Jon Borovich joined the NIU men’s basketball staff on April 5, 2011, becoming the first addition to head coach Mark Montgomery’s staff. Prior to his arrival in DeKalb, Borovich had spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Dayton.
Borovich, who was promoted to associate head coach in August of 2015, has played a large role in the rebuilding process at NIU that has seen a program which had produced just two winning seasons in the previous 15 years grow to earn its fourth postseason appearance, and the second-most wins, in school history in 2015-16.
The Huskies posted a 21-13 record in 2015-16 and accepted an invitation to the inaugural Vegas 16 tournament. NIU’s success came despite having the second-youngest team in the MAC, a squad that saw nearly 40 percent of its scoring come from freshmen.
Three Huskies earned conference postseason honors, including sophomore Marin Maric who was named to the All-MAC Third Team; Aaric Armstead was named to the MAC All-Defensive Team and Marshawn Wilson was recognized on the MAC All-Freshman Team. It marked the first time since the 2002-03 season that NIU has three all-league honorees.
In addition to its success on the court, the NIU men’s basketball team also achieved in the classroom in 2015-16, posting the highest team GPA on record during the 2015 Fall Semester.
More milestones were reached during the 2016-17 season as the Huskies earned 15 victories, giving the program 65 total wins over the last four seasons, the second-best four-year stretch in school history. Maric was again named to the All-MAC Third Team while Eugene German became the fourth MAC All-Freshman Team honoree of Montgomery’s tenure.
In 2017-18, NIU had one of its best offensive teams in recent memory as it averaged more points than any Huskie team since 2001-02 and scored the third-most points (2,319) in a single-season in school history. Eugene German led the MAC in scoring while earning Second Team All-MAC and First Team NABC All-District honors.
The recent success of Huskie basketball is the result of the building blocks set in place since Borovich’s arrival with Montgomery in 2011.
Ranking among the youngest teams in the country in both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, the Huskies still recorded a number of program milestones, including NIU’s first MAC Tournament victory since 2003. NIU also posted its first win at Miami (Ohio) since 1981, its first win at Central Michigan since 2006 and its first victory over Kent State since 2003.
During the 2013-14 season, the Huskies engineered the largest single-season win improvement in school history, and the 10th-largest nationally for the season, recording a 10-win improvement, going 15-17, at the time it was NIU’s most victories since the 2005-06 season. The Huskies advanced to the second round of the MAC Tournament for the second time in three seasons while Jordan Threloff (All-MAC honorable mention) and Aaric Armstead (MAC All-Freshman team) earned league honors.
The Huskies continued to make strides during the 2014-15 season, Borovich’s fourth at NIU. The Huskies posted a 14-16 record playing against a strength of schedule ranked 147th in the nation, NIU’s best since 2004-05, and posted its first winning non-conference record in nine seasons. Playing in a much-improved MAC, NIU also posted a RPI of 188, the school’s best since 2005-06.
As an assistant at Dayton, Borovich helped the Flyers advance to the postseason in each of the past four seasons. In his first season, 2007-08, Dayton started 14-1 and climbed to No. 14 in the Associated Press poll, the highest ranking for the program in 40 years. The next season, Dayton was again nationally-ranked and finished with a 27-8 record, including a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2009-10, Borovich helped UD win 25 games and the NIT Championship, the first NIT crown for the program since 1968. In his final season on the Flyer staff, 2010-11, Dayton finished with a 22-14 mark, reaching the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament and advancing to the NIT.
Borovich began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State from 2001-03. He then spent two seasons, 2003-05, at Dayton as the Director of Basketball Operations. After working as an assistant coach at Oakland University for two years from 2005-07, Borovich returned to Dayton in 2007 in an assistant coaching role.
During his two seasons at Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies won 30 games. In Borovich's second year, Oakland compiled a 19-14 mark, the most wins for the school since joining Division I in 1997. Borovich helped the Golden Grizzlies recruit a class that, as juniors and seniors, went 34-2 in the Summit League and appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
A native of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Borovich assisted in video analysis as a graduate assistant at Michigan State while completing his master's degree in athletics administration. He then followed Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory to Dayton, where he was the Director of Basketball Operations for two seasons. In his first year, the Flyers won the Maui Invitational, reached the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 24-9 overall record.
Borovich played collegiately at Central Michigan from 1997-2001, while NIU head coach Mark Montgomery was working as an assistant coach for the Chippewas. As a senior, Borovich was a part of CMU's Mid-American Conference championship team that finished with 20 wins, the most for the school since the 1986-87 season.
He earned his bachelor's degree in sports studies from Central Michigan in 2001, with a double minor in psychology and coaching. Borovich was a team captain for the Chippewas as a junior and senior while also earning Academic All-MAC honors as a senior.
Borovich and his wife, Kara, have two sons, Bennett and William.
