Coach Lee "They will play for you"

<center><b><a href="https://forumeus.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5359"> Pictures </a></center></b><blockquote><p align=justify>Robert Lee named the 12th basketball coach in University of Louisiana history.<center>

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<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. – University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Director of Athletics Nelson Schexnayder announced Tuesday the hiring of Robert Lee as the school’s 12th head coach of men’s basketball.

Lee, 36, is a New Roads, La., native and 1991 graduate of Nicholls State University. He spent the last eight seasons as an assistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette serving on the staffs former head coaches Marty Fletcher (1996-97) and Jessie Evans (1997-2004).

Lee’s hiring is pending approval from the University of Louisiana System Board of Trustees.

Prior to arriving at Louisiana-Lafayette for the 1996-97 season, Lee orchestrated one of the most successful high school coaching careers in the Acadiana area in the early 1990s.

He joined the Ragin’ Cajuns basketball program during the summer of 1996 after serving four years as head coach at nearby Opelousas High School.

Lee guided OHS to four consecutive 20-win seasons including a 29-5 mark in his final year in 1995-96, which also included a berth in the state Class 4A quarterfinals. He was named the District 5-4A Coach of the Year for those efforts.

<center><p><a href="http://www.ragincajuns.com/Basketball/mens/Stories/2004-05/081704leehired.htm">The rest of the story</a><!--

Lee also directed the Tigers to the state quarterfinals one year earlier in 1994-95 with a 29-8 record, when he was named St. Landry Parish’s Coach of the Year for the second straight year. The first of those honors came in the 1993-94 season when Opelousas High advanced to the Top 28 state tournament and compiled a 31-6 record.

He began his prep coaching career in 1992-93 at OHS where he guided the Tigers to the bi-district playoffs and 20-10 record. He was named the Coach of the Year on the All-Acadiana team by the Lafayette Daily Advertiser that season, and the successes of the next three years gave him a career-prep record of 109-29 (.790) including four straight playoff appearances.

During his tenure at Louisiana-Lafayette, Lee has been a part of a program which has advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals in four of the last five seasons, won the Sun Belt Tournament twice (2000 and 2004), advanced to two NCAA Tournaments and claimed three straight Sun Belt West Division championships.

Before launching his coaching career at Opelousas High, Lee served for one year as a student assistant at Nicholls State in 1990-91 under head coach Ricky Broussard.

Lee was a four-year letterman at Nicholls State and served as team captain in his senior season in 1989-90 under then Colonel head coach Gordon Stouffer.

Lee received his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Nicholls State on May 17, 1991, while earning both President’s List and Dean’s List honors for his academic achievement.

Lee and his wife Donique are the parents of one daughter, Jordan, and one son, Trei.
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<blockquote><p align=justify><b> Lee brings passion, focus </b>

LOUISIANA La. - Robert Lee leaves no doubt about his vision for University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajun basketball.

He sees hard work, success and passionate play in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ future.

“I’ll make one promise,” Lee said. “We’re going to do it the right way.”

The longtime Cajun assistant was officially named the school’s 12th head coach on Tuesday, replacing Glynn Cyprien, who was recently fired for a bogus diploma after replacing Jessie Evans, and Lee was obviously energized about the challenge ahead.

“We will have a team you will be proud of,” Lee said. “We will play with an unbelievable amount of passion. They’ll play for you guys, for the University and for the community.

“When people pass by the Cajundome, I want them to say ‘That’s my team.’ When the team wins, they’re going to instill pride in the University. When they lose, it will be devasting to a lot of people.

“When we have that first game in the Cajundome, we may have 5-6-7,000 people there. But I guarantee you, the last game I coach here it will take the fire marshall to keep people away.”

No doubt about it. Lee has been waiting for this chance. He also has grown to appreciate the depth of the position.

<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/171226D8-8D4E-4F27-8D61-2C63BD4C5F7D.shtml">The rest of the story</a>

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com <!--

“It hit me in the last few years that this job is way more than just winning and losing,” Lee said. “I’m here to help young people become better persons.

“We will not tolerate academic casualties. We will not tolerate people who don’t respect the University, college basketball or the uniform. When they leave, I want the players to be better people for coming to school here.

“They’re going to know right from wrong, so they can go on and have a positive life.

“We’re going to be very, very disciplined. There’s going to be a lot of tough love. It’s a new beginning for the University, myself and the team.”

But Lee, who was 109-29 in four years as Opelousas High’s head coach in the 1990’s, knows the Cajuns are going to have to be winners on the court as well.

“I don’t think there’s any coach who doesn’t want to lead his team to the Final Four,” Lee said. “If you don’t dream something, if you don’t believe something, it’s not going to happen.

“You say we can’t go to the Final Four. Why not? Is there some sort of rule that says we can’t? If you look at Connecticut, somewhere along the line they had to get started. It took a coach or a player to turn them around.

“We will not accept second best. We want to take the program to a totally different level.”

That starts, of course, with the Sun Belt Conference, a league conquered twice by the Cajuns under Evans in 2000 and 2004 for NCAA Tournament bids.

“Middle Tennessee will be very good,” Lee said. “Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State will be good. But the Ragin’ Cajuns are supposed to be the best. That’s how we’ll look at it each year.”

A finalist when Cyprien got the job, Lee thanked a long list of people for the chance to make it work. He started with his parents, included UL President Ray Authement and Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder, the coaches who taught him the game and his wife, Donique.

“My parents instilled in me when I was young an appreciation for doing things right,” Lee said. “They taught me not to accept mediocrity in any way. My father passed away two years ago, but this would be such a thrill for him.

“Probably the most important person to thank is my wife. She’s put up with me, and with some difficult times over the last 13 years. She deserves a lot of credit for this day.”

It took a while to get the opportunity, and Robert Lee has no intention of letting anyone down.
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