OREM—Former Utah Valley men's basketball player Ryan Toolson is set to begin his 10th season as a professional basketball player in Europe. The nine-year veteran has signed a two-year contract with BAXI Manresa in Liga Endesa.
 
Toolson returns to Spain where he played for three seasons with Gran Canaria and Unicaja from 2012-2015. He led his team to the Liga Endesa semifinals in both 2014 and 2015 and received All-Spanish Liga Endesa honors. BAXI Manresa went 21-4 last season and won the LEB Golf playoff title, defeating Melilla, 97-67, in a decisive fifth game of the championship series.
 
"Now that I've got kids that are going into school, it's not necessarily the best contract that we're looking for," said Toolson. "We have to look into cities with international schools and what's best for my family. When we got the offer from a team just outside of Barcelona, we were super excited because we lived in Spain before, I'm fluent in Spanish and my family knows it well. We're excited to go back and live in Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe."
 
Toolson has enjoyed an extremely successful nine-year career overseas. He's played for teams in Spain, Turkey, Russia, and Italy. His European accolades include a Turkish League All-State appearance, All-Turkish League honors, All-Spanish ACB honors, Spanish ACB All-Imports team honors, Spanish Liga Endesa All-Imports team honors, All-VTB League honors, and VTB League All-Imports team honors.
 
"It's all really just been a dream come true," says Toolson. "I never thought that I would be one of the old-time veterans in Europe having played for 10 years. I've been really lucky with having great coaches and great teammates. I've been able to put myself in a good situation where not only I can be happy playing basketball overseas as a 33-year-old man but where my kids can be happy in a great, beautiful city. The city has great schools and my children can be raised right in our home and outside of it."
 
Toolson played at Utah Valley during the 2003-04 season before serving an LDS Church mission to Guatemala from 2004-06. He then returned to play for the Wolverines from 2006-09. He is UVU's all-time leading scorer with 2,163 points—a record that may never be broken. He also holds UVU career records for scoring average (19.1), field goals made (677), field goals attempted (1,421), three-point field goals made (315), three-point field goals attempted (730), three-point field goal percentage (43.2), free throws made (494), and free throw percentage (93.9).
 
The UVU all-time leading scorer played in major role in helping the university construct the NUVI Basketball Center. His generous financial contribution to the facility led to the practice center's basketball floor being named Ryan Toolson court. 
 
"Staying close to UVU has been really easy, especially with Conner (Toolson) and Jake (Toolson) on the team," said Toolson. "I like to keep in touch with my cousins and I like to go over to the NUVI Center and practice as much as I can with the guys. I love having it here in my backyard. I always thought it was really cool to see those players that go back to their alma maters and play with their players and have that connection with the athletic department.  I'm happy to have that relationship with the school and athletic department."
 
Toolson will be traveling to Spain in the upcoming weeks to get his family settled in a home in Barcelona. He will report to the BAXI Manresa organization at the end of August in preparation for the upcoming 2018-19 season.