Men's Basketball | 6/14/2011 2:05:38 PM

HONOLULU, Hawaii – West Liberty University men's basketball assistant coach Eric Bovaird has been hired as head men's basketball coach at perennial NCAA Division II West Region powerhouse Chaminade University.

Bovaird replaces Matt Mahar on the Silverswords' sidelines. After six outstanding seasons at Chaminade, Mahar returned to the mainland last month when he was hired as head coach of NCAA Division II Assumption (Mass.) College.

Mahar compiled a 101-64 (.612) record with the Silverswords and claimed a trio of Pacific West Conference championships. Chaminade punched its NCAA Tournament ticket last with with a win against BYU-Hawaii in the PacWest Tournament, completing a 3-game season sweep of the team that would go on to hand West Liberty its only loss of the season in an Elite Eight national semifinal thriller.

The Silverswords are no stranger to the national spotlight, serving as the host team each year in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Chaminade earned national headlines in last year's tournament when it took then No. 2-ranked Michigan State to the wire in an 82-74 loss before closing out the tournament with a 68-64 victory against Oklahoma.

“I am extremely excited to be the next head men's basketball coach at Chaminade University,” Bovaird said. “Chaminade has a great basketball tradition and I'm honored to have been the one chosen to guide its program in the next phase.

“Coach (Jim) Crutchfield and I have developed an exciting, high-scoring, winning brand of basketball at West Liberty University which I plan to implement at Chaminade and I can't wait to get started.”

One of the leading scorers in the nation as a player during the 1990s, Bovaird returned to his alma mater as Crutchfield's No. 1 assistant seven years ago and has been a key figure in WLU's rise to national prominence. The No. 6 scorer in school history with 1,893 career points, Bovaird has coached and had a hand in recruiting 10 members of West Liberty's 1,000-Point Club.

The 2010-11 Hilltoppers were ranked No. 1 in the nation for the final two months of the season and reeled off 33 consecutive wins before the loss to BYU-Hawaii in the national semifinals. With four 1,000-point scorers in the starting lineup, West Liberty averaged more than 111 ppg. and shattered the previous NCAA Division II single-season scoring record by nearly 200 points. The Hilltoppers also became the first NCAA Division II team ever to make more than 500 3-point field goals in a single season.

Bovaird was a two-time All-American with the Hilltoppers and still holds a number of school records, including Single-Season Points (715), Single-Season Scoring Average (27.9 ppg.) and Career Scoring Average (24.2 ppg.). He played two years of professional basketball overseas (Germany and Australia) before his playing career was cut short by a knee injury. Bovaird then spent five years as head boys' basketball coach at Green Sea-Floyds (S.C.) High School before returning to WLU as an assistant coach.

The Hilltopper Hall of Famer and his wife, Dr. Leigh Bovaird, are the parents of a 9-month-old daughter, Jane.