Akil Reese comes to Idaho State following one year as the assistant coach at Clovis North High School in Fresno, CA where Reese helped guide the Broncos to a 28-7 overall record and 9-1 in conference play, en route to winning the Division 1 CIF Central Section Championship. At CNHS Reese was responsible for film break down, scouting, and any other day-to-day tasks, while also taking the lead as their Player Development Coach.Â
Prior to Clovis North, Reese served as the JV Head Coach and Varsity Head Assistant Coach for Westchester High School in Los Angeles, CA from 2020-23. Taking over after being named Interim Varsity Head Coach towards the end of the 2023-24 season.Â
In the summer of 2022 Reese worked as an Assistant Coach for the New Orleans Pelicans NBA Summer League team. During his time with the Pelicans, Reese worked with staff on game days to ensure efficiency and consistency, assisted coaches with individual workouts with players such as Jose Alvarado, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy, participated in practices & drills, while also having some managerial duties during team practices and games.Â
Also, during the summer of 2022, Coach Reese served as a player development coach with RIZE Management. During his time at RIZE, Reese provided skills and pre-draft trainings for the upcoming 2022 NBA draft class. Â
Head Coach Ryan Looney shares his thoughts on bringing Coach Reese onboard, "We are blessed to have Coach Reese on our staff. Akil has extensive experience with player development during the NBA Summer League, which can help our program immensely. He also has an extremely high-level of character, and is very well liked in the basketball community in the state of California."Â
Akil’s collegiate career began in 2017 at Western Oregon University, where he played in 28 games making 22 starts. As a redshirt freshman he helped lead the Wolves to the NCAA Division II Final Four. Â
In 2018 he made a move to Fullerton College where he appeared in all 28 games and made 17 starts as a sophomore. He led the team in both three points made, with 42 on the season, and three-point shooting percentage of .416. Â
He finished his career out at Cal State Monterey Bay where he appeared in 13 games and made eight starts, before an injury cut his season short!Â
He is now excited to be here at Idaho State University. Here are some of his comments about joining the staff,
"I'm thrilled to be joining Idaho State University's coaching staff. It feels like a culmination of my passion and efforts in basketball coaching" explains Reese. "My journey in basketball coaching began at Westchester High School and extended through various roles, including working with the New Orleans Pelicans during the NBA summer league. These experiences have not only sharpened my skills in player development but also deepened my commitment to building winning habits both on and off the court."
"I'm eager to apply everything I've learned through my experiences, both triumphs, and trials to guide our players to help them be the best possible versions of themselves. I hope to bring my experiences and enthusiasm to contribute to the team significantly. I'm thankful for the opportunity that Coach Looney has provided me to be a part of Bengals basketball and looking forward to working with the rest of the coaching staff to push the program to new heights."Â Â
