Rackauskas says head coach Matt Doherty and his staff have to help their team resist the urge to play down to the level of lesser competition (photo by Travis Johnston).

When SMU men’s basketball head coach Matt Doherty began the search for candidates to fill the two vacancies on his staff, he considered the criteria needed in the new members of his staff. The requirements included the ability to recruit, the ability to develop talent, X’s-and-O’s knowledge, a defensive mindset and superior communication skills.

But the search that ended with Doherty hiring former Texas-Arlington associate head coach Reggie Brown, who will work primarily with the Mustangs’ guards, and former Arizona assistant coach Reggie Geary, who will work largely with the post players, started with something else.

“The No. 1 thing you look for, or at least I do, is energy,” Doherty said. “You look at some of the best players in the NBA — Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd — what do they bring? They bring energy. They bring passion to the game, to their teams, and that’s no different than what I want to find in my staff, and I think both Reggies bring that energy, and then with that, the ability to energize the people around them.

“They’re also both very intelligent, and they played, which is good, especially relating to the players. Reggie Brown was a good player at UTA, Reggie Geary was a good player at Arizona and played in the NBA. Reggie Geary played for the Cavaliers and the Spurs, and then played overseas, and Reggie Brown played overseas, and they both come from winning situations — UTA went to the (2009) NCAA Tournament, and Arizona is always in the tournament. And they’re both leaders, so I really think I’ve hit home runs with these guys.”

Beyond energy, however, Doherty sought well-rounded coaches in his search, which he said produced a deep pool of quality candidates. He wanted coaches who not only could get quality players to the Hilltop, but who could help them develop once they arrived.

“First and foremost, recruiting — I’ll be a better coach if I have better players. That’s true for every coach,” Doherty said. “With better players, the less coaching you have to do, so let’s get players, first and foremost. Then, I wanted guys that can recruit and guys that can develop talent. We’ve got to make the ‘B’ player the ‘A’ player … so make Mouhammad Faye a Big 12-caliber player, make Derek Williams a Big 12-caliber player, make Papa Dia a Big 12-caliber player. Paul McCoy, obviously a highly recruited player, so we’ve kind of got an ‘A’ player there … so let’s make him an ‘A-plus’ player.

“So I wanted guys that could develop talent, too, and part of the interview process with these guys was, I had them on the court. Most people sit down with them one-on-one, but I said ‘make sure you bring some shorts and a T-shirt and sneakers, because I’m going to put you on the floor.’ I had Reggie Brown come and do a clinic. We had some local coaches show up, and I said ‘I want you to do a 20-minute piece on individual instruction,’ so I could see how he taught. Reggie Geary came, and when we got out on the floor, I said ‘show me what you believe in offensively.’

“But I was very impressed with their command that they have on the floor, because it can’t always come from the head coach. So I wanted, one, recruiters, and two, talent developers, and I feel like I got that, and from a geographical standpoint, ideally I wanted someone who had a good reputation in Dallas — Reggie Brown has that — and then I wanted somebody who has a good reputation on the West Coast, and Reggie Geary has that. Because most of our students come from Texas, and the second-most come from Southern California. We’re very attractive to players on the West Coast — we’ve got three now (McCoy, Frank Otis and Justin Haynes), and we have another one on the way (Myles Luttman).”

Both Brown and Geary have a history with Doherty, who interviewed both for assistant coaching positions two years ago. Doherty said he was impressed with them then, and after talking to other coaches about each of them, said he knew they were ready to join the Mustangs’ staff this time around.

