Before arriving at Galesburg, Reynolds had been an assistant coach at UTHS and Danville before taking over as head coach at Bismarck- Henning.
As people in Galesburg heard what his coaching record was, many were actually surprised that Galesburg had been able to lure him to the job. After going thru tough times for a decade, many Streaks fans had grown pessimistic about the future of basketball in Galesburg. Reynolds past record brought hope.
Basketball coaches want to know that a school district is going to make basketball a priority. Boys basketball coaches know there is a possibility that they will be fired if they don’t win, so they want to know that the administration is committed to helping them win.
Galesburg cannot match the teaching and coaching salaries of many large schools so it is important to provide support for a basketball coach in other ways. Allowing the coach to host the tourneys was one way of supporting them.
Reynolds in the first interview talked about establishing an identity for the program and then building a culture. Quickly it became apparent the identity was centered around playing hard and playing tough man to man defense.
The 2014, 2015, and 2016 teams won 76 games. That is the best three year win total in GHS history.
Reynolds was coach at Bismarck for 5 years with an overall record of 118-38 for a 76% winning percentage. His last two seasons, they were 55-7 for a whopping 89% winning percentage.
As people in Galesburg heard what his coaching record was, many were actually surprised that Galesburg had been able to lure him to the job. After going thru tough times for a decade, many Streaks fans had grown pessimistic about the future of basketball in Galesburg. Reynolds past record brought hope.
When Reynolds was hired, he was told that the school wanted to get a Thanksgiving Tourney back. It had been missing for many years. When Reynolds asked if he could start a King Tourney, the school enthusiastically supported that.
This idea of creating more home games, was not something new. If you look back to the 1950’s and 1960’s, John Thiel had brought Chicago schools to Galesburg to allow for more home games and to create more enthusiasm.
The remodeling of GHS and Thiel Gym provides an inviting atmosphere. The building of both Wicall Gym and Kimbrough Fieldhouse have also made Galesburg more attractive athletically.
The year before Reynolds arrived, Galesburg had been 5-21. In the previous 10 years before he came, the Streaks had 9 losing seasons enroute to an 81-173 record for a 34% winning percentage.
It became evident that he intended to build a new culture, but not just a new player culture. He worked to build a new parent culture- where phone calls or emails about playing time were unacceptable. And he worked to build a community culture that tapped into the Streaks tradition by bringing in alumni to be part of the program.
In his 11 years at GHS, he had 8 winning seasons, and his teams finished with 218 wins and 62% of their games. Five of the 11 seasons they won 20 games. The 2016 team won 29 games, which is the second highest total in GHS history behind Joey Range’s 1998 team.
Reynolds left Galesburg after the 2019 season to go to DeKalb. After six seasons at DeKalb, his teams have a 140-46 record for 76% winning percentage, and three Regionals. The last two years they have gone 52-15.
Obviously Galesburg’s 2008 selection committee was very successful in hiring Mike Reynolds. And the administration from the Supt to the Principal to the AD were willing to provide the support to help Coach Reynolds achieve his vision. With Mike Reynolds as the Silver Streaks coach, Galesburg was excited about basketball once again!
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