USM's Rick Reeves Accepts Head Coaching Job at Gardner-Webb

Gardner-Webb University officials announced Friday that Rick Reeves had accepted the position of head women's basketball coach at GWU, after spending the past five seasons as the head women's coach at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Reeves, who has a tremendous history of rebuilding Division I programs during his 18 years in collegiate coaching, has posted a career-record of 267-238 and has taken his teams to the postseason four times at the Division I level ­ including three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament at Liberty University (1997-99) before taking over the reigns at Southern Miss prior to the 1999-2000 season.

In his first season as the head coach at Southern Miss, Reeves directed the Golden Eagles to a 17-13 record and a berth in the WNIT. His 2003-2004 squad, despite a rash of injuries, posted a 14-13 overall mark.

Reeves inherits a Gardner-Webb team that finished 5-22 in 2003-2004 and 4-16 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He replaces Serena King, who served as the program's interim head coach this past season.

"Rick Reeves brings instant credibility to our women's basketball program, on and off the court," said GWU Vice President for Athletics Chuck Burch, who first hired Reeves as the head coach at Liberty in 1990. "Rick's success as a head coach at the Division I level speaks for itself. He is an experienced leader who has shown the ability to consistently recruit and develop successful student-athletes, in the classroom and on the court. Having worked with Rick in the past at Liberty, I have firsthand knowledge of his commitment to Christian Higher Education. He is a family man with tremendous basketball knowledge and an individual who commands a great deal of respect nationally in the coaching ranks.

"We are obviously thrilled at his decision to accept this position and make the move to Boiling Springs."

A testament to Reeves' positive influence as a coach on the collegiate level, over 30 former players have gone into the coaching ranks following graduation ­ with those players on coaching staffs in the SEC, Big South, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, MAC and Southern Conference, among others.

Prior to his arrival at Southern Miss, Reeves was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year three times and State Coach of the Year once during his time directing the Flames' program in Lynchburg, Va. In 1997-98, he directed the Flames to an amazing 28-0 record heading into the NCAA Tournament ­ including a Big South Tournament title and regular season championship. That team finished with a 28-1 mark, with the lone loss coming at the hands of eventual national champion Tennessee in the NCAA first round. Liberty posted a phenomenal 71-16 combined record during Reeves' final three seasons at the school, with three-straight trips to the NCAA's Big Dance.

Reeves, a 1981 graduate of Indiana State University, earned a Master's Degree from Western Kentucky in 1985. He landed his first collegiate head coaching position at Cumberland (Tenn.) University, and led the team to three top-20 finishes at the NAIA level before moving on to an assistant's position at the University of Florida in 1989-90.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to join the athletics department at Gardner-Webb and be reunited with Chuck Burch, who I feel helped me establish the program at Liberty," Reeves said. "It also means a lot to me to get closer to home and near friends and family and to have the unique opportunity to work with my daughter as an assistant coach."

Reeves is married to the former Ramona Parnell of Columbia, Ky. The couple has two daughters, Kim Clark and Krystal Reeves, who recently completed her first season as an assistant coach at GWU, and one granddaughter, Grace Ann Clark ­ born July 26, 2003.