Jeff Bovee enters his twelfth year as the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Illinois State. Bovee brings tremendous experience to the director position with over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 19 years at the helm of the Redbird's cross country program.

During his time at Illinois State, Bovee has built a name for himself, coaching the distance event groups to 173 All-Valley performances and 49 Missouri Valley Conference championships between track and field and cross country. He has also led 44 distance student-athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary Round. In 2018 alone, Bovee helped a program-high 20 Redbirds qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

Since taking over the director position in the 2014-2015 season, Bovee has guided 16 student-athletes to the NCAA National Championships, including Jack Anstey, who earned First Team All-America honors in the 1500 meter run in 2019. In 2024, graduate William Sinclair placed 96th to become the sixth different runner in Redbird history to finish top-100 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Over the past five years, Bovee has transformed Illinois State into a track & field powerhouse. Since he took over the program, the 'Birds have won 12 MVC track & field championships, including winning six straight women’s indoor titles (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) and three straight women’s outdoor titles (2018, 2019, 2021), excluding the 2020 campaign that was canceled due to COVID-19. The dominance of the Redbird's women's track & field program was emphasized at the 2021 Indoor Championships, where Illinois State set an MVC record with 232 points as a team. The Redbird men also won consecutive Valley indoor titles in 2018 and 2019.

A four-time USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year and an eleven-time MVC Coach of the Year in track & field, Bovee has coached 24 individual distance event student-athletes to MVC championships since being named Director of Track & Field/Cross Country, including two each in the 2021 indoor and outdoor seasons.

During the 2020-21 campaign, Bovee guided three teams to MVC Championships, as the Redbird men captured the men’s cross country title, and the Redbird women swept the indoor and outdoor team titles.

Led by MVC individual champion Kevin Koski, the Redbirds placed four runners in the top-five en route to their first MVC men’s cross country title in 19 years. Koski also earned the auto-bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where he finished 99^th overall.

With two championships on the year, the Redbird women extended their streak of seven-straight MVC conference titles. Under Bovee, the women’s team captured a Valley record 232 team points at the 2021 MVC Outdoor Championships, a full 139 points more than the second-place finishers.

Bovee guided two distance runners to individual MVC championships during the indoor season, as Riley Wells and Jake Gillum captured their first MVC titles in the 800 meter and mile run, respectively. In the outdoor season, Grace Beattie broke a meet record on her way to winning her second-straight Valley Championship in the 3000 meter steeplechase. On the men’s side, Jack Antsey notched his second-straight outdoor 800 meter title. In total, 17 distance athletes earned All-Valley honors on the year.

During a shortened 2020 campaign, Bovee led the distance group to a sweep of the 800 meter titles with Hattie Plumb winning her second-straight indoor 800 meter title and third-straight 800 meter title overall and Jack Anstey taking home the title in the men's 800 meter after winning the mile at the 2019 Valley Championships.

Earlier during the 2020 season, Anstey recorded the second sub-four-minute mile of his career under Bovee's direction, placing second at the Last Chance College Elite Meet in Seattle with a time of 3:59.93.

Joining Plumb and Anstey with MVC titles in 2020 were Grace Beattie (5,000 meter) and Rachel Hickey (mile) who each won their first indoor titles. Beattie's win in the 5,000 meter is her second Valley title after taking the steeplechase crown in 2019, while Hickey, who also anchored the women's distance medley relay that won the gold, earned the first Valley titles of her young career.

The Redbird distance group had eight individuals and two relays earn All-MVC honors at the 2020 indoor championships. Kevin Koski was the lone distance runner to earn All-Valley honors in two individual events, placing third in both the 3,000 meter and the 5,000 meter, while multiple Redbirds earned All-MVC honors in their individual events and as a member of the distance medley relay teams.

In 2019, the Redbird women won by 32-point margin at the MVC Indoor Championships and a 15-point margin at the Valley Outdoor Championships, while the men won indoors by 14.5 points.

The Redbirds' success over the last year extends beyond the conference level and onto the national and international scale. Bovee guided Anstey to a seventh-place finish in the 1,500 meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, earning him the first All-America honors of his career.

After suffering an injury at the conclusion of her freshman indoor season, Rachel Hickey battled back to compete at the USA U-20 Outdoor Championships in Florida where she earned a spot on Team USA and qualified for the U-20 Pan American Games in the 1,500 meter, an event she competed in for the first time in Florida. Hickey went on to place second at the U-20 Pan American Games in the event, clocking in at the No. 5 spot in ISU track & field history (4:26.83).

With Bovee at the helm of the program, he led the No. 28 nationally ranked Illinois State men to a dominating performance at the 2018 MVC Indoor Championships, as the Redbirds bested second-place Indiana State by 70 points. The Redbird women also excelled, winning the Valley crown by a margin of 35 points.

