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New men's hoops coach takes over at BRCC
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Baton Rouge Community College is bringing in LSU-Eunice coach Byron Starks to lead its men's basketball program, the school announced Wednesday.
Starks, a hall of fame player at UL-Lafayette, has led the LSUE team to an 84-33 record in his four seasons as head coach there.
"Byron has been successful at every stop in his career, and I am confident that he will continue to do the same here at BRCC,” Athletic Director Brock Kantrow said. “He is a proven winner at every level he coached and played coached on. More importantly, he’s a molder of men.”
Read the full statement from BRCC below.
Today, Baton Rouge Community College announced Byron Starks as the new head men’s basketball coach. Starks, a native of Grambling, LA., comes to BRCC after four seasons as head coach at LSU-Eunice where he led the Bengals to an 84-33 record and an impressive 39-6 mark in conference play. LSU-E won four Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference (LCCAC) titles and he was named the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches (LABC) Junior College Coach of the Year four times.
“Byron has been successful at every stop in his career, and I am confident that he will continue to do the same here at BRCC,” said Kantrow. “He is a proven winner at every level he coached and played coached on. More importantly, he’s a molder of men.”
Starks was a successful high school coach prior to his time at LSU-E as he led Lafayette Christian Academy Knights (LCA) to a 170-28 record and won the 2017 and 2018 LHSAA Division IV State Championships. LCA made five-consecutive Top 28 appearances in Starks’ tenure, won five district championships, and compiled an impressive 60-2 record in district play. In his second season at LCA, Starks was named the 2014 LHSAA Class 1A Coach of the Year.
Starks had an outstanding prep career at Grambling High School for Hall of Fame coach Michael Lyons and was named the top-rated player in the state in 1990. He went on to have a stellar career for Louisiana (University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) at the time) under coach Marty Fletcher, helping his teams advance to the NCAA Tournament in 1992 and 1994. Starks was a two-time First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection and helped lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to the school’s only win in the NCAA tournament, a 1992 upset of Oklahoma. He finished his college career with 1,592 points, currently 11th all-time at the school. In 2011, Starks was inducted into the Ragin’ Cajun Hall of Fame. He played one year of professional basketball in the Netherlands before returning home to begin his coaching career.
In addition to his coaching career, Starks is the founder and executive director of Champions International, Inc., a motivational non-profit corporation that teaches leadership skills and offers mentoring programs for young people. He received a degree in General Studies from USL with a concentration in Health and P.E. in 1996. Starks and his wife, Angel, have three children: B.J., Christon, and Caleb.
Significant achievements while a high school coach:
2012-2018 Lafayette Christian Academy Head Basketball Coach
2018 LHSAA DIVISION IV STATE CHAMPIONS
2017 LHSAA DIVISION IV STATE CHAMPIONS
2016 Top 28 Class A Semi-Finalist
2015 Top 28 Class A Finalist
2014 Top 28 Class A Semi-Finalist
2014 LHSAA Class A State Coach of the Year
Significant achievements while at LSUE, a member of the Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference:
LCCAC Champions, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Region 23 Final Four, 2022
Region 23 Elite 8, 2020, 2022, 2023
Four times Junior College Coach of the Year by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches
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