COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican University athletic department announced the change in leadership for the men's basketball program on Thursday (June 25).

Reese Leone has been appointed interim head coach, following the resignation of Casey Kaufman as head coach after three seasons in Columbus to pursue other professional opportunities.

"I am pleased to announce Reese Leone as our new interim men's basketball head coach," said Athletic Director Jeff Blair. "It's been exciting to watch our men's basketball team grow and develop under this staff and I'd like to thank Casey Kaufman for his leadership.  We are looking forward to seeing the program continue to thrive and I'm eager to see what the future holds for our men's basketball program under the direction of Coach Leone."

Leone spent two seasons on staff at Ohio Dominican as a graduate assistant and was promoted to assistant coach earlier this summer.

"I am extremely blessed and humbled to be given an opportunity of this magnitude," said Leone. "I can't give enough thanks to our president Shonna Riedlinger and our athletic director Jeff Blair for presenting me the opportunity to lead the men's basketball program here at Ohio Dominican. There will be a ton of hard work put forth to prove them right. I have a very strong belief in how we do things here in terms of the types of people we recruit and the level of accountability that exists in the program. Our blueprint will still be built on bringing in high character kids who are extremely tough and highly competitive."

During his time at ODU under Coach Kaufman, Leone assisted in practice and game planning, opponent's film scout and recruiting throughout the Midwest. During the summer, Leone has had a key role in the summer shootouts and prospect camps for the program.

He has worked with the Midwest Basketball Club as a 16U GBL coach and is the owner and founder of Dr3am Skills Training.

Leone shared, "Lastly, there's no one that's had a bigger influence on me as a coach and person than Coach Kaufman. He is a class act and an unbelievable basketball coach. The success that we have moving forward will be largely credited to the foundation that he built at Ohio Dominican."

In his three seasons at Ohio Dominican, Kaufman helped improve the program in a number of ways. The 2025-26 season saw Ohio Dominican qualify for the Great Midwest Tournament for the first time in six years while hosting a home quarterfinal for the first time in school history. The 2025-26 team finished with a 19-10 record and 13-7 conference mark, reaching the fifth most overall wins in program history (2^nd most in the Division II era) and second most in conference wins. The Panthers were 11^th in Division II in three point defense.
Both coaches worked with three All-Conference players on their teams at ODU (2 First Team All-Conference and 1 Second Team All-Conference).

Casey Kaufman shared his thoughts on his three seasons in Columbus, "It has been a privilege to serve as the head coach at Ohio Dominican University. The past three years here have been both extremely challenging and rewarding. I'd like to thank Jeff Blair, Shonna Riedlinger, and Sandy Rowley [former ODU Associate AD] for giving me an opportunity to lead this program. To Colton Everett, Reese Leone, and Jackson Burdyshaw, thank you for all of your unseen hours and sacrifice. All of you taught me so much about selflessness. Thank you for always making it about the players.
He continued, "To the players - it's difficult to express what you guys mean to me. Thank you for believing in the program. Your loyalty and trust in the process made coaching easy. I'm your biggest fan and I'll always be rooting for you. Special thanks to Tim Walker, Tony Galleti, and Shane Huey in the various roles they mentored our players and coaches. Thank you for caring about our players souls."

Leone played four years at Westminster College, appearing in 84 games with 83 starts. He finished his career with 1,026 points and 338 career assists. He led the team all four seasons in assists while finishing in the top three all-time for assists. He was a four-time PAC Academic Honor Roll selection and has earned Dean's List distinction seven times while being All-PAC Second Team in his sophomore year.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from Westminster and now has a Masters in Sport Management from Ohio Dominican.

"I'm excited to follow the program's next steps with Coach Leone leading it," said Kaufman. "I'm fortunate to hand it off to someone I believe in and our players believe in as well."