Former Rice associate head coach Louis Reynaud has joined the University of Houston Men’s Basketball staff as special assistant, head coach Kelvin Sampson announced Wednesday afternoon.

Reynaud’s duties as special assistant will include camps, clinics, community outreach and fundraising. His long-time experience in the coaching ranks was one of many aspects that impressed Sampson.

"I have always have had tremendous respect for Louis. He brings such a wealth of experience in many different areas besides basketball," Sampson said. "As we grow this program, I don’t want people to only say `you have good teams.’ I want to have a great program, and a great program starts with great people in it. We are fortunate to have someone like Louis in our program."

Reynaud, whose last name is pronounced Ray-No, served for the last six seasons as associate head coach at Rice. He helped lead the Owls to 19 victories during the 2011-12 season, the program’s first winning campaign in seven years, and guided Rice to a pair of victories in the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, a postseason first for the school.

He joined the Rice staff from the University of California, where he worked for 11 seasons, including the last six as associate head coach. During his tenure, the Golden Bears competed in four NCAA Tournaments and three NITs and won the 1999 NIT championship.

Before joining the collegiate ranks, Reynaud compiled an 84-31 record as head coach at De La Salle High. He led the school to league titles in 1994 and 1996 and was twice named the Bay Valley Athletic League Coach of the Year. H is 1995 squad captured the Division NorCal championship and finished second in the state, earning a No. 1 ranking in the Bay Area for the first time in school history.

Reynaud first became a head coach at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High in Vallejo, Calif., from 1990 to 1993. In three seasons, he led the school to a 69-39 record with three 20-win seasons and a Sac-Joaquin Sectional title.

From 1986 to 1990, Reynaud served as varsity assistant coach at De La Salle High. In addition to his coaching duties, Reynaud also served as Dean of Students at both St. Patrick-St. Vincent and De La Salle high schools.

In 1997, Reynaud was selected as head coach of the West Squad at the Magic Johnson Round Ball Classic for high school All-Americans, and he directed the prestigious ABCD summer camp for five years. As a high school player, Reynaud was a standout at Archbishop Riordan High (1974-77) in San Francisco and played for the late Lyle Newcomer at Skyline College (1977-79) in San Bruno, Calif.

Reynaud earned his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from San Francisco State in 1982 and a master’s degree in health/physical education from Saint Mary’s College in 1995. He also received an associate of arts degree from Skyline College in 1979.

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