College - Nevada-Las Vegas
HEAD COACH
Reggie Theus enters his second year as head coach of the Sacramento Kings. He guided the Kings to a 38-44 record last season (2007-08), which was a five-win improvement over the previous year, despite being short-handed personnel-wise for most of the season due to injuries to key players. Sacramento recorded regular-season wins against all but three of the 16 teams (Cleveland, Washington and Boston) that competed in the 2008 NBA Playoffs.

Prior to signing on as the 21st head coach in Kings franchise history on June 19, 2007, Theus spent the previous two years as the head coach at New Mexico State University.

Theus, who played 13 years in the NBA and was a member of the 1985 inaugural Sacramento Kings, led New Mexico State to a berth in the NCAA Tournament during the 2006-07 campaign (a first for the school since '99). He compiled a 41-23 record in his two years with the Aggies. In his first year at the helm of the NMSU program, Theus guided the Aggies to a tie for the fifth-best turnaround in Division I basketball and the best single-season improvement of any NMSU squad since the 1985-86 season. He turned around a program that went 6-24 the year before he arrived (2004-05), leading the team to a 16-14 record. Theus' Aggies improved to 25-9 in 2006-07, winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

Prior to his NMSU assignment, Theus spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville under Head Coach Rick Pitino. In those two seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals twice advanced to the NCAA Tournament and won the 2005 Conference USA regular season and tournament titles. In 2005, the Cardinals advanced to the Final Four for the first time since the school's national title run in 1986. Along with being an excellent teacher on the practice floor, Theus was also Louisville’s top recruiter, helping the Cardinals sign a handful of the nation’s top high school players. He coached current Kings swingman Francisco Garcia at Louisville.

Before turning his attention to the coaching profession, Theus' 13 years as a player in the NBA were spent with the Chicago Bulls, Kansas City/Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic and New Jersey Nets. After being drafted by the Bulls as the ninth overall pick in 1978, Theus finished runner-up in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting to Kansas City’s Phil Ford and was named to the 1979 All-Rookie team. Theus played for the Kings for five seasons (1983-84 to 1987-88), averaging 18.8 points, 8.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game in 346 contests. He ranks fourth on the Kings' all-time assists list (2,809).

Theus is one of only seven players in NBA history to score at least 19,000 points and dish out 6,000 assists, joining John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Clyde Drexler and Jerry West with that distinction. When Theus retired, he ranked 22nd on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 19,105 career points and 11th on the all-time assists list with 6,453 career assists. Over his 13-year career, Theus averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds a game while being named to the 1981 and 1983 NBA All-Star teams.

In 1992-93, Theus spent one season playing professionally in Italy with Ranger Varese. In 30 games with Ranger, he averaged 29.3 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds a game.

After retiring from professional basketball in 1993, Theus spent nearly a decade as an actor and television sports broadcaster. He served as an NBA analyst for Turner Sports and ESPN and was a co-host on the Fox Sports Net program “The Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

Theus’ extensive acting credits include playing Coach Bill Fuller for three years on NBC’s Saturday morning television show “Hang Time.”

Theus played his college basketball at UNLV for head coach Jerry Tarkanian from 1976 to 1978. In three seasons with the Runnin’ Rebels, he averaged 12.9 points, 4.4 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. In 1989, Theus was inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame and in 1997 he became one of only six players in school history to have his jersey retired by the Rebels.

Along with a successful career as both a player and coach, Theus has also been an influential member of the communities where he and his family have lived. Among the charitable programs which have benefited from Theus’ involvement are the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, spokesperson for the NBA’s Stay in School Program and Reggie Theus’ Trikes for Kids.

Theus and his wife Elaine have three children; Raquel, Reggie and Rhyan.