Gary Redus II is the assistant coach for the National Champions, LSU Tigers. He has become wildly known through social media for his recruiting prowess and playing a significant role in securing elite talents such as Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow out of the transfer portal. He was also a huge part in bringing in the number 1 recruiting class that is headlined by No. 2 overall Mikayla Williams and No.7 over Aalyah Del Rosario. How did he wind up at LSU ?
Redus is son to former MLB outfielder Gary Redus who had a great career and was an elite base stealer where he amassed 322 stolen bases over his career and played for played for 5 teams from 1982-1994. . I asked the younger Gary if he followed his fathers foot steps on the diamond and he said " I played 1 year of baseball but I was really young." He says it was always basketball for him.
Redus played his prep ball at Decatur High School in Alabama where he averaged 8 PPG, 5 Rebounds per game, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks playing a guard/forward combo . At 6'6" the forward started out his Freshman season at Marion Military Academy and then his Sophomore year at Centenary College. Redus finished off his college career at South Alabama. After his college days Redus spent 5 seasons playing professional Ball in China, the Middle East and South America. He confirmed the end to his professional career was cut short due to injuries
On how he ended up coaching women's hoops he replied "My sister was coaching at a D2 school (Univ of West Georgia)…while I was playing ball in Mexico she told me to come GA.I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do after playing ball so I just said I would do it."
I asked if this is where fell in love with the women's game and he says "I’ve been in love with WBB since I was a kid. I grew up on it…my sister played ball so I went to practices, games & workouts my entire childhood."
From coaching with his sister he had a 2 year stop at another D2 powerhouse, Delta State as an assistant. He followed that up with a 3 year stop at Vanderbilt where he really started to hone in on his recruiting skills where in 2019 they landed two top 100 players and two more top 100 in the 2021 class. In 2020 while at Vandy he was listed on the WBCA 30 under 30 list which is to honor and recognize those in the industry as future leaders and superstar coaches in women's basketball." He then spent one season at SMU prior to joining Kim Mulkey's staff at LSU.
I asked him how the opportunity to join Coach Mulkey at LSU came about and he jokingly replied "I still don't know." He followed that up with "We met once out recruiting.I didn’t think anything of it,but when she had an opening she called. I was finishing up an individual workout and had a text from her. We talked that night for hours and on that call she offered me the job." I had to ask him if he had to think about it much "I accepted right then but she made me talk to my wife and sleep on it."
Fast forward to now and the LSU women's basketball is sitting on top of the world as reigning champs and Redus is a huge part of that success and not just because of his recruiting as from all his stops he has proved to be a great technical coach. From the Vanderbilt site i found this quote from – Former Boston College and Vanderbilt center Mariella Fasoula “All he wants to do is help you become the best version of yourself. He knows how to work with everyone and knows how to approach each player differently. He helped me improve my post game and my rebounding and he believed in me more than I did myself" and also a quote from – Vanderbilt Head Coach Stephanie White “Gary brings a tremendous amount of energy and a great basketball mind, as well as a drive and hunger to learn and grow. Gary’s a people person and his ability to build and maintain relationships allows him to fit right in with our program.”
I asked Redus with him being an elite recruiter how things have changed when recruiting players to play for Kim Mulkey and the LSU brand. His response was honest "You still have to work really hard…the sell is just easier. I can be very honest where other places I maybe would have to leave some things out. But recruiting is recruiting, and players want to play at LSU for Mulkey already…it’s my job to facilitate it & make the courting process the experience of their lives." Redus has more he wants to accomplish here with Coach Mulkey and the job is not done so there will be more to come .
If you want to support the site visit our partners at fanatics through the provided link for any of your upcoming LSU gear purchases.
Comments