These impressive performances were largely in part to the 15 individual MVC titles and 30 All-Valley performances that commenced during the two-day championship meet. Among the Redbirds’ individual title winners was J.D. LaFayette, who Bovee guided to his second indoor 800 meter MVC title, and his first since 2016. With Bovee’s help, LaFayette was able to battle back from an injury that kept him sidelined in 2016-17 and re-claim the Valley indoor 800 meter crown.

With the victory, LaFayette was also named the recipient of the MVC’s Elite 17 Award for the second time of his career. By the conclusion of his Illinois State track & field/cross country career, Lafayette was a two-time Elite 17 Award recipient and a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Throughout his career at Illinois State, Bovee has had six student-athletes earn the Elite 17 Award nine times. Most recently, Madi Exline was honored with the award at the outdoor track & field championships.

During the 2018 outdoor campaign, Bovee led the Illinois State women to their sixth MVC Outdoor Track and Field title in program history and their first since 2000, once again being named the MVC Women’s Coach of the Year. Bovee’s 3000m steeplechase runners played an integral role in helping the Redbird women claim the Valley crown, as Grace Beattie and Lindsey Lewis both received all-conference honors, placing second and third, respectively. Beattie also went on to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, as her qualifying time of 10:19.77 ranks fifth all-time in ISU history.

Although the Redbird men placed second at the 2018 MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championship by a single point, Bovee helped the ‘Birds to their highest finish in 18 years.

The success that Bovee's teams have experienced is nothing new, as he also guided the Illinois State women to the MVC Indoor Championship in 2016, the first indoor title for the Redbird women since 1997. Following the 2016 MVC Championship, the Illinois State women earned runner-up finishes in both indoor and outdoor track and field in 2017.

Bovee has also found success on the cross country circuit, coaching Illinois State student-athletes to 45 All-MVC honors and 12 All-MVC Honorable Mention honors. In 2011 and 2012, he led the women’s cross country team to back-to-back Valley titles and has since led the Redbird men to second-place finishes at both the 2015 and 2018 MVC Cross Country Championships and a first-place finish at the 2020 MVC Cross Country Championships. Additionally, the Redbird men posted their best finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional since 2001, finished ninth out of 31 teams at the 2018 regional in Peoria.

Kyle Mattes made Illinois State cross country history under the guidance of Bovee, becoming the first ISU cross country men’s student-athlete to qualify individually for the NCAA Cross Country Championship in back-to-back years (2017 and 2018). In 2018, Mattes performance at the NCAA XC Championships was the best finish by a Redbird. He placed 52nd overall with a personal-best and school-record breaking 10K time of 30:10.30. Mattes not only qualified for two NCAA Cross Country Championships, but also was a four-time All-Valley performer and earned All-Region honors in back-to-back seasons. He joined just three others in Illinois State history and 15 others in MVC history to earn All-MVC honors all four years.

Over his 14 years with the Illinois State Cross Country and Track and Field Program, Bovee’s student-athletes have had too many successes to count. In 2016, Bovee helped Ryan Rutherford qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 10,000 meter run. Over the course of his illustrious career, Rutherford set the ISU school record in the 5,000 meter (13:49.99) and the 10,000 meter (28:41.23), winning multiple MVC Championships. On the cross country circuit, Bovee coached Rutherford to All-Region Honors in both 2013 and 2014 and the ISU 8K school record (23:50) in 2014.

Bovee also played an integral role in the development of Olympian and professional runner Aisha Praught-Leer, who competed in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the 2016 Rio Olympics as the lone Jamaican distance runner. During her time at Illinois State, Bovee helped Praught-Leer become the national runner-up in the mile run at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, setting the ISU school record in the process with a time of 4:37.77. Bovee guided Praught-Leer to an Olympic trials qualification as well after she posted a 3,000 meter steeplechase mark of 9:51.30 at the Mt. SAC Relays in 2012. Her time not only broke the MVC and ISU records, which both stand today, but stood as the No. 6 time in the world for three-consecutive weeks.

In addition, Bovee helped Redbird standouts Rachael Brewer, Scott Krapf and Kristen Zillmer to successes of their own. In 2013, Bovee guided Brewer to a first-place finish at the MVC Cross Country Championship. With the victory, Brewer became the first ISU runner to claim the women’s crown since 2001. Krapf was the MVC Cross Country men’s champion in 2009. On the track, Bovee helped Zillmer reach success on the national level, as she qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 2013 and 2014.

Prior to joining Illinois State in 2006, Bovee spent three seasons as the head coach at Central College in Pella, Iowa. He also served as the head coach at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois, from 1996-2000, where he coached the NJCAA women’s cross country individual champion in 1999.

A native of Glendale, Arizona, Bovee received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Arizona in 1993, where he also was a member of the cross country and track & field teams. The co-captain of the Wildcat track & field team for two seasons, Bovee was a Pac-10 conference place-winner in the 800 meter run. He also competed in the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Bovee went on to receive his Master’s degree in physical education from Eastern Illinois in 1996, serving as a graduate assistant from 1995-96.

He currently resides in Normal, Illinois, and has three sons, Aidan, Jace and Liam.