Reese graduated with a degrees in Physical Education and in Industrial Education from Northern Michigan University in Decmber of 1980. Following graduation, Reese was hired at Wheaton North High School (IL) where he coached the offensive line in footbal and was head girl's softball coach. The very next season Reese joined the football coaching staff at Wheaton College (IL) for one year, then took a position as offensive line coach at Michigan Technological University for six seasons.

For three years Reese served as assistant head football coach and head wrestling coach at Hernando High School in Brooksville, Florida where he was named both Gulf Coast Conference and Tampa Tribune Coach of the Year in 1991.

In July of 1991, Reese joined the athletic department at the University of Minnesota-Morris as head wrestling coach and as assistant to the Athletic Director. During his tenure at UM-Morris Reese has coached both men's collegiate wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling, football, and women's cross country.

In thirteen season at UM-Morris, Reese has developed 138 All-Americans, 32 Academic All-Americans, 29 national champions, and has produced 16 U.S. National Team Members, with 12 of his athletes representing the United States in world championship competition.

In October of 2004, Reese was named as the first wrestling coach at King College in Bristol, TN. Reese's assignment was to build and develop a collegiate wrestling program from scratch with the start of the 2005-2006 season.

Reese has achieved recognition as a Gold Level Certified Coach from USA Wrestling, and has coached in five world championships and the Pan-American Championships. In addition, Reese has led his UM-Morris athletes to seven U.S. National Freestyle Wrestling Championships. For eight years Reese served on USA Wrestling's Board of Directors, while also tending to various committee roles within the organization.

Reese is also an accomplished writer, he is author of "Take It To The Next Level, Performance Principles for Life," and was contributing editor to "nt:sport, The Word of God for the World of Sport Bible," and has published dozens of articles on training athletes and coaches for competition.

Coach Reese is very active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving most recently as a summer conference speaker and clinician, as well as helping with the college huddle fellowship group at King College. Reese is also a strong supporter of Athletes In Action, participating in missions trips to Central America and to Russia with AIA Wrestling.

Reese and his wife Rosanne attend Celebration Church in Blountville, TN.