Eric Reveno was named head coach of the men’s basketball program on April 10, 2006, becoming the 20th coach in Pilot history. He served nine successful seasons as an assistant at Stanford and then spearheaded Portland’s rebuilding effort during his 10-year tenure on The Bluff.
The Pilots averaged 20 wins per season from 2009-11 to set a school record for the most wins over a three-year period. The Pilots reached the post-season four years, were ranked in the Top 25, and posted three wins over ranked opponents. The Pilots also were one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation during Reveno’s era.
Twenty Pilots have been named to All-WCC teams since 2007, including eight first-team selections, and 16 of the program’s graduates since 2009 have gone on to play professionally.
And the success wasn’t just on the court. The team boasted a 100% graduation rate, a near-perfect rating in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, and 20 Academic All-WCC selections since 2007. Thomas van der Mars became the school’s second men’s basketball Academic All-American in 2014, earning third team honors, and added first team honors in 2015. Ryan Nicholas was granted the 2014 Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association Postgraduate scholarship.
Reveno and the Pilots returned to the postseason with a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament in 2015. The squad finished with a 17-16 overall record after posting 15 wins during the 2013-14 season.
The 2010-11 season was thought by many to be a ‘rebuilding’ year following the loss of five key players from a 2009-10 squad that matched a school-record 21 wins and went 10-4 in the WCC to match the best league record in program history. Despite returning just one starter, Reveno led the Pilots to another 20-win season and a third straight trip to the CIT. It also marked the first back-to-back 20-win campaigns in program history.
Reveno was named the 2009 West Coast Conference and District 9 Coach of the Year after leading the Pilots to a 19-13 record and invitation to the inaugural CIT. It marked a 10-win improvement from 2008 and the program’s first postseason appearance since 1996. The Pilots also finished third in the WCC standings (9-5) and posted its first win over a ranked opponent (84-66 over #18 Saint Mary’s) since 1981.
Reveno preaches a disciplined style of play, has a track record of player development, and respects the role of the student-athlete. He has built the foundation for future success through quality recruiting and an emphasis on development, both on the court and in the weight room.
Voted one of the Top 25 Recruiters in the nation by rivals.com in 2006, Reveno has brought his eye for talent to Portland with good results.
Academic integrity is another cornerstone of Reveno’s program. A Pac-10 Conference All-Academic Team selection himself in 1989, Reveno helped coach 14 players to 25 all-conference academic honors as an assistant, the most of any school in the Pac-10 during his nine-year tenure.
Reveno, long recognized as a leader in the use of sports performance analysis technology, spoke in Sydney, Australia during the Fall of 2008 at a worldwide summit hosted by SportsTec, one of the foremost providers of video & technology solutions to the international sports community. The cutting edge approach to technology has become a staple of the Pilot program in teaching, player development and recruiting. As a result, Reveno was the lone representative from the United States asked to speak to an audience of performance professionals from some of the top sports leagues and organizations in the world. Dave Telep, ESPN.com Senior Recruiting Analyst, said that, “Reveno is unofficially the most technologically advanced man we’ve met in college basketball. His new I-Phone is wired up to the point where he’s got his recruiting database, clips of his offense, directions to gyms in Vegas AND his favorite Johnny Cash songs all in one.”
An imposing 6-foot, 8-inch figure, Reveno commands respect not with his mere presence, but with his passion for, and teaching of, a disciplined style of play reminiscent of his formative coaching years as an assistant under legendary coach Mike Montgomery at Stanford. He also points to the coaching philosophies of Tom Davis, the man who recruited and coached him at Stanford his first two years, and legendary coach Pete Newell as major influences on his coaching style. Reveno served as an assistant coach under Montgomery for seven years before being promoted to associate head coach during the 2004-05 season alongside Trent Johnson.
A post player for the Cardinal in the late ‘80s under both Davis and Montgomery, Reveno helped coach his alma mater to seven 20-win seasons, three 30-win seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, an NCAA Final Four in 1998, three years with a No. 1 national ranking, four Pacific-10 Conference Championships and a .768 overall winning percentage. He played in 116 games during his career at Stanford (1985-87, 89), including 30 games as a starter during his senior season in 1988-89. He was a two-time team captain and most inspirational player and averaged 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game as a senior, helping the Cardinal to a 26-7 record, a 15-3 mark in the Pac-10, and a No. 12 national ranking. The Cardinal advanced to the NCAA Tournament, Stanford’s first appearance in the tourney since the 1942 season.
Reveno recruited and coached numerous outstanding frontline players for the Cardinal including Mark Madsen, Jarron Collins, Jason Collins, Curtis Borchardt, Tim Young, Rob Little, Justin Davis and Matt Haryasz. He was also a prominent staff member at the nationally renowned Pete Newell Big Man Camp for six seasons. Seven players under Reveno’s tutelage at Stanford went on to play in the NBA.
After graduating from Stanford in 1989 with a degree in economics, he spent four years playing professional basketball in Japan. He returned to Stanford and obtained his masters degree in business administration in 1995. Prior to joining the Stanford coaching staff in 1997, he served as president for two years of Riekes Center in Menlo Park, a non-profit mentoring organization that works with athletes of all ages.
Reveno was born in Stanford, Calif. on March 12, 1966 and attended The Menlo School during his high school years. He and his wife, Amanda, have two children: Katie (13) and Andrew (10).