Head Coach - Chip Wilde

Chip Wilde is entering his second season as head men’s basketball coach and assistant professor at Eureka College.  Being a native of Macomb, Illinois, Coach Wilde is no stranger to the Central Illinois area.  Prior to joining the Red Devils coaching staff, he worked as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University during the 2006-07 season after having spent the previous two years as coordinator of basketball operations at Rutgers University.

Wilde has ten years of head coaching experience, both as a women’s (three years) and men's (seven years) basketball coach at Concordia University (MI). In 2001, he led the Concordia men's team to the NCCAA National Tournament and was named NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year. Wilde also served as the school's Director of Athletics from 1997 to 1998.

Wilde earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in physical education from Western Illinois University in 1991 and 1994 respectively. His career has included assistant coaching positions at Western Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Collin County Community College in Plano, Texas, where his team finished ranked second in the nation in NJCAA.

Always involved in teaching the game, Coach Wilde has already conducted numerous basketball camps and festivals in his short tenure at EC.  Chip, his wife Darby, and their daughter Zoey, who was born this past summer, reside in Normal.

Assistant Coach Dirk Welch

Dirk Welch is in his second year as an assistant coach at Eureka. He will serve as the top varsity assistant and head JV coach this season.  A Pekin, Ill. native, Welch lettered in both basketball and baseball at Taylor University in Indiana. In his senior season in 1996, his team advanced to the NAIA National Basketball Tournament. He graduated from Taylor later that year with a degree in business administration.

Welch was an assistant softball coach at Bradley University for three seasons as the Braves posted multiple 20-win seasons. He took on head coaching duties of the Butler University softball program for three seasons beginning in August of 1999. He led the Bulldogs to a 2002 Horizon League Tournament runner-up finish in 2002, the highest finish in school history. He also served as a 2002 Mideast Regional Advisory Committee member.

Coach Welch has worked as a marketing and sales representative the last five years. He currently lives in Peoria and works for Englander Bedding Company as a sales representative.