The North Park athletic department introduced Amanda Reese as its new head women's basketball coach this week.

Reese, a former assistant women's coach for Illinois-Chicago, succeeds athletic director Jack Surridge, who stepped down as the women's head coach after 12 years to focus his energy on his family and athletic director duties.

"I am excited about this opportunity and the future of the program," Reese said. "North Park has a lot to offer both athletically and academically and I'm anxious to help the student-athletes achieve their full potential. I have high expectations for the North Park women's basketball program."

Reese brings an eclectic array of experience to the North Park program. In addition to serving as an assistant coach at UIC for the past four years, she served as the lone assistant women's basketball coach at the University of Chicago.

Prior to her coaching at Chicago, Reese served as the girls' assistant varsity coach as well as the junior varsity head coach at DeKalb High School during the 1999-2000 school year. She was also a successful student-athlete at Northern Illinois University and Beavercreek High School in Ohio.

At NIU, Reese was a three-time team captain for the Huskies and earned MVP honors in 1997. She became one of only 23 players in NIU history to score 1,000 points during her playing career (1,147) and she holds the NIU record for most 10-assist games with five. Her role as a Huskie left a huge impression on the program as NIU now gives the Reese Leadership Award to a student-athlete annually.

At Beavercreek High School in Dayton, Ohio, Reese led the Battlin' Beavers to a 1995 state championship and earned Ms. Ohio Basketball in the same season. She continues to give back to her hometown as she and her high school coach have continued to run the Amanda Reese and Ed Zink Basketball Camp since 2000.

As North Park's new head coach, Reese is looking to implement a solid defensive philosophy.

"Our focus is going to be on defense and offensively I'd like to see what we have first," she said. "We're going to get our players in shape and get our current kids better. Recruiting is big. We're going to bring in talented student-athletes that will help the program continue to be successful."