New Maryland-Eastern Shore head coach Bobby Collins has announced his staff for the 2014-15 season. Joining him on the bench for the Hawks will be:
• Ace Custis
Comes to UMES from Virginia State, where he led the Trojans to a 14-13 record last season. The 2014-15 season marks Custis’ second year as an assistant coach at the collegiate level.
Custis played professional basketball for 15 seasons. He orginally was signed to a free-agent deal by the Dallas Mavericks in 1997, before signing with the Grand Rapid Hoops of the Central Basketball Association (CBA) in 1999. Following one season with the Hoops, he signed with the Tampa Bay ThunderDawgs of the United States Basketball League (USBL). With Tampa Bay, he led the team to the 2001 USBL Championship and was named co-MVP of the entire league.
The 6’8 forward then proceeded to take his talents overseas, making the OSG Phoenix of the Japanese Basketball League his home for three season. In his first year with the club, he led the team and was second in the league in both scoring (27.8 ppg) and rebounding (13.1 repg).In 2005-06, Custis led the league in scoring (27.7 ppg) and assists (5.1 asg). He was also third in rebounding (13.5 rpg).
Following the 2006 season, Custis joined the Panasonic Trains (Japanese Basketball League). Ace was a standout with Panasonic for five seasons until 2012. His professional career spanned across numerous countries including the Phillipines, Qatar, Lebanon, Syria and Indonesia. He retired from professional basketball in 2012.
Custis was a four-year basketball standout at Virginia Tech, where he was one of the most popular student-athletes in the history of the program. He was the third player (fourth overall) in VT men’s basketball history to score 1,000 points and bring down 1,000 rebounds. He had his No. 20 jersey retired in 1997, just the third player in the history of the program to achieve such a number. Ace was named one of the top-10 players in the history of Virginia Tech men’s basketball bytechhoops.com.
The Northampton High School graduate was named to the All-Freshman Team in the Metro Conference in 1994, before leading the Metro Conference in rebounds in 1995 and claiming First Team All-Metro Conference that year. He finished second on the ballot for Player of the Year that season. Ace was a First Team All-Atlantic 10 pick in both 1996 and 1997. Custis is the only player to average more than 10 rpg for an entire season in over 40 years after he posted 10.5 rpg in 1995.
Ace graduated from VT in 1997 with a degree in marketing. His personal best sports moment is winning the 1995 NIT Championship game over Marquette at Madison Square Garden and lists his mother as his role model. His professional coaching goal is to win the MEAC Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Ace’s favorite book is Fridayand favorite book isRich Dad Poor Dadby Robert Kiyosaki. Heresides in Fruitland, Md., with his wife Denedra and their three sons Charles Mapp, Adrian Custis II and Evan Custis.
• Clifford Reed
The Ormond Beach, Fla., native comes to UMES with an extensive background in coaching as he has been manning basketball sidelines for over 20 years. His tenure has included coaching stints at three different collegiate institutions. Reed is one of the most respected coaches in the nation and he has experience building championship teams from the ground up.
Prior to joining UMES, Reed served as an assistant coach at Savannah State, where he led the Tigers a 13-19 record in 2013-14. He was with Georgia Southern for the year prior and led the Eagles to 14 wins overall, seven of which were in the Southern Conference. In each of the past two years, Reed led his respective teams to first-round wins in their conference basketball tournaments.
He spent over 10 years as the Head Coach of Bethune-Cookman University from 2001-10. In 291 games leading the Wildcats, Reed posted a 125-166 record, the last three of whichwere all winning seasons. He led the Wildcats to consecutive 17-16 years in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The longtime Florida resident took BCU to its first MEAC Regular Season Championship in 2010-11 as the Wildcats finished 21-13 that season. The team had a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season and earned a spot in the NIT against Virginia Tech.
The accomplishments assistated Reed to being named MEAC Coach of the Year and NABC District 15 Coach of the Year in 2011.
In his early years at Bethune-Cookman, Reed helped the Wildcats to their first win over a power conference foe, when the Wildcats defeated South Florida, 75-68, in 2005. It was in 2005 where Reed and the Wildcats provided BCU with its first winning seasons in 25 years of Division I play. He was named Collegiateinsider.com Coach of the Year in 2005-06.
Before he was the head coach at BCU, Reed served as an assistant coach at his alma mater for four seasons from 1997-2001.Reed began his coaching career at Atlantic High School (Fla.) and was the head coach for three years from 1994-97. He led the team to back-to-back District 8 titles on the Class 4A level.
He played two season at Bethune-Cookman from 1989-1991 and was was named to the MEAC Second Team his senior year. He set the single-game school record for three-pointers made (seven) and scored over 1,200 points in two seasons with the Wildcats. Reed transferred to BCU from St. Johns River Community College, where he averaged 18 ppg over two seasons.He was also named to the Mid-Florida All-Conference team in 1985.
Reed graduated from Bethune-Cookman with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education. He would later attain his graduate degree from Concordia University in 2011 with a Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration. He is married to Vera I. Reed and the pair has one son, Clifford "CJ" Reed.
His personal best sports moment was having his son, CJ, sign to play for him at Bethune-Cookman. His hobbies outside of sports include attending movies and his favorite book is Good to Great by James Collins.
• Trevor Deloach
Trevor Deloach makes his coaching debut with the Hawks in 2014-15 after a successful collegiate playing career. He brings a plethora of playing experience to the Hawks’ coaching staff and has spent time at two high-level Division I men’s basketball programs (UNCW & South Carolina).
He comes to the Hawks from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he played three seasons from 2009-2012. The Greenwood, S.C., native enjoyed his best season with the Seahawks as a junior. That season, he averaged 21.2 minutes-per-game with 8.8 points-per-game and 4.4 rebounds-per-game. He scored more than 20 points in three consecutive games vs. Virginia Commonwealth, Georgia State and William & Mary. Deloach was named co-CAA Player of the Week and scored double figures 10 times that year.
In his senior year, Deloach played 15 mpg and brought down an average of three boards and four points. He scored 4.3 ppg as a sophomore for UNCW in 2009-10. He came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points against Campbell in his sophomore campaign.
The guard’s collegiate career saw him originally sign with the University of South Carolina in 2007, but he would redshirt in his freshman season with the Gamecocks. Deloach then transferred to Chipola Junior College in 2008. He led Chipola to a 34-2 that season as he played 22 games and scored 3.9 ppg. He shot 31-percent from three-point range as a freshman.
Deloach had a decorated prep career at Saluda High School (S.C.).The three-sport star was named Gatorage Player of the Year in 2007 and AA Player of the Year by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Assocation as a senior. In both his junior and senior years, he was named All-State, Lakeslands Player of the Year and Region Player of the Year. He averaged 34 points-per-game and 14 rebounds-per-game for Coach Jimmy Kinnard. He also dished out four assists-per-game in his four years with the Tigers.
Deloach earned MVP honors at Five-Star Summer Basketball Camp in Hampton, Va., and was rated the No. 1 guard in South Carolina as a senior. He capped his scoring at Saluda with over 3,000 points scored.
The sharp-shooter graduated from the UNCW in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. He has one daughter, Imani.
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