“I’ve known Reggie (Brown), because I interviewed Reggie a couple of years ago,” Doherty said. “(SMU assistant coach) Steve Lutz knows Reggie very well. I talked to (UTA head coach) Scott Cross. (Former coach and current ESPN analyst) Fran Fraschilla also is close to Reggie, because he coached (Brown’s) brother (Jamaal) at Ohio State. I also interviewed Reggie Geary two years ago, but he decided to take an NBDL job in California. I coached against Reggie Geary, and the way he played … he was just a tough kid, a great leader on the floor. I talked to (Arizona) Coach (Lute) Olson about him, I talked to Gary McKnight, the coach at Mater Dei in California, and I talked to other people who worked with him, from Josh Pastner to Kevin O’Neill — anybody I could. Then, ultimately, it comes down to a gut feeling. Also, I look at guys and think can these guys be head coaches? I think the three guys on my staff all will be head coaches, because they’re sharp, they’re hard-working and they’re good people.

REGGIE BROWN

(photo by UTA athletics).

Brown arrives on the Hilltop after spending seven seasons at his alma mater. Leaving UTA — his alma mater — and Cross made the decision to make the jump up to SMU a difficult one.

“It was tough — I’m not going to sit here and lie — because Coach Cross is my best friend,” Brown said. “We’ve been friends for 16 years, I’m his child’s godfather, and he just promoted me to associate head coach last year, so it was tough. It’s hard, because UTA was my first chance, and it is my alma mater, but I felt like, as an assistant coach, I helped get UTA to the NCAA Tournament, and after that, what else is there left to do? We took that team pretty far, and it was time for me to move on to another chapter of my life.

“We talked on the phone, and it was tough — really tough. We built something together over there, and we had dreams of being like a Gonzaga or a St. Joe’s program. But he was really supportive about it, and he understands. He just said, ‘Reggie, you’ve been loyal to me and done everything right, so don’t let me be the one to hold you back,’ so he was just really supportive.”

Brown said part of what swung his decision was the chance to work with Doherty.

“I knew of him, and Fran Fraschilla, who’s like my mentor, told me nothing but great things about Coach Doherty. So I met (Doherty) three years ago, out recruiting, and since then, we just see each other on the road, recruiting, and built a friendship through that.

“Once I started looking at this, there are so many reasons I wanted to be here — the direction Coach Doherty wants the program to go, location — it’s in a great city. Then, walking around campus for the first time, it was like ‘this is nice.’ Then seeing the facilities over here, the football facilities, even hiring June Jones — it’s clear they’re trying to do good things around here. It was just the right time, and I was ready for another challenge.”

Brown had known Doherty and Lutz from the recruiting trail — Lutz came to SMU from Stephen F. Austin, a conference rival of UTA — but also had another inside source when it came to information about coaching at SMU: he has known SMU women’s basketball assistant coach Deneen Parker since elementary school.

“I’ve known her for a long time, and I definitely did call her,” Brown said. “She’s been coaching here for a long time and had nothing but great things to say. That helped out a lot, knowing that Deneen is on the inside, and she’s not going to just tell me something to lead me astray. She had nothing but positive things to say about SMU. She was excited about it.

“It helped knowing that Deneen was here, knowing that Coach Lutz was here. But having Deneen was here was important. Knowing her and knowing how much she loves being here, that helped out a lot with the decision.”

REGGIE GEARY

(photo by University of Arizona athletics).

Geary brings to SMU a pedigree of success at Arizona, where he starred as a player from 1992-96, finishing his career as the Wildcats’ all-time leader in steals. “Jason Terry got that (the Arizona steals record) — we argue about that all the time,” Geary said. “I tell him that if I didn’t get injured in my junior year, he never would have touched it.” Geary also was the first player in school history to be named the team’s Defensive Player of the Year in each of his four seasons, and remains one of just two players to win the award four times. “They gave it to Salim Stoudamire, too,” he said, laughing. “I don’t know why, since he doesn’t play any defense. I should be the only one.”

Geary was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers and played a couple of seasons in the NBA, one in Cleveland and one with the San Antonio Spurs. He then played in the Continental Basketball Association from 1998-2000 and in Europe from 2003-04 before beginning his coaching career under Olson. Sandwiched between two stints on the Arizona bench was a two-year run as head coach of the head coach of the Anaheim Arsenal of the National Basketball Development League.

