During his two years as the head coach of the men’s basketball team, Kevin Reynolds and his staff has established Point Park University as the winningest four-year basketball program in the state of Pennsylvania.
School 2022-23 2023-24 Total
Point Park 23 30 53
IUP 32 17 49
Swarthmore 28 21 49
East Stroudsburg 23 25 48
Pitt 24 22 46
Duquesne 20 25 45
In addition, he was one of the winningest head coaches in the country during this two- year period. He enters his 3rd season at Point Park University in 2024-25.
Reynolds has an overall record of 241-119 (.669) and a two-year record of 53-10 (.841). In his two seasons at Point Park, he has a home record of 34-3 (.918), road record of 18-7 (.720), and a neutral site record of 1-0 (1.00). In addition, the program had the most overall wins in the NAIA River States Conference (53) and conference wins (28). In the two seasons, Point Park had only its second back-to-back twenty-win seasons in men’s basketball history.
In those two years, PPU had numerous individual honors. Jo Valrie was a 2023-24 First Team All-RSC selection, 2022-23 NAIA All-American, 2022-23 First Team All-RSC selection, and the 2022-23 Newcomer of the Year. Jo scored over 1,000 points at PPU (50 games). Jalen Stamps was a 2023-24 and 2022-23 First Team All-RSC selection. Jalen scored over 1,000 points at PPU (51 games) and over 2,000 points in college career. In both season, Valrie and Stamps were Bevo Francis Award Nominees, a yearly award given to the best small college basketball players in the country. Jamisen Smith scored over 1,000 career points for his career during his single season at PPU in 2023-24. Cyrie Coates was a 2022-23 Second Team All-RSC selection. Sherron Schifino was a 2022-23 Honorable Mention All-RSC selection and scored over 1,000 points at PPU.
Academically, nine of the eleven seniors earned their college degree.
The 2023-24 year was another season for breaking records at Point Park after a fantastic turnaround season in 2022-23. With a final record of 30-3 (.909), PPU made its first NAIA Tournament appearance in 17 years and had the winningest season in PPU basketball history (30 wins). The team made it to the Round of 32 in the NAIA tournament and lost to the eventual NAIA Champion on their home court. The program won its first RSC east division, regular season, and conference tournament championships in school history. The team was ranked almost every week throughout the season in the NAIA Hoops Report and NAIA Coaches Top 25 Polls with a season high 13th in the country. Point Park was one of only six teams in NAIA to have 30 or more total wins.
Individually, Jo Valrie was only one of two student-athletes to average over 20ppg and 10rpg in NAIA basketball. Jalen Stamps was only one of two student-athletes to average over 20ppg, 5apg, and 4rpg in NAIA basketball. They were one of just a few tandems in all levels of college basketball to average over 20ppg on the same team in 2023-24. In addition, Jags Jhawar broke his own shot blocking record at PPU.
As a team, PPU was once again was at the top of the following NAIA leader board in the following categories:
Rebound Margin +13.0 (#1 in country)
Offensive Rebounds per game 15.8 (#1 in country)
Defensive Rebounds per game 33.0 (#1 in country)
Total Rebounds per game 48.8 (#1 in country)
Blocks per game 5.4 (#2 in country)
Least fouls per game 12.7 (#3 in country)
Season losses 3 (#3 in country)
Winning percentage 90.9 (#4 in country)
Wins in a season 33 (#6 in country)
Net efficiency .185 (#10 in country)
Defensive FG percentage 39.9 (#12 in country)
Offensive Efficiency 1.145 (#16 in country)
Points per game 85.8 (#23 in country)
Kevin Reynolds was hired as Point Park University men's basketball head coach in April 2022. In his first year in charge of the Pioneers, he engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in the country for the 2022-23 season. Under the leadership of Reynolds and staff, Point Park was 23-7 overall, 13-4 River States Conference. It was an improvement of 13 wins from the year before, just the seventh 20-win season in school history and the first 20-win season in 16 years.
Point Park got back to its winning ways and proud tradition in 2022-23. The Pioneers were one of the top teams in the RSC making the RSC Championship semifinals and being in consideration for an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship. The Pioneers came up just short of that as one of the first teams left out, but they are a program on the upward climb looking ahead to 2023-24.
During the 2022-23 season, coach Reynolds went over the 200-career win mark. In 11 years as a college head coach, Reynolds has a career record of 211-116 for a winning percentage of .645. That includes 10 years during a very successful stint at NCAA Division II Slippery Rock University, where he was 188-109 (.632).
When coach Reynolds was hired, Point Park Director of Athletics John Ashaolu had this to say:
"Our athletic department and the men's basketball program got a lot better today with the addition of Kevin Reynolds as our head coach," said Ashaolu. "Kevin's proven track record of recruiting talent, developing student-athletes and building championship basketball programs stood out among an impressive group of candidates who applied for our men's basketball head coaching position.
