Robert Kirby

Born: June 29, 1960
Birthplace: Memphis, TN
College: Pan American University, 1983


Widely considered to be one of the most respected veteran assistants in the major college coaching ranks, Robert Kirby begins the sixth season of his second tour of duty with the Mississippi State basketball family. He has continued to serve as the school's top assistant basketball coach on the staff of Rick Stansbury since MSU's current head coach was hired in 1998. The tandem previously teamed up together for three seasons (1991-93) a decade ago as assistant coaches on Richard Williams' State staff.

During the past five seasons under Stansbury's direction, Kirby has helped lead the Bulldogs to 100 total victories and four postseason tournament appearances, including recent back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths, last year's SEC Western Division crown and the team's 2002 SEC Tournament title. MSU has recorded 48 total wins over the past two seasons, including a school-record 27 victories in 2001-02 and 21 wins last season.

As with his previous stint on the Starkville campus, Kirby is actively involved in recruiting efforts for the Bulldogs, having been instrumental in securing Mississippi State's talent-laden recruiting classes each of the past five seasons since his return to MSU. Specializing in the daily instruction of State's frontcourt players, Kirby also assists with scouting preparations and shares on-floor gameday coaching responsibilities.

A native of Memphis, Tenn., Kirby returned to Mississippi State in 1998 after spending five seasons (1994-98) as an assistant coach at the University of Houston, where he served as the staff's recruiting coordinator in addition to his coaching and scouting duties. He helped the Cougars land one of the nation's Top 10 recruiting classes in 1994, while also helping guide the 1995-96 UH club to a second-place finish in the Southwest Conference.

During his previous four-year coaching stint (1990-93) at Mississippi State, Kirby was a staff member on the 1990-91 Bulldog contingent that claimed the school's first Southeastern Conference basketball title and subsequent NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 seasons. A former collegiate frontcourt standout himself, he assisted with the day-to-day tutelage of Bulldog all-SEC forwards Cameron Burns and Greg Carter.

Prior to his initial four-year association with the Mississippi State basketball program, Kirby served a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana University. Previously, the 21-year coaching veteran spent three seasons as an assistant at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he helped lead the Trojans to a composite record of 73-29, including three postseason tournament appearances and three consecutive Trans America Athletic Conference titles. Kirby began his coaching career with a one-year stop as a full-time assistant coach at Arkansas College.

Robert Lee

Born: 1969
Birthplace: New Roads, LA
College: Nicholls State University, 1990


The veteran of the Louisiana basketball staff now in his eighth year with the program, Robert Lee came to Louisiana prior to the 1996-97 season after one of the most successful high school careers in the Acadiana area during the 1990s. He joined the Cajun program during the summer of 1996 after serving for four years as head coach at nearby Opelousas High School.

The 35-year-old Lee, a native of New Roads, will again be working extensively in both on-floor coaching and in recruiting as part of the Cajun staff and will continue to bring his knowledge of the state prep scene into play with the Louisiana program.

During his tenure with the Cajuns, Lee has been part of a Louisiana program which has advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals in three of the last five seasons and swept both the regular season and tournament titles during the 1999-00 season to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

In working with the Louisiana backcourt, Lee has also helped guide guard Blane Harmon to one of the most successful careers in school history with Harmon becoming only the 32nd player in school history to score more than 1,000 points and poised to become the Cajuns’ all-time leader in three-pointers this season.

Lee, the only holdover from prior to head coach Jessie Evans’ arrival in 1997, guided the OHS to four straight 20-win seasons, including a 29-5 record in his final year in 1995-96 which also included a berth in the state Class 4A quarterfinals. He was named as District 5-4A’s Coach of the Year for those efforts.

Lee also guided the Tigers to the state quarterfinals one year earlier in 1994-95 with a 29-8 record, when he was named for the second straight year as St. Landry Parish’s Coach of the 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 overall record.

He began his prep coaching career in 1992-93 at Opelousas High, where he guided the Tigers to the bi-district playoffs and a 20-10 overall record. He was named 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 state playoff appearances.

Before coming to Opelousas High, Lee served for one year as a student assistant at Nicholls State in 1990-91 under head coach Ricky Broussard, himself a Louisiana graduate and former Cajun assistant coach who was in his first year as head man of the Colonels. 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. He also received his bachelor’s degree in May 1991 while earning both President’s List and Dean’s List honors for his academic achievement.

Glynn Cyprien: seems to not stay very long in one place

Butch Pierre: can't put my finger on it but something about him as our head coach makes me uneasy :rolleyes:

Robert Lee: my one hangup about him compared to the other 3 is that he has only coached at 1 program (ours), some may see this as a good thing but I do not.

Robert Kirby: my one hangup about Kirby is the "unknown" factor. We do not know if he is the type coach that will instill the disipline most of feels the team needs? Is the type coach who cares about classroom preformence?

Based on what little I know, I would have to say I want no part of Cyprien or Pierre. Between Kirby and Lee it would be a tough choice.