By Corey J. Corbin

Allied News Sports Editor

When Slippery Rock University went looking for the right person to be its head men’s basketball coach, their search unexpectedly took them to Kentucky’s Rowan County and Morehead State University.

The Rock named former MSU assistant coach Kevin Reynolds as its newest head coach Wednesday during a press conference at the University Club.

“Being a head college basketball coach has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember,” Reynolds said. “It’s a dream come true. I’m grateful for the opportunity presented to me by Slippery Rock University. I’m excited to be a head coach at a university that has so many academic and athletic positives.”

Reynolds, 38, replaces Jamal Palmer, who served as SRU’s interim head coach for the past two seasons. Palmer led The Rock to a 7-20 mark last winter.

“My plan is to return Slippery Rock basketball to the standards of excellence that they displayed in the late 1980s,” Reynolds said. “This will recquire the involvement and committment of the entire Slippery Rock community. The foundation of our program will be the student athletes. We will expect our current and future student athletes to be committed to continuous improvment on the court and in the classroom.”

Slippery Rock chose Reynolds after the university received over 180 applications for the men’s head coaching position.

“It was a long process,” SRU athletic director Paul Leuken said. “We had over 180 applicants for the men’s basketball coaching position. There were 10 people that really stood out out of those 180. It was tough to get through all those people, but Kevin met all the criteria that we were looking for. We were looking for a specific set of characteristics. He was very impressive when we talked to him here on campus.

“We knew right away that he was the guy. There’s a saying in college basketball right now about when you’re looking for a new coach and whether he has ‘It.’ I don’t know what ‘It’ means, but I think Kevin has ‘It.’ We’re glad he’s here.”

His familiarity with the conference and the chances at The Rock for being successful were what drew Reynolds to Slippery Rock from the Division I level.

“The familiarity of the university and the league,” he said when asked what drew him to The Rock. “When you’re going to take your first head coaching position, you have to make sure it’s a place you can have success at and you have to be familiar with the surroundings. I am extremely familiar with our competition and who we need to beat.”

Reynolds impressed the search committee that included faculty representative Brian Crow, assistant to the athletic director Andy Major and SRU women’s basketball coach Laurel Heilman.

“He knocked our socks off,” Major said. “When he came in to meet with us, he had a folder of where every kid from Pennsylvania is playing college basketball whether it be Division I, Division II or Division III. Another thing we liked was his organizational skills. When we brought in each of the final candidates, we had them meet with different groups like other university coaches or basketball players. He was the only finalist who didn’t have a group find something negative to say about him.”