Veteran college coach Geoff Lanier enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Penn State women's basketball program in the 2018-19 campaign.
Along with coaching the wings, the Derby, Connecticut native will also assist in the day-to-day operation of the program, including opponent scouting, game preparation and player development, among other duties.
Landing on campus with 24 year of coaching experience, Lanier has made stops in the American Athletic Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Mid-American Conference, along with other coaching experience early in his career.
Lanier spent the last two seasons at Cincinnati, where he coached the programs posts, tutored a pair of conference "of the year" winners and helped the Bearcats to the 2018 WNIT. The 2017-18 campaign featured the second-straight season that the coaching veteran was able to guide a pupil to a conference specialty award, as IImar'I Thomas took home the American Athletic Conference's Freshman of the Year award and was a unanimous AAC All-Freshman Team selection.
In total, Thomas was named league Freshman of the Week an American-best five times in 2017-18, averaging 9.7 points and a team-high-tying 6.0 rebounds per game.
In 2016-17, Lanier helped Shanice Johnson earn a spot on the All-American Athletic Conference third team and garnered unanimous AAC Newcomer of the Year distinction after averaging a team-high 15.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Johnson scored in double-figures in 23 games and boasted 13 double-doubles.
Lanier arrived on the UC campus after spending four seasons as an assistant at Kent State. Lanier served as the recruiting coordinator for the Golden Flash and his impact was felt immediately, as his efforts on the recruiting trail yielded 16 signees over his first 18 months. His crop of signees finished as a top-three class in the MAC for the 2014 cycle. His tenure at Kent State saw the development of four all-conference selections.
During his first season in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, he helped Boston College to its best finish in ACC history, a fifth-place showing in 2008-09, and the next season was a part of an Eagles squad that won two games at the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history. His tenure at BC (2009-12) included two postseason berths, including a run to the 2009 WNIT semifinals.
On the recruiting trail, he helped the Eagles reel in the 11th-ranked recruiting class in the country in 2010 and helped cultivate the talents of 2011 WNBA top-15 draft pick center Carolyn Swords. Of Boston College's nine all-time All-ACC selections, Lanier tutored five those, helping Swords (three times) and Stephanie Murphy (twice) earn All-ACC honors. Swords earned first-team All-ACC on two occasions while working with Lanier, the only two first-team All-ACC honors in BC history.
Lanier's career also included stops at Ohio University (2007-08) and the University of Akron (2004-06) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. With the Bobcats, Lanier helped OU a 20-win season in 2007-08, which is one of only five 20-win seasons in the program's history. Ohio U. advanced to its first MAC Championship game in 22 years in 2007-08, posting a 20-13 overall mark.
As the head coach at North Dakota College of Science from 1999-2003, Lanier also held the role of Director of Athletics at the school during the 2001-02 academic year. While at the junior college, he was named Region XIII Coach of the Year three times and led his team to the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Region XIII Championships during three of his last four seasons.
As the top assistant at the University of Chicago from 1997-98, Lanier headed recruiting, organized team travel and was also the assistant facilities coordinator. He began his extensive coaching career as an assistant at Washington College in Maryland from 1995-96.
Lanier earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Southern Connecticut State University and owns a master's degree in Psychology from Washington College.
He and his wife, Kim, have one daughter, Madison. Madison is a freshman at the University of West Florida, where she is a member of the Argonauts softball program.