"Kevin has been a part of a lot of winning programs as an assistant coach and a head coach at the NCAA Division I and II levels. This provides him with instant credibility that will impact the competitive success and culture within our men's basketball program.
"He is highly respected among his peers, and his experience as a head coach in one of the most competitive NCAA Division II conferences will position us to immediately compete for championships in the River States Conference. We are excited to welcome Kevin to the team."
"I am very grateful for the opportunity to be the men's basketball head coach at Point Park University," said Reynolds. "President Dr. Don Green, Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Paylo, and Director of Athletics John Ashaolu have a unified, new game plan for the men's basketball program and Point Park University athletics.
"It is going to be an exciting time to be a part of the Pioneers team. We plan on working together to accomplish our goals for Point Park basketball."
Before coming to Point Park, Reynolds was assistant coach at NCAA Division II Quincy (Ill.) University for the 2021-22 season. Before that, he was the on staff at NCAA Division I Texas A&M Corpus Christi for two years from 2019-21.
Reynolds led one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division II in his 10 years at Slippery Rock from 2008-18. Reynolds led The Rock to three NCAA Tournament appearances and six 20-win seasons.
Reynolds took over the Slippery Rock program in 2008-09 and proceeded to make The Rock a contender in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The Rock had single-digit wins in 13 of the previous 14 years before Reynolds' arrival. Reynolds turned things around with an average of 18.8 wins per season in his tenure.
The 188 wins in 10 years at Slippery Rock were an increase of 112 wins from the previous 10-year period before he arrived. That was the fifth-biggest turnaround in all of NCAA Division II Men's Basketball during that time.
In over 100 years of Slippery Rock basketball, there have been nine seasons of 20 or more wins. Reynolds engineered six of those. One of those was his very first year of 2008-09 with a 21-8 record.
Slippery Rock made the NCAA Tournament in Reynolds' third season of 2010-11. The Rock made nationals again in 2012-13 and 2014-15. In the last two of those appearances, Slippery Rock advanced to the second round.
Reynolds coached and recruited 17 All-PSAC selections in his 10 years at Slippery Rock. There were also seven All-Atlantic Region selections and three NCAA Division II All-Americans.
Reynolds had 56 student-athletes and/or managers earn undergraduate degrees and 16 earn graduate degrees during his Slippery Rock tenure. There were also 18 players who signed professional basketball contracts.
Reynolds got his start in coaching as an assistant at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 1991-95 with some very successful teams under Kurt Kanaskie. He was a part of IUP's rise to national prominence with Elite 8 and Final Four appearances and a record of 56-5 from 1993-95.
He was an assistant at Edinboro under Greg Walcavich for one year in 1995-96, which was a trip to the NCAA Tournament. He went back to IUP for the 1996-97 for a year as Associate Head Coach under Gary Edwards.
Reynolds then went to NCAA Division I Drake University to rejoin Kanaskie's staff as an assistant from 1997-03. After a year as director of basketball operations at Penn State, Reynolds stayed NCAA Division I as assistant coach at the University of Denver from 2004-07. That stint included time as interim head coach in 2007. Reynolds was an assistant at Division I Morehead State in 2007-08 before taking over the Slippery Rock program the next fall.
Reynolds is a 1991 graduate of Bloomsburg (Pa.) University and a 1993 and 1994 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with an MBA and an MA in Industrial and Labor Relations.
Reynolds played men's basketball at Bloomsburg under coach Charlie Chronister, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division II history with 559 career victories.
"Point Park University has an excellent academic reputation with a close-knit campus," said Reynolds. "It provides an excellent combination of quality academics and winning athletics."
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT KEVIN REYNOLDS
"Kevin Reynolds is simply an outstanding coach and leader. He is a tireless worker and brings out the best in his players and staff. It will be fun to watch Point Park University rise to national prominence!"
--Kurt Kanaskie, UNC Wilmington
"Kevin Reynolds is the complete package -- experience and wisdom, knowledge of the game, and a full understanding of what it takes to motivate and coach today's players. He has been a winner at every level, and he will bring those same attributes to Point Park University."
--Willis Wilson, Former Head Coach at Rice and Texas A&M Corpus Christi
"Point Park University has hit a grand slam with the hiring of Kevin Reynolds as the next men's basketball head coach. He is a winner and shortly so they will be big winners in Western Pennsylvania men's basketball. The men's basketball culture will change in a hurry. Coach Reynolds will bring a passion for the game rarely seen, and his tireless work ethic will touch every facet of the program. From recruiting near and far to highly organized practice sessions, to creative game plans and an enjoyable style of play.
-Greg Walcavich, Former Head Coach at Edinboro University
"Kevin is a great basketball mind and an even better person. The opportunity to learn under him early in my career was a formative experience. Point Park University basketball is in excellent hands."
-Joe Cronin, General Manager, Portland Trail Blazers
