The 2012-13 season was Mike Geary’s fourth as an assistant for head coach Autumn Rademacher’s women’s basketball squad. Geary – widely renowned for his success as a head coach at Northern Michigan - arrived in the summer of 2009 and has more than 20 years of college coaching experience.
“The UDM women’s basketball program was immediately improved with the hiring of long time head coach Mike Geary,” Rademacher said. “He has an incredible resume and brings a wealth of knowledge to our program. Mike specializes in player development, and our team will benefit greatly from his expertise.”
Since he arrived on the staff, the Titans have a pair of 20-win seasons and postseason appearances and have twice posted a school record 14 conference wins (2010 and 2012) as Detroit was tied for second in the Horizon League in 2010 and was outright the second place team in 2012.
Detroit posted its second-straight winning season last year for the first time since 2001-02 and with a 21-13 record, the Titans also have two-straight years of 20 wins, the first time that has happened since they had four-straight from 1978-82. The 21 wins last year were also the most since UDM went 23-7 in 1997 as Detroit went on to win the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI), the first postseason title in the Motor City since 1981.
Just the year before, the 2011-12 UDM squad reached 20 wins for the first time since 1997 and made the WNIT, the first postseason action for Detroit since 1997, as the Titans also made a trip to the Horizon League Championship for the first time since 2004.
His work with the Titan forwards has seen Yar Shayok earn Second Team All-League honors in 2010, the Horizon League Sixth Player of the Year twice (2012, 2013), and two selections to the conference’s All-Defensive Team (2011, 2013), while Shareta Brown broke the school overall and freshman record in 2012 and again in 2013, while being named the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year (2012) and All-HL First Team (2012, 2013). Both post players also recorded over 1,000 career points, with Shayok as the only Titan to notch 1,000 career points and rebounds.
Prior to Detroit, Geary coached for two seasons as an assistant at Ball State (2005-07). He was part of a Cardinal coaching staff that posted a 41-19 mark during that time and helped BSU to the NIT in 2007.
Geary made a name for himself not only in the state of Michigan, but on the national scene in Division II, as he built the Northern Michigan women’s basketball program into a GLIAC power. He owns a 417-133 career record in 17 seasons as a head coach at two stops, NMU (1989-2005) and Lake Superior State (1987-89). He left Northern Michigan as the most successful coach in school history compiling an overall mark of 370-123 at the helm of the Wildcats. In addition, his teams at Northern Michigan made 12 appearances in the NCAA Division II basketball tournament, including two Elite 8 showings and one trip to the D-II Final Four. He was named GLIAC Coach of the Year on two occasions (‘89 and ‘97).
Geary’s teams won 20 or more games 12 times during his 17-year tenure at NMU, including 20 or more wins in eight out of his last 11 years. He never had a losing season, while his “worst” season records were a pair of 16-win campaigns.
He also won 20 or more games in his two years as head coach at Lake Superior State, giving him 20 or more victories 14 times in 20 years as a head coach at the collegiate level.
In 1989 and 1997, Geary was selected the GLIAC Coach-of-the-Year. The Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) also named him the women’s Coach-of-the-Year in the state in 1997.
During his tenure at NMU, he coached 33 first-team All-GLIAC players, six GLIAC Most Valuable Players, 35 All-GLIAC All-Academic, five All-Americans and five All-American Honorable Mention.
His 1997-98 squad was by far the most successful team in school history. Their accomplishments included: a school-record 28-4 season, a second-straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division title, their sixth GLIAC postseason tournament championship, qualified for the NCAA-II tournament for the seventh time, won their second Great Lakes Regional title, advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time and advanced to the Final Four for the first time. They defeated Seattle Pacific, 86-57, in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, North Dakota, 79-69, in the semifinals.
He won his 400th collegiate game during the 2003-04 season as the ‘Cats finished with a 19-8 overall record. It was the first time in his tenure at NMU that he had back-to-back seasons in which his team failed to win 20 or more games. The 2002-03 squad finished with a un-Geary like 16-10 record, which was only the third time in his NMU tenure that his team did not win 20 or more games in a season.
He reached two coaching milestones during the 2001-02 season. He notched his 300th win in 14 years at Northern Michigan and won his 350th game in 16 years as a collegiate head coach.
The 1997-98 squad established five team records and tied another. The six seniors on the squad set a standard for years to come, winning 101 games and losing just 21 during their four-year careers.
The 1995-96 Wildcats were the first NMU team to advance to the Elite Eight after earning their first Great Lakes Regional title with an 84-55 rout of Bellarmine. The ‘Cats lost in the first round of the Elite Eight, dropping a 81-76 decision to No. 2 ranked Abilene Christian University.
Before his arrival at Marquette-based school, he was at Lake Superior State University where he recorded
a 23-5 and 24-5 record in his two years as head coach. He took over a team which was six games below the .500 mark the previous year in the conference and produced a squad that finished second with a 14-4 ledger. The team posted a 24-4 overall mark in the conference and became the first team to reach the NCAA II playoffs. In those two years, the Lakers were nationally ranked his first season and they made an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance the following year.
Geary, a native of South Bend, IN, is a 1979 graduate of Aquinas College where he was a three-year starter on the basketball team and twice served as team captain. His first coaching assignment was at East Grand Rapids High School where he served as the boys’ junior varsity coach. He also served as an assistant at Lake Superior State for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Geary married Titan assistant coach Emily Samuelson in the summer of 2012. He has two sons, Sean and Tyler. Sean played collegiately at Michigan Tech, while Tyler played at Lake Superior State.
