Western Illinois Head Coaching Job Opens Up Week Before Start of Season

With less than 2 weeks to go until the school’s October 4th Purple & Gold alumni meet that will kick off the season, Division I Western Illinois University in Macomb is on the market for a new head coach.

After a summer of great upheaval in the Division I head coaching market, the churn isn’t quite done yet. Western Illinois lists only 2 graduate assistants (Emad Abdellatif and Alex Peach) on their coaching staff for the 2019-2020 season. According to a job posting, the position was listed officially on September 17th.

The former head coach was Greg Naumann, who was the head coach of the program for 10 seasons after previously swimming there and serving as a student assistant. We have reached out to Western Illinois to learn more about the late vacancy, and will provide an update if we receive more information. Naumann was quoted as part of the team’s schedule announcement on August 7th, which narrows the window for his time of departure from the program.

Naumann was named the 2019 Summit League Men’s Coach of the Year after leading his team to 4 school records. The men finished 4th out of 6 teams while the women finished 5th out of 6 teams at the Summit League Championship meet.

The Leathernecks, which sponsor both men’s and women’s programs, hold their first intercollegiate meet on October 12th when they host Green Bay – another team that has a new head coach this season. Eddie Gillie is currently serving as interim head coach, with the program having not yet named a full-time replacement after Reed Robelot’s departure.

Illinois public records show that Naumann made $39,350 in 2017 as the program’s head coach.

 

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The SUMMIT League
5 years ago

The turn over in the SUMMIT league this year is unreal, Four out of the 7 schools have new HC, EIU, Denver, Valpo and Western. EIU, WIU, and I’m sure Valpo all making under 40K for their HC combined programs, which is just sad. This just leaves you to wonder, Where are all these HC now?

Runningfromthecops
Reply to  The SUMMIT League
5 years ago

That trend is becoming more and more popular among mid major conferences. Horizon league has 4 out of 7 programs with new staffs

Hoooodrich
5 years ago

Western Illinois in general is a garbage fire, I don’t blame him for wanting to leave Macomb after all these years

Former WIU Coach
5 years ago

Shed some light. I was the head coach there way back in late 80’s early 90s. My house then (my 1st one) was $60,000 and it was nice. I made exactly $30,000 then so its sad to think that nearly 30 years later its only gone up less than 10k. No camp and I had to teach classes as well. It was a stepping stone program then and still is, the least of why is because they wont pay a coach to enough to stay more than few years. That really shots you in the foot recruiting wise. A recruit knowing WIU wont take care of its coach financially and knows that chances are that coach will be different by… Read more »

Meat
5 years ago

How much does Western Illinois’s football assistants make? Pitiful that a D1 program pays less than a living wage.

Landrew
Reply to  Meat
5 years ago

Head football coach made $192,462 in 2017. And while 40k isn’t that much I can’t imagine that Macomb, Illinois has a very high cost of living

Greg
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Making $39K after ten years! What was he making in year one?

AZswummer
Reply to  Meat
5 years ago

Not sure how one can “down vote” a comment like this. The guy had a combined program and was underpaid. Most swimming coaches never make the big dollars but still work their tails off. It’s not as glorious as it is made out to be. Most struggle to pay the bills and then worry if their job is safe due to programs being dropped out of the blue.

Father Okra
5 years ago

Hire the assistant. Brilliant kid and the team loves him. FTO

Timekeeper
5 years ago

Not even 40k to coach a D1 team. Yikes……How was he able to do it for 10 yrs??

PsychoDad
Reply to  Timekeeper
5 years ago

Maybe made some money in camps?

AZswummer
Reply to  Timekeeper
5 years ago

That is just sad. Poverty level.

Swimmer
Reply to  Timekeeper
5 years ago

Less than some mid-major assistants…

Heyitsme
5 years ago

Me: The swim season is about to start
Western Illinois coach: Ight imma head out

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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