By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – Brian Reese, who won a national championship as a player with North Carolina and was the head coach at Division II Georgian Court University last season, has been hired as an assistant coach at Illinois State, head coach Dan Muller announced Tuesday.
Prior to his head coaching stint, Reese served as a collegiate assistant for six years.
“Brian brings such unique experiences to our program,” Muller said. “As a former high school all-American who won an NCAA national championship – as a starter – and played professionally in many different countries, Brian has a wealth of knowledge to share with our players. As a coach, he began at the high school level and worked his way up to serving as the head coach at an NCAA program. Along the way, Brian helped build the foundation for Monmouth to become one of the best mid-major teams in the country last year. I have known Brian for over 15 years, and I am incredibly excited to be working alongside him now.”
Reese joins the Redbird coaching staff following one season as the head coach at Georgian Court in Lakewood, New Jersey. Before that, Reese was an assistant at Monmouth University for four seasons (2011-15).
“I’m so excited to be joining the Redbird Family,” Reese said. “I want to thank Coach Muller for giving me this opportunity. I feel so fortunate to be joining this great staff of coaches and players, and I will work hard to help Coach Muller continue to build his program at ISU.”
At Monmouth, Reese worked under head coach King Rice, his former teammate at North Carolina. Rice served as an assistant coach at Illinois State from 1993 until 1998, including during all four years of Muller’s playing career (1994-98). Rice and Muller also served together as assistants at Vanderbilt from 2006 until 2011.
In his final season at Monmouth in 2014-15, Reese helped lead the Hawks to an 18-15 overall record – their most wins since 2005-06 – and a 13-7 mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Hawks, who advanced to the conference semifinals in just their second season in the league, put a pair of guards on all-conference teams and held 26 of their opponents to 70 points or less.
Prior to joining Momouth, Rice served as an assistant coach at High Point (2010-11) after a two-year stint with Wingate (2008-10). Before that, Reese spent one season as the head varsity coach at South Iredell High School in Statesville, South Carolina, and two seasons as the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach at Porter Ridge High School in Indian Trail, North Carolina.
Reese, who won the 1993 national championship with the Tar Heels, played in 134 games during his four years, averaging 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, while shooting over 50 percent for his career. He was the 40th player in UNC history to score at least 1,000 points in his career, finishing with 1,113.
Reese’s best season was North Carolina’s national championship year of 1992-93, when he averaged 11.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game to help lead the Tar Heels to their third NCAA title. Reese played under legendary head coach Dean Smith.
A McDonald’s High School All-American out of St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School in Bronx, New York, Reese was also named to the 1993 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Team and was awarded the 1993 Jimmie Dempsey Award as the team’s most improved player, and the 1994 Foy Roberson Award, as the team’s most inspirational player.
After graduating from UNC in 1994, Reese spent the summer and preseason with the Milwaukee Bucks. Reese played professionally in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, England, Finland, Iceland, France, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Puerto Rico.
Originally from Bronx, New York, Reese spent 14 years as a coach and counselor for the Carolina Basketball Camps. He was also a volunteer coach for four months with the 2XSALT ministry founded by Bobby Jones, David Thompson and Bart Kofoed. Additionally, Reese was named as one of New York City’s top-25 players in the last 25 years, by the New York Post.
Reese and his wife, Monica Reese, are the parents of three children: Brian, Jr., Taylor and Brooklyn.
