EIU hires Jay Spoonhour as head coach

CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) Eastern Illinois has hired Jay Spoonhour as its new head men's basketball coach.

Eastern Illinois said Friday that it chose Spoonhour from a field of five finalists and will introduce him at a news conference Monday. Spoonhour replaces Mike Miller, who was fired after a 12-17 season

Spoonhour was 64-27 in three seasons at Moberly Area Community College in Missouri.

Before that, he worked as an assistant at Saint Louis, Valparaiso, UNLV, Missouri and Texas-San Antonio. He also briefly served briefly as interim UNLV head coach in 2004 when his father, longtime coach Charlie Spoonhour, took a leave of absence.

Jay Spoonhour and played college basketball at Pittsburg State in the early 1990s.

Updated April 6, 2012