WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Former University of Texas standout Reggie Freeman has been chosen to assist Chris Popp (pronounced POPE) on the sidelines for the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team during the 2016-17 season. His hiring is subject to approval of the Missouri State University Board of Governors.
Freeman, who is the Longhorns’ fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,969 points, will begin his new duties Friday. He spent the past year as an assistant coach at NJCAA Division I Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. He replaces Chad Van Riessen, who has taken a position at another college.
“We’re thrilled to have Reggie Freeman join the Grizzly Athletics program as our new assistant basketball coach,” said Dr. Angela Totty, dean of student services and athletic director. “His experience and familiarity with the style of play Coach Popp plans to implement will make him a very valuable member of our team. He is familiar with the recruiting opportunities in our region and has had great success in his career developing young men into better players and successful people.”
Totty also praised Van Riessen for his work with the Grizzly Basketball team the past five years. “We are thankful to Coach Chad Van Riessen for the time he spent as a Grizzly and all the ways he enhanced our program. We wish him great success as he begins his new position,” she said.
Popp said the addition of Freeman to the Grizzly Basketball program “is enormous. He has extensive experience as a player and coach at the highest levels. His background will be invaluable to our guys as we strive to prepare them to be successful as basketball players, students and young men.”
A graduate of Rice High School in Manhattan in New York City, Freeman joined the Longhorns in 1993, where he had a prolific four-year collegiate career. He helped Texas earn two Southwest Conference Championships and four berths to the NCAA tournament, where they reached the Sweet 16 in 1997 during his senior season.
Freeman’s name can be found scattered throughout the list of individual records for the Longhorns in various categories. He led the Longhorns in scoring and assists his junior and senior seasons, averaging 22.4 and 21.8 points per game and 3.9 and 4.2 assists, respectively, and he led the team in rebounding his senior season with 7.6 grabs per game. He earned first team All-Southwest Conference honors his junior year and first team All-Big 12 Conference and NCAA All-American honors his senior season. His 22 point, 10 rebound and 10 assist performance against Texas Christian University on Feb. 11, 1996, is the only triple-double in Longhorns basketball history, and he was included in the Longhorns’ All-Decade Team for the 1990s.
Upon completion of his collegiate career, Freeman played briefly for the Milwaukee Bucks before traveling overseas, where he took the court for teams in seven different countries during the next 12 years. The basketball club KK FMP in Serbia retired his No. 5 jersey in honor of his contributions to the team during his tenure there.
In addition to coaching at Eastern Florida State, where he helped lead the Titans to an undefeated conference championship, a No. 4 national ranking and a trip to the NJCAA Division I Men’s National Championship Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, Freeman served as head coach of the Austin Rain AAU 14U through 18U squad in Austin, Texas, from March 2011 to August 2015. He also has coached several other middle and high school programs in the Austin area since 2009 and worked as a personal basketball coach and trainer through his Reggie Freeman Youth Foundation.
“Coach Freeman is highly respected in the basketball community across the country and overseas,” Popp said. “His ties and reputation will be great for recruiting; however, I am more excited about what he brings to us with player development and as a mentor to our student athletes. We are very fortunate to have a coach and person of his caliber on board.”
For more information about the Grizzly Basketball program, visit the team’s website or call 417-255-7991.