Men’s Basketball:UL cuts ties with Lee – Lee leaves with high hopes for program

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • March 10, 2010

With TV cameras rolling and all eyes in the room focused on him, UL athletic director David Walker stood behind the podium during a press conference Tuesday morning and finally made it official.

Walker announced that the university would not renew the contract of men’s basketball coach Robert Lee, but that women’s basketball coach Errol Rogers would return for the final year of his contract.

In addition to those moves, first reported Monday afternoon by The Daily Advertiser citing sources close to the situation, Walker said the university had hired Carr Sports Associates of Gainesville, Fla., to assist in identifying potential candidates for the open position.

The national search firm, run by former University of Florida and University of Houston athletic director Bill Carr, has worked with colleges and universities across the country. Past clients include Texas, Florida and LSU, as well as multiple schools from the Sun Belt Conference.

"I am familiar with people who have used them in the past, and they are very good at identifying candidates," Walker said. "They are able to keep things confidential that you want to and honor the needs of the candidates.

"At the same time they are very aggressive in identifying candidates that they feel are a good fit for the university."

The school will also use a local advisory committee that will include Ragin’ Cajuns Athletic Foundation board member Charlie Moncla, UL vice president of enrollment management DeWayne Bowie and UL faculty athletic representative Anita Hazelwood.

UL senior associate athletic director Scott Farmer will work closely with the committee.

Walker said that he would like to have a hire made by the first weekend of April, though there is no definite timetable.

In terms of recruiting, the clock is ticking for the Cajuns. They signed two recruits in the fall and expect to have at least two available scholarships for other prospects next season. The NCAA’s regular signing period is April 14-May 19.

"We anticipate some of them (the candidates) will still be in season and be unable to be interviewed at the moment, so we really don’t know yet (of a timetable)," Walker said. "But we will move as quickly as possible because obviously recruiting continues and we want to fill this position as soon as possible."

When reached on Tuesday, Carr had little to say about any specifics as the UL men’s team (13-17, 10-8 Sun Belt) looks to move in a new direction after a fifth consecutive non-winning season.

"The only thing I can do is confirm that we are assisting (UL) and David Walker with their coaching search," Carr said. "We’re very pleased to be doing so. For answers to any other questions you would need to speak with Mr. Walker."

Walker also gave a list of criteria that the university wanted the search firm to use during the search. Some of those items include a track record of graduating players, meeting the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate standards and staying out of trouble off the floor on top of being associated with a winning program.

"The ideal candidate that we hope to find is someone who understands the importance of success on the court and off the court," Walker said. "In today’s college athletics if you’re not successful in the classroom, you’re not going to be successful on the court because of the APR issues.

"We want someone who has obviously been in programs that have won; ideally we want someone who has head coaching experience. Again, as we identity these candidates, some of those things will be issues that we will look at on an individual basis."

Walker denied reports that the administration has made contact with any potential candidates.

Media outlets have mentioned former USC head coach and current New Orleans Hornets assistant Tim Floyd, Murray State coach and New Orleans native Billy Kennedy, and former UL and LSU assistant and current Oklahoma State assistant Butch Pierre as possibilities.

"We will begin putting together a group of names immediately," said Walker, who added that the new hire would pick his own assistants. "I really anticipate some of the contact occurring this week and to move very quickly."

To attract the best candidates, Walker knows the university must improve the $175,000 salary package that Lee was paid this past season through state-appropriated and private funds. Walker anticipated a "significant" increase of that amount for the new coach.

"I think that is probably going to be necessary," Walker said. "You look at salaries across the country now, basketball is no different from football. Salaries have increased significantly, and we’re probably going to have to enhance what we pay to be competitive."

An assistant for the Cajuns from 1996-2004, Lee was promoted in July 2004 after Glynn Cyprien was fired 72 days into the tenure for a resume discrepancy regarding a college degree he claimed to have earned.

Lee won the Sun Belt tournament and played in the NCAA Tournament in his first season in 2004-05, but the school later vacated those accomplishments due to NCAA sanctions. His original contract was set to expire in 2007-08, but he earned a two-year extension through June 2010 as the program won a share of the Sun Belt West Division title that season.

In six years as head coach, Lee posted an on-court record of 80-100 overall and 53-49 in conference play. Those numbers drop to 63-92 overall and 42-46 in league action with games vacated due to NCAA sanctions handed down after he took the head job.

Those sanctions, coupled with the program’s dismal APR score in his second season, left Lee unable to offer the maximum number of scholarships during the past three years. Last spring, Lee was retained partly due to concerns over possible APR issues with a coaching change.

