Former Florida basketball standout, now coaching at USF, reflects on impact of late Bulls coach

Posted by Admin November 4, 2024 Basketball

Former Florida basketball standout Marreese Speights had Monday’s season opener between USF and UF circled on his calendar shortly after taking USF’s director of player development coaching job last June.

Emotions will run high for the 37-year-old Speights and the rest of USF’s team when they face the Florida Gators in Jacksonville (8:30 p.m., SEC Network) in the face of tragic circumstances. Less than three weeks ago, USF’s promising head coach, Amir Abdur-Rahim, died at Tampa General Hospital during a medical procedure related to an undisclosed illness. He was just 43.

Abdur-Rahim led USF to a 25-8 record and American Athletic Conference Tournament title in 2023-24 after leading Kennesaw State to an NCAA Tournament berth the previous season. But Speights said his impact went beyond wins and losses.

“Amir, he was one of a kind,” Speights said. “You don’t really meet those kinds of people, often, whatever part of life it is. He was just special when it came to being genuine and who he was …

“He was always going to put his people in the right situation, and he was always going to give you anything you needed. If you needed to go in there and talk to him, whatever it is he was always going to put the next person first. Me knowing him for those months, it was truly a blessing.”:

USF held a memorial service on campus for Abdur-Rahim on Saturday. Speights said players and coaches also attended Abdur-Rahim’s family memorial service in Georgia. Ben Fletcher has taken over as USF’s interim coach and Speights will help him courtside tonight.

“We had an exhibition game on Wednesday,” Speights said. “Guys played hard. Guys played free. We know what we’re doing this year, we know who we are playing for on a daily basis. The standard is the standard, the why is the why for the team this year, going forward.”

Why former Florida basketball standout Marreese Speights got into coaching

Speights was a freshman on UF’s second national championship team in 2006-07. He played a key role off the bench in UF’s 84-75 win over Ohio State in the national title game. With Al Horford in foul trouble, the 6-foot-10 Speights held his own guarding OSU All-American center Greg Oden.

As a freshman, Speights soaked in knowledge playing in the frontcourt behind three 2007 NBA Draft Lottery Picks — Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer.

“Being around guys who understood the process, these guys were guys even before they became pros,” Speights said. “So, for me, I was there to learn, I was there to see, on a daily basis how those guys prepared.”

Speights started at center as a sophomore in 2007-08 at UF, averaging 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks before declaring for the NBA Draft, where he was taken in the first round (16th overall) by the Philadelphia 76ers. He went on to a successful 10-year NBA career with six different teams, winning an NBA title ring with the Golden State Warriors in 2015.

After Speights’ pro career ended in China in 2021, he started a travel league youth basketball program, then began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Georgia Southern in 2023 before taking the USF job.

“God blessed me with a great gift, of knowing the game,” Speights said. “Kept getting better, kept getting better, and I just knew I wanted to help people, I wanted to help kids, I wanted to help the next generation.”

Taking the USF job allowed Speights to return to the Tampa Bay area, where he grew up and was a high school standout at Admiral Farragut in St. Petersburg. Speights will reunite with two of his former 2007 teammates — Taurean Green (Florida’s player development coach) and Lee Humphrey (Florida radio color commentator) — before Monday night’s game. He also still keeps in close contact with former Florida assistant and current Stetson head coach Donnie Jones, who recruited Speights to sign with UF in 2006.

“We always support each other both ways,” Speights said. “He’s doing a great job over at Stetson. (Former Florida assistant) Larry Shyatt, I went to his basketball camp this past year up in Gainesville and I’ve signed his son, Jeremy, his agency so I’m always going to be family with him.”

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1