Some new faces will be at the helm of Redbird Athletics programs this fall, as Director of Athletics Larry Lyons announced the hiring of head coaches Jeff Bovee (cross country/track and field), Bo Durkac (baseball) and Maja Kovacek (women’s tennis).
Bovee and Durkac are no strangers to Illinois State, as both served on the coaching staffs of their respective sports in recent years, and Kovacek comes to ISU from Oregon.
Bovee’s new role as as the director of track and field/cross country comes after eight years on staff. With the Redbirds, Bovee has coached 97 All-Valley performers, as well as 19 MVC Individual Champions in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field. On the national level, he has led 24 student-athletes to the NCAA Track and Field Preliminary Round, all coming in distance events.
Durkac takes over the managerial duties for the Redbird baseball team, after serving as the associate head coach for the past two seasons and as an assistant for the past five seasons. During his tenure on staff, Durkac has helped lead the Redbirds to two-straight Valley Tournament Championship games the past two seasons and helped a program-record six Redbirds get drafted in the 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft.
Kovacek is the most recent hire and has proven her ability to compete on a national stage, both as an assistant coach at Oregon and as a student-athlete at New Mexico. She arrives at Illinois State following a seven-year career as Oregon’s women’s tennis assistant coach, where she helped the Ducks to dual match wins over 12 ranked opponents in the last seven years.