“We share a mutual friend out of Detroit, Rodney Heard, who’s in the NBA with the Knicks, and is a good friend with Coach (Doherty),” Geary said. “He called me up and said Coach Doherty might be looking for an assistant coach. I thought that was great, because I’ve got a little back history with him, so I knew Dallas is a great town, and this could be a really good opportunity for me and my family. I know this is a young team this year, with only one senior, so I thought this could be a team on the upswing, and things could only get better, and I’d like to be a part of it.

“I talked to (former Arizona assistant and new Memphis head coach) Josh Pastner, but most of what I know about Coach Doherty is from talking to him in the past. I knew his history a little bit, but just talking about how he learned from some of his past experiences, including what he has learned here, he just said all the right things. He’s open to new ideas, and he definitely wants us to come in and bring some energy from our own experiences into this program, and as an assistant coach, that’s all you can ask for. If you have an opportunity to voice what you believe in … the head coach can do what he wants with it, but just to have an openness … that’s been good so far.”

Reggie Geary (right) was one of the greatest defensive players in University of Arizona history, finishing his playing career as the Wildcats' all-time leader in steals and winning his team's Defensive Player of the Year award in each of his four seasons (photo by SSMG).

Geary said outsiders’ impressions of Doherty, who is known for his intense demeanor and expression on the sideline, are not a full picture of his new boss.

“How quick to smile and laugh he is, and joke around — and I realize it’s the offseason,” he said when asked what he has learned about Doherty since he began working at SMU in late June. “I realize he’s very intense and meticulous about the way he goes about his job. Some people are scared of that — I’m not. I’ve worked with some that are very similar. He expects us to come in and work, and that’s all I do anyway, so I knew it would be a good fit.”

Some might be surprised that Geary — like Brown, a guard in his playing career — is going to be working with the Mustangs’ post players.

“I said ‘are you comfortable working with guards or forwards?’ and he said (he could work with) either one,” Doherty said. “We talked about post work, and he obviously knows what he’s talking about.”

“I’m going to work with everybody,” Geary said. “All guards want to be posts, and all posts want to be guards, right? But in all seriousness, I’ve worked with ‘bigs’ in the D League. I had a young staff, and I really felt more comfortable with them working with the guards, and I really wanted to start working with the ‘bigs’ and their footwork.

“I’ve worked Pete Newell’s Big Man camp in the past, out in Hawaii, and one of the things I’ve learned from Newell is how similar the footwork is for ‘bigs’ and ‘smalls.’ I have pretty strict rules about how I work out ‘bigs’ and the footwork we require before we start loosening things up and letting them spin all over the place. I hope our guys have a big appetite for the fundamentals, because I’m very big on them.”

ALL TOGETHER

Doherty said he already is impressed with how Brown and Geary have “hit the ground running” in their new positions, beginning with their first forays in recruiting for SMU.

“I’m excited about the energy those guys bring — there’s great chemistry on the staff, and I don’t have to look over their shoulders,” Doherty said. “It’s fun — we’re coming back from lunch in the car I call the office, and Reggie Geary answers it and says he’s getting a call from an AAU coach on the West Coast, talking about players, and last night, Reggie Brown was on a really good player from Illinois. This is an attractive place. We had the Deron Williams Skills Academy here this past week, and we had Deron here and we had John Lucas here and some other coaches and players, and they see this place, and it’s like ‘wow — this is really nice.’ They understand is that all it takes is a couple of players to turn the corner.

“This is one of the best staffs I’ve ever put together, and I think they’re better than I thought they were going to be. The players are going to enjoy being around them, and they’re going to learn a lot from them. I think they’ll command respect from the players. They communicate strongly, with an economy of words, in a way that will get the respect of the players. They know what they’re talking about, but they’ve got to be very convincing, too, and they are. That will carry over to our players, and help the ‘B’ players become ‘A’ players, and ‘A’ players become ‘A-plus’ players.

“These guys will add a lot.”