It's Official: Robert Lee Named New Head Coach

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

LAFAYETTE – The University of Louisiana 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 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 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.

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, 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.

-Ragin' Cajuns-