One of the finest defenders in Arizona basketball history, Reggie Geary joined the Arizona Athletic Department in April 2019 as a Development Officer in the Wildcat Club. He is responsible for identifying, cultivating, and securing major gifts for the University, as well as developing and maintaining relationships with a number of current Wildcat members.
"Reggie has a tremendous history and connection with our athletics department and the University of Arizona that fuels his passion for being a Wildcat," UA athletic director Dave Heeke said in a statement. "The mission of Arizona Athletics is to educate and develop student-athletes into the future leaders of our community, and Reggie is an embodiment of that experience. His years of dedication to the Block A are a great fit with our Wildcat Club as we continue to provide a championship-caliber experience for all of our student-athletes."
Prior to joining the Wildcat Club, Geary was fortunate to spend the last two decades as a professional basketball player, in the NBA and overseas, and then as a professional coach. His coaching career started here at the University of Arizona working for Hall of Fame Head Coach Lute Olson in 2005. He returned to the UofA as an assistant coach with Coach Olson again in 2008. Most recently he spent six years as a head coach in Japan's professional basketball league, where he led his team to the 2013 BJ League Championship and was named Coach of the Year in 2012. Geary also enjoyed coaching stops at Southern Methodist University, in the NBA Development league (Anaheim, CA), and for three seasons at local Tucson high schools (Catalina Foothills, Salpointe Catholic, and Flowing Wells).
"My family and I are grateful for this awesome opportunity to be back at the UofA and continue to grow our roots here in Tucson," said Geary.
Before going into coaching Geary had a highly successful eight-year professional playing career that took him around the world. A second-round draft pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Geary played in 101 career games with the Cavaliers (1996-97) and the San Antonio Spurs (1997-98). Geary also played in the Continental Basketball Association before playing professionally in Israel, Portugal, France, and Ukraine. Additionally, Geary served as an NBA/NBDL Ambassador in Argentina and Brazil in 2001. He closed his playing career in 2003-04 with B.C. Kiev in Ukraine where he led his team to the championship round.
Geary was a four-year letterwinner for the Wildcats from 1992-96, 3-time captain, and earned all-Pac-10 Conference and NABC all-District 15 honors as a senior. Geary was the first of only two players to earn Best-Defensive-Player honors for four consecutive seasons by a vote of his teammates. In 1995-96, he led the Wildcats in both steals (67, a school record at the time) and blocked shots (24). During his UA career, Geary led the Wildcats to a 104-23 (.819) record, two Pac-10 championships (1992, 1994) and a berth in the 1994 Final Four. As a senior in 1995-96, Geary became just the third player in Arizona history to pass out 200 or more assists in a single season (231). He closed his career as Arizona's all-time steals leader (208) and ranked third in assists (560). He still ranks third and fifth in those categories, respectively.
A 6-foot-2 guard from Santa Ana, Calif., Geary was a standout prep athlete at Mater Dei High School, where he earned a total of six varsity letters (three basketball, two baseball, one track). As a senior team captain, he led the basketball team to a 34-2 record and berth in the CIF state championship game. Geary averaged 17 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks per game in earning first team all-state, all-city, all-county and Best in the West honors in 1992, and garnered Orange County and CIF Player-of-the-Year accolades. Street & Smith's named him a high honorable mention All-American (top 50 in the country).
Geary earned his B.A. degree in political science from Arizona in May 2005. He also worked as a property and casualty broker for Crest Insurance. He and his wife Candace have two sons, Quincy, 15, and Wesley, 11.
