed the 100-point mark 29 times, including a record-setting 149-point outing. His team went 102–16 in his four seasons of playing at UW–Platteville.

Jeter was a two-time All-Wisconsin State University Conference selection and two-time All-Midwest Region choice while at Platteville. 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, leading the Portuguese national league in scoring.

After his pro career, Jeter worked as an assistant coach, at UW–Platteville, Marquette University, UW–Milwaukee, and then Wisconsin.

Assistant coach

Jeter worked under Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan for 10 of his 11 years as an assistant coach, spending one year under Mike Deane at Marquette.

He has been part of nine conference championships and two national championships as a coach. In his 11 years as an assistant coach, his teams also posted a 245–85 combined record, a .743 winning percentage. In league play his teams had a 126–46 record.

UW–Platteville

While Jeter was an assistant coach at Platteville, the Pioneers had a 108–6 overall record, two NCAA Division III titles and four conference championships. During the time he was an assistant coach at UW–Platteville he also coordinated the program's academic, recruiting and scouting efforts. He was the director of Bo Ryan basketball camps, and was an admissions coordinator at the school.

Marquette

Jeter was the assistant coach at Marquette from 1998 to 1999. While there, one of the team's achievements was defeating #4 nationally ranked University of Cincinnati.

Milwaukee

Jeter was the assistant coach at Milwaukee for two seasons (1999–2001) under Bo Ryan. While there, UWM recorded its first two .500 seasons since the early 1990s, an improvement in the Horizon League, and increased home attendance at the Klotsche Center. The Milwaukee team also made it to the semi-finals in the league tourney for the first time in school history.

Wisconsin

Jeter spent four years at Madison as Bo Ryan's assistant coach and then associate head coach 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 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.

UNLV

On May 5, 2016, Jeter was hired as an assistant coach at UNLV.

Milwaukee

Jeter was the 20th head coach of the Milwaukee basketball team, and the fifth since the program moved to Division I in 1990. He took over the position vacated by Bruce Pearl in 2005, when Pearl was hired at the University of Tennessee, after leading the Panthers to the Sweet Sixteen. He had been interviewed for the head coach position in 2001, but the job was given to Pearl.

In Jeter’s first year (2005–06), he led his team to its third-straight Horizon League regular season title and the conference tournament title for the school's second straight NCAA tournament berth. Jeter also led the Panthers to a fourth-straight 20-win season, with the 22 wins the most by a first-year head coach in school history. In the 2006 NCAA tournament, the Panthers defeated Oklahoma before losing to eventual national champion Florida. Three of his players earned All-Horizon League honors, another school record, and three players earned league all-tournament team recognition. Their final record was 22–9, and 12–4 in conference play.

With seven seniors on the 2005–06 Panthers team, Jeter fielded a squad of 16 newcomers for the 2006–07 season. Their record was 9–22, and 6–10 in conference play, tying for seventh place in the Horizon League.

In Jeter’s third season as head coach (2007–08), he added five more wins from the previous year’s record, after having to drop five players from the roster. Their record was 14–16, and 9–9 in conference play, tying for fourth place in the Horizon League.

In his fourth season at Milwaukee, the Panthers had their first winning season in two years with a 17–14 record overall and an 11–7 conference record, finishing fifth in the conference. Among the highlights for the season was an upset of nationally ranked Butler and a win against UIC where the Panthers came back from ten points down with 1:27 left in the game to win on a 3-point shot at the buzzer.

The Panthers struggled through the middle of the season in Jeter's 5th year with the team (2009–10), but a late-season surge by the Panthers gave the team their first 20 win season since Jeter first became head coach. The Panthers ended up losing in the Horizon League Tournament semi-finals to Butler, their farthest advancement in the tournament since 2005. Their final record was 20–14, with a 10–8 conference record, which was good enough for fourth place.

The Panthers started the 2010–2011 season on a slow note and were 9–11 going into the final month, when the Panthers suddenly went on a roll, winning 9 conference games in a row and win the regular season Horizon League championship with a 13–5 conference record, the best for Jeter since he became the Panthers' head coach. Among the highlight wins for the Panthers included a sweep of Butler and three overtime wins over Butler, Detroit, and Youngstown State, the latter game giving the Panthers the regular season championship, plus Jeter's 100th victory as head coach. Jeter was honored with the Horizon League Coach of the Year.

While at Milwaukee, Jeter has helped by the outfitting of Milwaukee's new locker room and team room in the Pavilion, including wooden lockers, furniture and a large-screen television.

Jeter was named the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches' Association Division I Coach of the Year in 2006 and was inducted into the UW–Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2006.