LA GRANDE — Chris Kemp can finally remove the interim tag.

Eastern Oregon University announced in a Thursday, June 22 release that Kemp, who has served the last two seasons as the men’s basketball interim head coach, has been named the official head coach of the program.

“He earned this opportunity through the past two successful seasons as our interim coach,” Athletic Director Anji Weissenfluh said in the release. “Chris is a proven recruiter, bringing talented student-athletes to EOU.”

Kemp took over the program on an interim basis ahead of the 2021-22 campaign following the departure of Carlito Labarda, Jr. Kemp, who had been a part of Labarda’s staff, has posted a 39-24 record the past two seasons. The 21-11 record posted by the Mountaineers last season was the program’s highest win total since also winning 21 games during the 2017-18 campaign, and EOU reached the NAIA national tournament for the first time since 2016-17.

“Being the head coach here at Eastern Oregon has been a dream come true,” Kemp said in the release. “I could not be more excited for the opportunity to continue what we are building.”

EOU ended the 2022-23 regular season on fire, winning its last four games prior to the start of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament, then winning two more games to reach the tournament final, where it fell to College of Idaho. EOU bowed out of the national tournament with a first-round loss to Thomas More University.

He guided a team that last season had three all-CCC performers, led by Phillip Malatare, who went on to be named an NAIA second-team all-American.

Defense has been a key to EOU’s success under Kemp, and the team has posted some of the program’s best defensive numbers in terms of scoring defense in nearly a decade. Kemp’s team averaged 72 points per game on defense in 2021-22 and 72.8 in 2022-23. Both of those are the lowest since Eastern’s historic 28-5 team in 2012-13 that allowed just 66.8 points per game.