Pearson joins the Rockets, who play in NBL Division One, after five years as assistant coach at the University of Calgary and has extensive coaching experience.
During his time with the Dinos he amassed an 84.6% win percentage over his four-season stay which included four Final 8 appearances, two National Title Game appearances, two CanadaWest regular-season championships, two CanadaWest Tournament Championships, and the school’s first-ever National Championship victory in 2018.
“I am thrilled to accept the role of the Head Coach of the Reading Rockets and Academy Director. I am grateful to the Johnson’s and the rest of the Rocket family for putting their trust in me to help lead this program.”
He also expressed his desire to continue to develop the Rockets basketball programme, adding: “I relish the opportunity to continue to build on the foundations of those who came before me and am committed to being a singular piece in building a culture and style of basketball that the Reading community can take pride in.”
“I am absolutely thrilled at the prospect of Dan joining us as soon as we can complete his visa requirements. His North American experience in the States and Canada will be invaluable to Rockets and especially to the Academy players and the Division 1 Men.
“Our contacts across the world gave us a surprising large quantity and quality of applicants but Dan shone through and is definitely the person to take us into the next chapter of Rockets history as we head for our 25th anniversary next year.
“I wish him all the very best as he takes up this key post and I can assure him that Rockets Leadership Team and our committed supporters will be keen to meet him and encourage him as he settles into the cosmopolitan town of Reading.”
Before joining Calgary, Pearson spent two years coaching at Helena Capital High School, where he led the Bruins to a second-place finish in Montana and an eventual State Championship.
After his achievements at Helena, he joined the coaching team at Carroll College. There he achieved many accolades including helping the Saints go from two wins to 18 in just two years, improving the team GPA to 3.1, and strengthening its performance in several statistical categories.
While coaching at Carroll, Pearson went on to receive his Master’s in Organisational Leadership: Servant Leadership from Gonzaga University.
Alongside this, Dan has also worked extensively in camps and AAU system across the US and internationally, spending 10 summers throughout North America and Europe with NBC Camps and is the co-founder of Elite League Basketball Camps in Montana.
In 2016 Pearson moved to Calgary, Alberta to take a job at the University of Calgary. After two years on the staff, he was promoted to Lead Assistant for the Dinos where he took the lead for many of the operational roles, including skills development, recruitment, and camps for the programme.
