Rob Jeter Had a Better Record Than Some UW-Milwaukee Coaches

Athletic Director Amanda Braun fired Rob Jeter, former head coach for the men’s basketball team, on March 17 for what she said was because of the team’s performance and failing to “meet or exceed the expectations for the program this year.” Not only did she fire Jeter, but she also didn’t allow the team to enter post-season play. Although the team finished 5th in the Horizon League, though, Jeter’s team had one of the best records among all coaches this season; top 3 to be exact, a Media Milwaukee review of UWM sports team records showed.

Only two teams finished with a higher winning percentage during the 2015-16 seasons than men’s basketball’s .606: Women’s Swim/Dive, which had a .833 win percentage (5-1) and Women’s Soccer, which finished with a winning percentage of .722 (11-3-4).

The basketball team’s 5th place conference finish also placed them ahead of two others in the athletic program. Men’s soccer finished 8th in the Horizon League with a record of 5-10-3 and failed to qualify for the conference tournament. In addition, the women’s volleyball team placed 6th with a record of 9-21. Both head coaches of the teams are currently employed in the athletic program – except for Jeter, of course.

Women’s basketball was one of the teams that ended up finishing with a lower winning percentage than the men’s basketball team (.594 compared to the aforementioned .606.) However, the women’s team tied for second in the conference with Wright State, losing the conference final to Green Bay. The team went on to the Women’s NIT (the team’s first postseason appearance since the 2005-2006 season).

Braun was hired in 2013, a year after Kyle Rechlicz was named the head coach for the women’s basketball team. However, if you compare Rechlicz’s record to Jeter’s from when she debuted as the head coach to this season, Jeter had a better record. Rechlicz and her team finished 46-75 (.380) while Jeter’s teams finished 63-67 (.485) during the same timeframe, Media Milwaukee found.

On top of all of the points, the men’s basketball team had what could be considered as an “unlucky” conference season. This past season, the Panthers lost eight conference games by the following point totals: 2, 12, 3, 1, 4, 14, 2, and 4. That comes out to a total 42 points, or 5.25 points per game. If you take out the two outliers (the 14-point loss to Detroit and 12 point loss to Valparaiso) the total shrinks to 6 losses by 16 points, or a miniscule 2.6 points per game. Six of their losses came at the hands of one of the four teams placed above them in the conference (Valparaiso (0-2), Oakland (1-1), Wright State (0-2), Green Bay (1-1)).

However, for any bad luck the team may have had, they countered with some very convincing outings against top competition. For starters, the Panthers attained wins on the road at both Wisconsin (68-67) and Minnesota (74-65). Prior to those games, came their first test on the road against Notre Dame. The Panther’s lost to the Fighting Irish, an Elite Eight team, to an eight -point game (86-78).

In addition, Media Milwaukee has learned that the Athletic Department had a surplus for 2015-2016, even as other departments struggled with deficits among tough budget times despite Braun, in an email, blaming the budget for contributing to the post-season play ban.

Over a month ago, Media Milwaukee requested 130 pages of Braun’s emails regarding the men’s basketball program, including the controversial dismissal of Jeter and the team not being allowed to participate in post-season play. Although the university redacted the content of almost every email, one email that stood out was of Braun stating that the budget prevented them from going to post season play.

David Nicholas, a big financial donor to UWM, did not agree with the decision of Braun not allowing the team to enter the post-season tournament. Nicholas wrote in an email to Chancellor Mark Mone saying, “this is not a financial issue, monies are available if needed.” He also said, “it’s just wrong,” and in his opinion, it would “come back to haunt the future of the entire program.”

Reporters of Media Milwaukee requested an open records report from Julie Kipp of the Athletic Department’s Budget Fiscal Year 2015-2016. The Athletic Department did have money because the money was in surplus. Braun previously told Kris Schimmel, reporter from Media Milwaukee, in a sit-down-interview that funding was not an issue.