By BRENT STUBBS
Chief Sports Editor
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
GENO Bullard Jr, a former Bahamian three-star athlete, continues to make an impression on the coaching fraternity in the United States of America.
After spending the past four seasons as the top assistant coach for St Catherine University's women's basketball team in St Paul's, Minnesota, Bullard is now the new assistant coach for head coach Mallie Doucette at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"I'm extremely elated to be a part of this programme," Bullard Jr said. "Thrilled to be added to the coaching staff and to work alongside coach Mallie Doucette, helping student athletes succeed on and off the court, while continuing to push the programme to new heights.
"I am grateful for this opportunity to continue to serve student-athletes and the community."
Bullard Jr served as an assistant under Donald Mulhern at St. Catherine, as the Wildcats went 55-46 overall and 39-39 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play in his four seasons.
The Wildcats went 19-8 overall and 14-6 in MIAC play in 2023-24, reaching the MIAC playoff semifinals. Bullard Jr served as the team's operations assistant, assisting with recruiting, video scouting and player development, and also served at St. Catherine as the AthleticDiversity and Inclusion Director during the 2025-26 school year.
Bullard Jr, who follows in the footsteps of his father and mentor Geno Bullard Sr as a coach, said he's grateful to Mulhern for introducing him to Doucette, along with the rest of the Athletic Department, for giving him another opportunity to coach at the NCAA Division III level.
"I was able to meet the administration team, the coaching and the players and it really felt like home," Bullard Jr insisted. "I was then selected for coaching so this is a great opportunity to continue my coaching career."
Just three weeks on the job, Bullard Jr said he's loving it because while starting his coaching career with the men at Coastal Bend College, an NJCAA school in Beeville, Texas, he has found out that the women pay more attention to details and they listen.
"But when I'm coaching, I don’t see them as women, but rather as athletes," he stressed. "So to me, I don't look at them as women, but as student-athletes.
"I treat all of them the same. So the same expectations that I have for the men, I have for the women. I hold all athletes to the same standard. That is something that I planned when I started coaching women."
At St Catherine, Bullard Jr helped to develop five All-MIAC and two All-MIAC Honorable Mention selections during his four seasons, including three-time All-MIAC and 2023-24 MIAC Rookie of the Year Hattie Fox.
The Wildcats also excelled in the classroom in 2023-24, with the highest grade-point average among MIAC teams (3.72), ranking 13th among all NCAA Division III women's basketball programmes nationally.
Prior to moving to St Catherine, Bullard Jr served the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach for men's basketball at Coastal Bend College where he helped the squad to a regional tournament appearance.
He was in charge of basketball operations, player development, social media management and fundraising at Coastal Bend. His coaching ladder also includes three seasons as a graduate assistant at Minnesota State University, Mankato, a season as boys' and girls' basketball head coach at San Antonio (Texas) Preparatory School, and coaching at camps in both Minnesota and The Bahamas.
Before venturing into coaching, Bullard Jr completed his high school and AAU days in St Catherine, Ontario (Ridley College HS). He was a member of two FIBA Americas tournaments representing The Bahamas, and has also served as a player for the national team.
Bullard Jr earned his bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies (marketing/communications/business) from MSU Mankato in 2018, and his master's degree in educational leadership from MSU Mankato in 2020.
Now living in St Paul, Bullard Jr said he's looking forward to interacting with the local players here in The Bahamas to see how he can recruit some of them to play for Augsburg.
He thanked his father for steering him in the right direction. "I saw him do it for so many years from when I was a young kid when he coached me and so many other players," said Bullard Jr of Bullard Sr.
"I got a chance to see a glimpse of what it takes to be a coach at home and on the international level, so I took it all in. I was a fly on the wall being an athlete. It was something I loved, but I had a father who was a coach, so I was able to articulate it from a young age."
Bullard Sr, who is the founder and president of Noble Preparatory School where he's still involved in coaching the Spartans athletics teams, said he's very proud of his son's success so far. "From a very young child, he was a very good basketball player, playing the point guard, so the game came very easy for him," Bullard Sr said.
"As he got older going into his teens, he went off to Ridley College where he really understood the game. And being around me with all of the trips we went on managing the teams, he was on the same mindset and put all of his knowledge to work."
Bullard Sr said he's very comfortable and confident in Bullard Jr's ability to coach at the collegiate level.
"He references me from time to time asking me about the different things about the coaching arena," Bullard Sr said. "I told him there's going to be many days where there's going to be ups and downs. "The only thing is to overcome and keep pushing. Over the years, looking at Geno's résumé, he's done very well so far, but I tell him there's still a whole lot more to go. But I'm very proud of his accomplishments, but he still has a lot more to go."
As a father, Bullard Sr said he's looking to see where his son's journey will take him because he feels he has the ability to be an excellent coach and to take the programme at Augsburg University to another level.
Bullard Jr said there were so many other people who poured into his life from Ridley College in St Catherine's Canada, who helped to impact his life, especially when he ventured to the USA.
"They made me accountable and to be on time," Bullard Jr said. "There were a lot of things that I learned along the way from my coaches at AAU and other basketball camps and my family, but my dad was the best impact for him, watching him and seeing what it took to be a coach."
While he's getting his feet wet coaching women, Bullard Jr said he would like to be a part of The Bahamas women's national basketball team in the future.
The team's head coach is Grand Bahama native Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who also followed her father Gladstone “Moon” McPhee, into the coaching ranks and is the head coach for the Ole Miss Lady Rebels women's division one team.
Bullard Jr, 33, was a former basketball and softball player and sprinter/long jumper in track and field during his tenure in schools at St Thomas More, St John's and Westminster College.