Former Arizona standout Reggie Geary, who in recent years has served as a radio analyst for Arizona men’s basketball games and has worked within the athletic department since 2019, is looking to return to Japan to resume his coaching career, according to a report out of Japan.
Ed Odeven, a former Arizona Daily Star reporter, wrote in his report for SportsLook that Geary shared this week his desire to return to Japan to relaunch his pro coaching career.
Geary led the Yokohama B-Corsairs to a title in their second season of existence in the now-disbanded bj-league in 2012-13.
“I’m looking to get back into coaching in Japan as my main priority,” Geary, 50, said in the interview with Odeven. “Japan is a country where my family and I loved living and I enjoyed working.”
Geary has not coached since leading the B.League’s Nagoya Diamond Dolphins in 2017.
“Over the last five years I have been working at the University of Arizona in their athletic department while also doing media covering our nationally ranked men’s basketball team on the radio as the expert analyst,” Geary stated. “This has been great in re-energizing my passion for the game.”
Geary, who earned a spot on the 1995-96 All Pac-10 Conference First Team, played in the NBA after his Arizona career concluded that season.
He played a season for Cleveland and one for San Antonio before playing in the D-League with Quad City and Idaho for two years. His career concluded in 2004 after playing four seasons professionally overseas.
His coaching career has spanned from 2007-08 when he coached the Anaheim Arsenal in the D-League to his six-year run in Japan ending in 2017.
He served as an assistant at Arizona in 2007-08 under interim coach Kevin O’Neill. He then was an assistant at SMU from 2009-11 before he started coaching professionally in Japan.
He returned to Arizona in 2019 to be the development officer in the Wildcat Club.
“I want to share my knowledge and work with young professionals to develop their game and bring more winning experiences to a team, organization and city,” Geary said about his return to Japan.
Geary was selected coach of the year when he led the B-Corsairs to the bj-league’s Final Four in the team’s inaugural 2011-12 season.
The following season, Geary led the B-Corsairs to the league title, becoming the league’s first foreign-born coach to win the championship.
“It was a magical ride to go to the Final Four in year one, as well as being selected Coach of the Year, and then to come back in year two to be at or near the top of the standings during the regular season, winning some classic playoff games including the buzzer beater in the semifinals, and ultimately to win the championship,” Geary said.
He has communicated with teams in Japan about returning.
“I’ve had a lot of good feedback from teams, recently spoke with one about a future position, and soon should be talking with another team for next season,” Geary said.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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