Allegheny men’s basketball head coach Bob Simmons has announced the welcoming of Greg Bean as the new top assistant for the Gators heading into the 2019-20 campaign.
Bean arrives in Meadville following a successful season as the assistant men’s basketball coach at Waynesburg, where he also served as the acting head coach for more than two months. He got his start in college coaching as the associate head coach at Medaille.
“I am very excited to work with Coach Bean and have him help mentor our men’s basketball student-athletes,” said Simmons. “He is extremely respected in the coaching community both for his work on and off the court. Everywhere Coach Bean has been, he has won in the classroom and on the court. He is a man of integrity, passion, and a wealth of basketball knowledge. I look forward to great things for Gator basketball!”
In his tenure at Waynesburg, the Yellow Jackets posted their most Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) wins in three seasons and increased scoring by 9.8 points per game. Shooting from both the field (4.2 percent) and free-throw line (14 percent) also rose during his time, while Waynesburg boasted the PAC’s leading scorer a season ago.
In addition to his work with the program on the court, Bean reinforced the academic standards of the program by holding weekly individual meetings with the student-athletes. He helped cultivate relationships with corporate fundraising and individual donors, helping to secure funds for the Yellow Jackets’ first NCAA foreign trip (Ireland, 2019).
At Medaille, Bean helped the Mavericks to the 2017 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) regular season and tournament championships and a berth in the NCAA Division III Championship. The following season, the Mavericks were again postseason bound, securing a bid to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament.
In addition to helping boost scoring by more than 11 points per game and increase both shooting percentages and assist rates, Bean helped mentor the conference’s first player to win both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
“After growing up in northwestern Pennsylvania, I am thrilled to join the Allegheny College men’s basketball program,” said Bean. “I would like to thank [athletic director] Bill Ross and Bob Simmons for offering me this incredible opportunity. Allegheny College is an outstanding institution that values success in the classroom and on the court. I’m excited to be a Gator and join the lasting impact men’s basketball has on this community.”
A graduate of Clarion University with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and minors in sports management and coaching, Bean has been coaching since 2005 when he started working at Clarion Area High School. He later was the head coach at Redbank Valley High School, leading the team to the 2014-15 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District IX Championship, the first for the program since 1980. The squad also made the school’s first PIAA quarterfinals appearance in any sport that season. For his efforts, he was named the All-American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.com and the Tri-County Sunday/Courier Express Coach of the Year.
https://alleghenygators.com/news/2019/8/6/bean-appointed-mens-basketball-lead-assistant.aspx
