Eastern Illinois University Athletics

POSITION: Men's Basketball Assistant Coach
ALMA MATER: Eastern Illinois, 2004
YEARS AT EIU: 3rd year

Former Eastern Illinois Panther men's basketball player J.R. Reynolds was named an assistant coach on the staff of coach Jay Spoonhour prior to the start of the 2013-14 season.

Reynolds helped the Panthers advance to the 2014 OVC Tournament, just the second time EIU had made back-to-back tournament appearances since the 2003 season. He also helped coach Sherman Blanford and Reggie Smith to All-OVC honors, the first time since 2010 that the Panthers had multiple players named to the All-OVC Teams.

In his second season on Spoonhour's staff, Reynolds helped the Panthers post only EIU's second winning season since the 2001 season.  EIU finished with an 18-15 record including winning an NCAA Division I school record nine straight games in December and January.  EIU appeared in the CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament beating Oakland in the opening round for the program's first NCAA Division I postseason victory.  He helped coach Trae Anderson and Cornell Johnston to All-OVC honors, with Johnston named the OVC Freshman of the Year. 

Reynolds played two seasons for the Panthers in 2002 and 2003 for coach Rick Samuels and is currently tied for tenth on the school's career 3-pointers made list.  He was a two-year player at Southeastern Illinois College where he was inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.  Reynolds earned his degree from EIU in 2004 and masters from Purdue in 2012.

In 2012-13, Reynolds was an assistant basketball coach and academic liaison at North Central High School in Indianapolis working for head coach Doug Mitchell.  He helped the team compile an 18-7 record while being ranked seventh in the state of Indiana.

Reynolds was a three-year graduate assistant coach at Purdue from 2009-12 while also serving as an assistant to the strength coach.  At Purdue he helped run the Boilermakers basketball camps.  Working for head coach Matt Painter, the Boilermakers made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances with a Sweet 16 appearance and Big Ten title his first season.

His first coaching experience came as an assistant coach at Southeastern Illinois College from 2004-07 working for Todd Franklin (now the head coach at Vincennes).  In addition to his coaching duties Reynolds served as the team's academic liaison.  The team posted three straight 20-win seasons with three straight trips to the NJCAA Region 24 Tournament.  Reynolds final season saw the team post a 23-5 record.

Reynolds and his wife Leah (Reeves), a former track athlete at EIU, have two sons: Jaydon and Cameron.