Monmouth University Men’s Basketball and Head Coach King Rice have announced the hiring of Brian Reese as an assistant coach. A University of North Carolina standout and national champion, Reese spent four seasons previously at MU from 2011-2015, and most recently spent time on staff at Illinois State.
“I’m so grateful to be back at Monmouth and to have this opportunity that Coach Rice has given me,” said Reese. “I’m really looking forward to getting to know the team and working with the staff. I am ready to do whatever Coach Rice needs in order to help this program continue to grow and be successful. I’m excited to once again be a Monmouth Hawk!”
Reese, a teammate of Rice’s at the University of North Carolina under Hall of Famer Dean Smith, most recently spent five seasons at Illinois State where he helped the Redbirds to 80 victories in his time. This includes a 28-win campaign in 2016-17 in which he helped lead Illinois State to a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season crown and a No. 1 seed in the NIT. He was a key part in the Redbirds reaching consecutive MVC title games, as he helped coach Milik Yarbrough to Missouri Valley Newcomer of the Year honors in 2017-18, the same season ISU scored wins over South Carolina and Ole Miss.
“I am extremely, extremely excited to bring Brian Reese onto our staff,” said Rice. “He’s one of the best at connecting with the players, he builds incredible relationships with every kid on the team. The knowledge he has of understanding young men and helping them grow to be men, Brian is one of the best at that. He goes above and beyond to make the kids feel special in our program. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be the head coach here at Monmouth, and Brian was with us before and helped us build it to where we are now. I’m so excited to bring him back now so he can help us continue to build our program up and I can’t wait to work with him on our staff again.”
Reese spent 2015-16 as the head coach at nearby Georgian Court University, where he mentored Juwuan Carter to lead his group in scoring and three-point percentage.
A member of King Rice‘s original staff at Monmouth in 2011, Reese spent four seasons in the Blue and White and was a key part in assembling one of the most successful groups in program history. In 2014-15, Reese helped MU to an 18-win campaign, the most wins in the program since 2005-06, and the first winning record in MAAC play at 13-7 as the Hawks advanced to the conference semifinals. In that season, the eventual program leading scorer Justin Robinson earned his first of three All-MAAC First Team nods, while Deon Jones was named to the Third Team and Andrew Nicholas picked up Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Reese served as an assistant at High Point and Wingate prior to joining Rice in his first season in West Long Branch.
A University of North Carolina standout, Reese won the 1993 national title with the Tar Heels. He played in 134 games in four seasons in Chapel Hill, shooting over 50% from the field for his career and netting 1,113 points, the 40th player in UNC history to top the 1,000-point mark. In the national title season of 1992-93, Reese averaged 11.4 points and 3.6 rebounds. An All-ACC Tournament selection in 1993, Reese went on to score 54 points in the NCAA Tournament including 15 in the Final Four in victories over Kansas and Michigan to secure North Carolina’s third ever national championship and the second for Dean Smith. Reese 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. He graduated from UNC in 2004 with a degree in communications and a minor in African American studies.
A Bronx, NY native, Reese was a McDonald’s High School All-American out of St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School. Following graduation from North Carolina, Reese spent the summer and preseason of 1994 with the Milwaukee Bucks. Following that, he played professionally in several countries, including Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, England, Finland, Iceland, France, Korea, Taiwan and Puerto Rico.
Reese joins a Monmouth program coming off a 21-win season and berth in the MAAC title game as the Hawks get set to join the CAA for the 2022-23 season.