Walker added that the men’s program is on pace to move beyond the NCAA’s historical penalty phase when the APR score for the 2009-10 academic year is submitted next fall.

According to Walker, the final decision to let Lee go came after Saturday’s 76-75 loss to UL Monroe in the first round of the league tournament. Walker said that it was a "tough" move to make because he considers Lee "a man of outstanding character and a valued friend."

While disappointed with the decision, Lee said that he understood the reasoning.

"It’s a bottom-line business as far as wins and losses are concerned," Lee said. "I think there a number of factors that led to our records over the past few years. I don’t know if there was any team in the country that deal with more injuries than we did, but I understand the decision that the university made."

After inheriting a women’s basketball program coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006-07, Rogers has yet to post a .500 record in three years with the Cajuns.

This past season the Cajuns (9-22, 4-14) improved on last year’s 3-27 overall record and 0-18 league mark. Rogers is 20-71 overall and 8-46 in conference play with the program.

The Cajuns lose only two players from this past season and have signed a second team junior college All-American in 6-foot-4 forward/center Kemi Rotibi, who is already on campus and expected to be eligible next season.

"When we hired coach Rogers three years ago, we made a four-year commitment to allow him to build a competitive Sun Belt Conference program," Walker said. "Although the program has struggled in the past few years, we thought that we saw vast important this year with a very young team. Next year he will return all but two of his players.

"They have had what we think has been a very successful recruiting year, and we will honor that commitment."

Lee leaves with high hopes for program

Daily Advertiser March 10, 2010

Robert Lee got the official word Monday morning that he would not receive a contract extension, ending his six-year run as head coach for the UL men’s basketball team.

Add in his eight years as an assistant, and Lee spent 14 years with the program.

If he coaches again next season — which Lee plans to do somewhere — it will be for a new team for the first time since his final year as Opelousas High School’s boys head coach in 1995-96.

Even as Lee and the UL men’s basketball program start their journeys in different directions, he wants to see good things happen for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the future.

"My main wish for the program is the same wish and desire that I had as a member of the coaching staff and as the head coach," Lee said Tuesday. "That’s for the program to have great success and to one day reach the level that we wanted to be at and compete in the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis and sometimes make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

"I still think that the sky is the limit for the program."

As a first-year college head coach in 2004-05, he helped the Cajuns reach great heights by winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Then they nearly upset eventual Final Four team Louisville, 68-62, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

That was as good as it got for Lee as a head coach at UL, granted it was better than many in the profession will ever experience on the sideline. (NCAA sanctions later erased those accomplishments from the record books.)

The program suffered losing seasons in each of the next two years but bounced back in 2007-08. That season UL won a share of the Sun Belt’s West Division title despite having one of the nation’s youngest rosters.

Given the success of such a young team that season, the future was supposed to be bright. Instead injuries and inconsistency crippled the Cajuns for the next two seasons. One particular player, Elijah Millsap, transferred to UAB after two years and is now one of the top players in Conference USA.

The number of wins dwindled as quickly as the home attendance in Lee’s final two seasons. A segment of the fan base grew tired of the losses regardless of the factors involved, and eventually the university had to decide whether to go in a new direction.

Eventually, UL athletic director David Walker made a change, although he admitted that it was tough given the current economic climate and his respect for Lee as a man.

But it was the right call at the right time after a 13-17 record this season. That left Lee with a fifth consecutive non-winning season and an on-court record of 80-100 with the Cajuns. (And 63-92 with the games vacated due to NCAA sanctions.)

Now someone else will get a chance to restore the tradition of a program that was a national power in the 1970s and once a feared contender in the Southland and Sun Belt.

Might be Tim Floyd. Maybe Billy Kennedy or Bobby Champagne will return to their home state. Butch Pierre could finally get his break. Perhaps even someone else.

In time, the Cajuns will win again. There’s no doubt of that given the program’s tradition, facilities, proximity to recruiting talent and local support. Whether that success comes sooner rather than later depends on the next head coach.

For now, as the program weighs its future options so is Lee. And regardless of where he ends up next, Lee will be pulling for his old school to become a consistent winner again.

Lee just wishes that he could have gotten the chance to do it himself.

"I’m really just taking it one day at a time," Lee said. "I’m not going to count anything out, coaching or non-coaching. I want to be coaching because that’s what I love the most, but I’m not sure what door God is going to open up for me and my family.

"I will always love this program and university whether I’m a part of it or not. I’ve been blessed to be a part of the university. I was shown a lot of love when I was there, and I wish them nothing but the best."