Robert Lee promoted to top job

[1stTake]

Thank you for not being an arrogant SOB. Thank you for not leaving UL when you were passed over. I wish I felt better that I got my wish for head coach. Watch your posterior, someone has it out for this university I don't know who. Schexnayder is a hazard and that makes you the Duke of Hazard count on it, and good luck

[Turbine]

Congrats coach LEE you deserve it.

This may sound wierd but "The 3rd Time was the Charm"

[RedBug58]

Turbine, you always have the right spin. I'd like to meet you sometime.

[o.c.dan-g]

Coach Lee is the person the slogan "Good things come to those who wait", was made for.

[DaddyCajun]

Turbine is the Gerald Hebert of Cajun Athletics along with CaliCajun!!!!!


Support the Swamp Gate Project, Gerald has sold one of the completed Gateways, but he can NOT sell what is NOT there!!!!!!!!!!!

$100.00 YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!

[NewsCopy]

Lee remains ready
Longtime Cajun assistant coach ends up getting job he sought after all.

LOUISIANA La. — Robert Lee was ready to be UL’s head basketball coach in May, when the job went to Glynn Cyprien.

He’s still ready, and now Lee will get the opportunity to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns after Cyprien was terminated on Friday for false degree information on his résumé.

But it’s still hard to step in under the circumstances.

“It’s kind of tough, because I’m really disappointed for Glynn,” said Lee, who will soon be named the 11th head coach in UL basketball history.

“He gave me an opportunity to remain on the staff, and he didn’t have to do that. We were getting along great, and I thought it would be a great situation. He was able to introduce me to some prominent people.

“I’m disappointed in the way it came about. Actually, it really started yesterday afternoon when Nelson Schexnayder called me and told me what was going on. I was really in shock.”

For the record, Lee graduated from Nicholls State University on May 17, 1991, with a bachelor’s degree in general studies.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Ragin' Cajuns elevate assistant coach Lee to get the program back on track

LOUISIANA La. -- It was a whirlwind 24 hours for Robert Lee.

The long-time Louisiana-Lafayette assistant was informed Thursday afternoon that basketball coach Glynn Cyprien would be fired. In the same meeting, he was offered the job. Just a few minutes later, he accepted.

On Friday morning, Lee, 35, was introduced as the school's third men's basketball coach in the past two months, pending contract negotiations and a background check.

"Robert was well thought of in the original selection process," ULL athletic director Nelson Schexnayder said. "We were very fortunate to have someone of his stature on our staff already."

The school was especially fortunate, given the timing of Cyprien's firing. Recruiting for next season has begun, and the start of practice is not too far away.

But Schexnayder and Lee were quick to say that this is not a marriage of convenience. Schexnayder said he had received a phone call from another coach, who had been a leading candidate for the job.

"Nelson is hiring me because he believes I deserve this job," Lee said.

The rest of the story

Jeff Eisenberg can be reached at
sports@timespicayune.com
(504) 826-3405.

[NewsCopy]

LEE COMES OFF BENCH
Cyprien fired after error on résumé

LOUISIANA La. — Robert Lee has been a UL basketball assistant through nine years and three head coaches. Now, the success of the program probably will be in his hands.

Pending approval by the UL System Board, Lee was named by Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder as the successor to head coach Glynn Cyprien. The university fired Cyprien on Friday because his résumé listed a bachelor’s degree he didn’t earn. The university hired Cyprien on May 5.

Cyprien, who was to be paid $170,000 annually, closed on the purchase of a Lafayette home within the last two weeks.

UL Lafayette requires all employees of the Athletic Department to have degrees from accredited, four-year institutions. Cyprien received a bachelor’s degree in educational counseling in 2000 and a master’s degree in physical education in 2002 from LaCrosse University, an online school based in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

LaCrosse isn’t accredited by an agency recognized by UL Lafayette. Cyprien’s résumé listed a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Texas-San Antonio. Officials there said he didn’t finish his degree, a statement verified by the National Student Clearinghouse.

“It’s my responsibility,” Schexnayder said. “I will obviously make that point specifically before we announce that anyone is joining our Athletic Department.

In a TV interview Friday, Cyprien said, “My paperwork was presented up front. Whether he did or didn’t do a background on it, that’s not my problem.”

“In the future, when we receive résumés, we could send a form letter to the institution in question, providing the degree and date listed, and for them to confirm, yes or no. That’s one way of dealing with that.”

UL System President Sally Clausen has another.

“We’re not going to be in that position in the future,” Clausen said. “The rules have already been modified” to require that all academic credentials are certified before anyone is brought to the board for hiring.

“The board assumes that presidents of universities check,” she said. “They certainly do that for all academic positions. I assure you that will be done before we approve anyone in the future. We don’t have to tell Dr. (Ray) Authement twice.”

Clausen said Authement, UL Lafayette’s president, “refused to sign his contract until he had all the credentials. He was wise enough that he didn’t sign. ...

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[UL_Cajuns]

True very true.

Congrats on the job, Coach Lee.

Sorry it had to come this way.

You deserve it though, now make the best of it, and get us some wins in the NCAA's.

[RaginCager]

Heard who his coaching picks are?

[Turbine]

Originally posted by RaginCager
Heard who his coaching picks are?

I haven't heard.

I just hope he has paid enough attention to Ragin' Cajun sports to have picked up on the best coaching hire quote EVER.

"Some of my buddies can't coach"

[ChanceEncounter]

Originally posted by Turbine

"Some of my buddies can't coach"

What's that from?