General in Charge, Robert Lee takes interim helm.
Lee takes charge of Cajuns for now
LOUISIANA Là - As any glance at network news will tell you, this is an election year.
Robert Lee’s candidacy to be Louisiana’s next men’s head basketball coach began Thursday afternoon, shortly after Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder named him the program’s interim head coach.
“He told me to do what we’ve always done,” said Lee, who takes over with the departure of Jessie Evans to the head post at the University of San Francisco.
The 36-year-old Lee, the lone holdover to move from Marty Fletcher’s staff to join Evans in 1997, was unblinking in accepting the challenge.
“From coach Fletcher to coach Evans, I’ve seen a lot of different things in the league (the Sun Belt Conference) and in college basketball,” Lee said. “I’ve matured a lot, and in my opinion, I’m ready for the position.
“It feels good to know that Nelson has the confidence in me and respect for me to run the program for as long as this lasts. I’ll take the job and do to best job I can.”
Schexnayder indicated that he had faith in Lee’s abilities to handle the program during the search, giving Lee a green light to schedule games and recruit players. The A.D. also said Lee would receive full consideration to remove the interim tag.
“Without question,” Schexnayder said, “Robert Lee is a serious candidate. He’s a very, very, very strong candidate for the job.”
Lee was the head basketball coach at Opelousas High from 1991-96 and guided the Tigers to four straight 20-win campaigns including a 29-5, state quarterfinal finish in his final year. His 1995 squad was 29-8 and his 1994 team finished 31-6 with a Top 28 appearance.
After that successful stint at OHS (109-29), Lee was with Fletcher for a year before Evans took over. His resume’ dovetails nicely with Schexnayder’s stated search criteria.
“We’re looking for someone with college experience, with experience as a head coach, someone with ties to Louisiana and ties to the university,” Schexnayder said.
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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
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