Gene Cross

Gene Cross

Personal information
Born	(1971-12-20) December 20, 1971 (age 52) Reno Bighorns (assistant)
2016–2017	Rayos de Hermosillo COY

Gene Cross (born December 20, 1971) is a former American college and professional basketball coach, currently serving as a Director, Scouting & Administration for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Personal

Gene Cross was born in

. He starred as a prep basketball player just outside the city, at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Cross was named the team's MVP and also earned All-SICA South Conference honors. He was also inducted into the Rich Central High School Hall of Fame in October 2010.

From 1990 to 1994, Cross played college basketball at the

in both seasons. He graduated from Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and later matriculated from The Ohio State University with a Master of Science degree in Sport Management.

While pursuing his graduate studies, Cross spent a year coaching basketball at Marion-Franklin High School in Columbus, Ohio.

Cross is also a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Coaching career

In 1996, Cross returned to his hometown when he was hired as assistant coach at the

regular-season title while earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. In Cross's final season at UIC, the Flames finished 20–14 winning the Horizon League conference tournament championship. That win propelled UIC into the NCAA Tournament via automatic bid.

Cross then spent 3 seasons from 2002 to 2005 seasons as an assistant coach for the DePaul Blue Demons. DePaul played in the NIT to finish the 2003 and 2005 seasons. The 2003–04, the Blue Demons tied for the C-USA Championship and played in the NCAA tournament. In 2005, Cross was named one of the top 25 recruiters in college basketball by Rivals.com.

Cross followed Dave Leitao to Virginia and became Leitao's top assistant where he helped guide the Cavaliers to an NIT berth.

After one season with Virginia, Cross left to become the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame under head coach Mike Brey. Notre Dame finished the 2006–07 season with a 24–8 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In 2007–08, The Irish finished 25–8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. CBSsportsline.com named Cross to the list of "Ten Assistants Ready For the Next Step" in 2007.

On April 11, 2008, Gene Cross was hired as the new head coach of the Toledo Rockets.^[1] Cross went 11–53 in 2 years as head coach of the Rockets.

On September 21, 2010, Cross was hired as lead assistant coach for the

announced its hiatus for the 2011–2012 season.

Cross was hired as the lead assistant coach by the defending

Gene Cross was named head coach of the

.

After two seasons at the helm in Erie, Cross was hired as an assistant coach for the

NBA D-League

All Stars.

On October 9, 2015, Cross was named lead assistant coach of the

The Bighorns finished the regular season with the 2nd best record in the league and best record in the Western Conference at (33–17). This regular season success led to a Pacific Division championship and the #1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Cross most recently lead Rayos de Hermosillo of the Mexican CIBACOPA to a 30–8 record and the CIBACOPA Finals where he was also named 2017 CIBACOPA Coach of the Year. After his successful international coaching stint, Cross re-joined the Sacramento Kings in September 2017 as a college scout. In September 2018 Cross was promoted to the role of Director of Amateur Scouting. In December 2020, he left his post with Sacramento to bolster the New York Knicks revamped scouting department.

References